Passengers flying out of Philly this vacation season might want to assume twice about driving to the airport.
The Philadelphia International Airport’s roughly 7,000 spot economy lot, which has been shuttered because the starting of the pandemic, will stay closed for good.
Since the airport will be left with simply 12,000 on-site parking areas, officers are encouraging vacationers to take public transit and taxis or use rideshare apps. SEPTA already runs a prepare between thirtieth Street and the airport roughly each half hour and can run extra on the busiest flight instances.
Those who select to drive ought to plan to arrive at PHL at the very least three hours earlier than their departure time and count on to park in one of many roughly 9,000 spots in off-site tons that encompass the airport.
The economy lot will be redeveloped as the primary section of the airport’s plan to increase its cargo delivery service choices over the subsequent 5 to ten years.
Back in June, officers introduced the airport’s cargo constructing area would be tripled from 600,000 sq. ft to 1.4 million. Five million sq. ft of latest taxiways and airplane parking areas will be paved as properly to accommodate the extra air visitors.
The transfer was in response to a 2017 examine which discovered that the airport solely managed to catch 9% of a possible $53 billion price of air cargo shipped by the Philly space annually and is anticipated to deliver as many as 28,000 new jobs to the realm.
“We have a huge opportunity to become one of the most successful cargo airports on the East Coast,” mentioned Stephanie Wear, the airport’s director of air service improvement and cargo service.
But many are upset in regards to the shift. That contains the particular person behind the Save the PHL Economy Lot Twitter account, which was created final month.
“What does it say to you that (PHL) has gotten rid of 7000 parking spaces and is making traveling a miserable experience for your passengers?” the account requested in a submit that tagged American Airlines, the nation’s largest airline which operates a hub out of PHL.
Hey @AmericanAir … What does it say to you that @PHLAirport has gotten rid of 7000 parking areas and is making touring a depressing expertise for your passengers??
— Save The PHL Economy Lot (@SavePHLEconoLot) November 24, 2021
Parking on the economy lot might price as little as $13 per day earlier than the pandemic. Now the most affordable parking choice on the airport prices $16 per day if a driver leaves their automotive for 72 hours or extra.