SBY Airport -- at long last -- gets automated parking system

By Greg Bassett
Posted 3/30/22

Travelers using the Salisbury-Wicomico Regional Airport will now see an automated system instead of a human attendant when they pay for parking in the airport’s lot.

In use since early …

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SBY Airport -- at long last -- gets automated parking system

Posted

Travelers using the Salisbury-Wicomico Regional Airport will now see an automated system instead of a human attendant when they pay for parking in the airport’s lot.

In use since early March, the system replaces a former contractor who supplied attendants to man the exit gate. The airport made money from the parking fees, but only after manpower, supplies and other expenses were deducted.

Now officials expect to see a better profit using the new machine.

“Based on activity from October 2018 through September 2019, we're looking at an additional $180,000 of revenue annually with the automated parking system,” said Airport Manager Tony Rudy.

Wicomico County Council President John Cannon said he has been a proponent of using an automated parking system as far back as 2006 when a local businessman suggested it would save the county a lot of money.

“That makes perfect sense,” Cannon said.

The current airport management team is “really forward thinking” making this the right time to make the change, he said.

Parking lot users will get a ticket upon entering. The system offers an option to prepay by entering a credit card upon arrival or at a separate station in the baggage claim area. Both make exiting the airport quicker, Rudy said. The credit card is not billed until the parking ticket is scanned at the exit.

The system does not accept cash, only credit or debit cards.

Rudy said there were a few glitches when the automated system was first installed, including problems for people who flew out using the old parking system and arrived home to find the new one. In case of problems like that, there is a button that connects to a human being at a call center, Rudy said.

“It’s pretty impressive,” he said.

The airport used to allow free parking in the lot for 90 minutes when Rosenfeld’s Jewish Deli operated a branch in the terminal building, but the amount of free parking time has since been reduced to 15 minutes, Rudy said.

The lot at the airport costs $2 per hour for short-term parking and $10 per day for long-term.

Several times per day, American Eagle operates commercial passenger flights on small jets in and out of the Salisbury airport connecting to American Airlines hubs in Philadelphia and Charlotte.

The automated parking system is the latest change at the airport which currently has several projects in the works:

The engineering and design, as well as wetland permits, are underway for a planned runway extension. Once completed, it will accommodate larger jets, and also allow American Eagle from limiting the weight on certain flights.

An advertisement for bids is about to go out for a new fire station – the first at the airport.

Public water lines extended to the airport from the city of Salisbury are expected to be finished in April, allowing further development and expansion in the airport’s technology park.

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