Buffalo Niagara International Airport

Buffalo Niagara International Airport is the primary commercial airport for western New York and the second-busiest airport in New York State after JFK (excluding LaGuardia and Newark), serving the Buffalo metropolitan area's roughly 1.1M residents and drawing significant cross-border catchment from the Niagara region of Ontario, where many Canadian travelers use BUF to access cheaper U.S. domestic fares. Located 11 mi (18 km) east of downtown Buffalo at 728 ft (222 m) elevation in the town of Cheektowaga, BUF handles 97 routes across 58 destinations through 20 airlines. No carrier operates BUF as a hub, but Southwest holds the largest share of movements and uses the airport as a focus city, with American, Delta, United, JetBlue, Frontier, Spirit, Breeze, and Allegiant providing the remainder of scheduled service. Route emphasis falls on major eastern and southern hubs — Atlanta, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Washington–Reagan, New York–JFK, Chicago–O'Hare, Detroit, Boston, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa — with seasonal leisure service to Cancún, Punta Cana, the Bahamas, and Florida beach markets. The cross-border cost differential with Toronto Pearson drives substantial southbound Canadian traffic, particularly for sun-destination leisure travel, which has been one of the most studied airport-choice catchment dynamics in North American aviation. The airfield has two asphalt runways — 05/23 at 8,829 ft (2,691 m) as the primary and 14/32 at 7,161 ft (2,183 m) as crosswind — both capable of full narrowbody operations. A single unified terminal with two concourses (East and West) handles all commercial traffic, with a consolidated central ticketing and security area. The current terminal opened in 1997, replacing the 1955 original, and has undergone successive expansions. BUF's snow-handling operation is one of the most robust in U.S. commercial aviation, routinely maintaining operations through multi-foot lake-effect snow events from Lake Erie that would close many other airports, a reputation earned through decades of Great Lakes winter operations.