Facilities:
GSO’s current terminal was designed in 1978 and is an ode to a time gone by in Aviation. In the golden days of commercial aviation, during the end of the prop-era and the beginning of the jet era, they were designed as a twofold purpose. Air travel was growing by leaps and bounds and at that time there was no sign of this growth slowing anytime soon. So their design was modular to be able to be easily expanded to accommodate this growth. Secondly, airfares were still relatively high due to regulation, people still dressed up to fly and traveling was an experience. So the airports were designed with a mall-type concept for the main terminal, where shops and restaurants would be located near the ticketing counters (before the modular pier-fingers/satellite concourses) for the travelers and their friends and family to gather for a meal before flying. Facilities like this provide excellent plane spotting opportunities as they often have, like GSO does restaurants that have a superb view of the concourses and active runway(s) taxiways.
GSO’s facilities show their age and have a nostalgic feeling to it. It reminded me of the old L.C. Smith Terminal at DTW. Considering the fact that most of the concessions located in the concourses are closed permanently it feels like a much smaller version the L.C. Smith Terminal (post-2002) after the McNamara WorldGateway was built and Northwest relocated (moving most of the operations effectively out of that terminal). That being said the passenger hold facilities are cramped. GSO was designed to handle larger aircraft 727s and even 767s. However it was designed to do so in the days of 40 percent load factors. A fully loaded DC-9 is enough to have passengers standing around as there aren’t enough seats.
WiFi:
This airport does feature free which works well. The IATA code GSO is the SSID and the system is not password protected.
Power outlets:
GSO has good access to power in the passenger hold areas. There are several seats with tables and full 120V charging stations as well as charging mats.
Restaurants/Plane Spotting:
Plane spotting is best from the restaurants within the main terminal mezzanine. There’s a cafe, burger place and a sports bar all with reasonable prices that offer a great view of the terminal area and one of the main active runways. You will have to go out of the secured zone and into the ticketing area to access it. One of the pros about small airports like GSO is that getting back through security is a breeze. It only takes about 5 minutes or so.
Airlines:
Allegiant
American
Delta
United
US Airways
Terminal Diagram:
Concourses: 2
Gates: 25
Elevation: 926ft
Runways: 3
Rwy 5R/23L:
10,001 x 150ft
MALSR 1,400ft medium intensity approach lighting system (5R) ALSF2: 2,400ft high intensity approach lighting system (23L)
ILS approach
Rwy 5L/23R
9,000 x 150ft
ALSF 2,400ft high intensity approach lighting system (5L) MALSR 1,400ft medium intensity approach lighting system (23R)
ILS approach
Rwy 14/32:
6,380 x 150ft
4-box VASI 3-degree glide path (32)
ILS approach.
Average operations: 251/day
Airport website: http://www.flyfrompti.com/