The Albany International Airport (
ALB) is serviced by major carriers. As the major air center for the Capital Region, Northeastern NY and Western New England, the ALB offers a wide-range of facilities and services. A multi-million dollar capital redevelopment project included a new 230,000-square foot terminal, parking garage, Air Traffic Control Tower, and cargo facility. The airport has also embarked on a five-year, $232 million Capital Plan to improve and maintain safety and to meet the needs of air travelers and air carriers well into the 21st Century. The rennovated terminal, which opened in June 1998, is designed to accommodate 1.5-million deplanements annually. The terminal includes unique restaurants and exciting shops. The terminal also includes the airport Business Center that offers computer workstations, laptop workstations, three conference rooms, Foreign Currency Exchange, and video conferencing facilities. Departure, the airport's museum shop, features gifts, art and crafts from nearly 40 area museums.
ALB is recognized as a world leader in developing cost-effective environmental management of aircraft deicing fluids. To comply with environmental statues, the airport has installed a state-of-the-art Storm Water Recovery and Treatment Facility that utilizes micro-organisms to "digest" propylene glycol to below detection limits. The process produces methane gas, which is reused as fuel to heat the incoming fluid and to speed its processing. The gas is also used to heat the treatment facility.
Some famous aviators who landed in Albany included Amelia Earhart, James Doolittle and Clarence Chamberlain. He paused overnight in Albany after a circle of New England. Presidential candidates also landed here including Governor Thomas Dewey, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, George Wallace, Barry Goldwater, William Bradley and Albert Gore. Air Force One, with President Clinton on board, landed at the Albany Airport on October of 1994 and once again, with President Barack Obama in September of 2009. Obama came to New York to give a speech on the economy at Hudson Valley Community College, only to return again to visit a GE plant in Schenectady, NY in January of 2011.