Albany Airport's Two Dual Loading Bridges to be Retired

    Dec. 11, 2019
    The two dual loading bridges that allowed passengers to use the front or back doors to enter and exit Southwest's Boeing 737s at Albany International Airport.

    By Eric Anderson

    Source Times Union, Albany, N.Y. (TNS)

    COLONIE — They were unique, the two dual loading bridges that allowed passengers to use the front or back doors to enter and exit Southwest's Boeing 737s at Albany International Airport.

    They could shave several minutes off boarding and exiting crowded aircraft. The rear bridge would rise over the wing, clearing the upright winglets, before connecting to the fuselage.

    Large glass windows on the rear bridge gave passengers a view of the top of the wing and the fuselage as they were boarding.

    But the bridges, which are more than 15 years old, have "outlived their life span," airport spokesman Doug Myers said, and will be dismantled after the first of the year. As early as 2007, they were developing mechanical glitches that made them less dependable.

    Southwest at one time had similar  bridges in service at airports it served in Austin and Dallas, but those had already been discontinued by 2007, when Gary Kelly, who would succeed airline founder Herb Kelleher as CEO the following year, visited Albany International Airport. During the visit, Kelly told a reporter that Southwest wasn't planning to install any new dual bridges at any of the cities it serves.

    The bridges are actually the property of the airport, a Southwest spokesman said Tuesday. They were financed with a state grant of $2.3 million when they were purchased in 2003. The bridge at C2 went into service in 2004, followed by C3 in 2005. The airline pays the Albany County Airport Authority for use of the bridges.

    Myers said that the bridges are still in place and can be used "at the discretion of the pilot."

    Southwest lately has launched a pilot program to use both doors for boarding and exiting its aircraft, but passengers will need to walk across the tarmac and climb outside stairs to use the rear door. And they'll have to lug their carry-ons up and down the stairs.

    For now, the procedure is limited to four California airports. There's no word on whether it might be tried at Albany.

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