NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – Curbside cramming no more. Norfolk International Airport is opening a new parking lot for drivers to pick up arriving passengers. It will be free to the public and includes more than 80 parking spaces.
“We’re really excited about this new parking wait lot,” said Mark Perryman, president and CEO of Norfolk Airport Authority. “It’s absolutely the closest parking wait, cell phone lot, or whatever you want to call it, to curb pickup that you’ll find at any airport in the country.”
The move is intended to help keep things moving along in the busy curbside loading area. The new lot is located around the corner from the arrivals terminal.
Chris Jones, chief marketing and communications officer for the airport, estimates its the closest “cell phone lot” to the arrivals gate at any airport in the country. He said it should take about a minute to reach your newly arrived guest from the lot.
“Basically, you come in our back loop, the arrivals loop, you’re it’s on the right hand side,” explained Perryman. “You turn in, you can park, wait for that phone call for when your passenger that you’re picking up has their bag and is ready to walk out to the curb.”
Depending how long your waiting, Perryman is even looking at food options.
“Who knows,” he said. “Maybe a food truck or two every once in a while out here during the busy periods of time over the holidays.”
The Arrivals Terminal curbside is now a passenger loading zone only; no parking or waiting is permitted.
“This should reduce congestion caused by drivers circling the roadways, or pulling over on roadsides while waiting to pick up a friend, colleague or loved one,” he said in an email.
The new park-and-wait lot will open Thursday, Dec. 19.
Norfolk International also added a cell phone waiting lot in 2022.