MacArthur Airport a welcome departure for some air travelers

Sandy and Bob Dobkin live five minutes from Kennedy Airport. And they've had enough.

Frustrated by what they described as long security lines, overwhelming crowds and flight delays, the couple drove this week from their home in Woodmere to Long Island MacArthur Airport for a flight to Fort Lauderdale.

"It is wonderful," Sandy Dobkin said, sitting at a Southwest Airlines gate Thursday afternoon. "I'm going to tell all my friends that this is really the way to go."

As heightened security creates even more hassles for those traveling by air, MacArthur Airport, in Ronkonkoma, is positioning itself in counterpoint to delay-prone LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark airports. With a new $300,000 marketing campaign, MacArthur declares: "We make flying a breeze."

And they're not empty words.

According to federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics, MacArthur's average tarmac time - the time an aircraft waits on the tarmac before takeoff - was less than nine minutes in 2009. LaGuardia's average was nearly 27 minutes, and Kennedy's was 32.5.

MacArthur's shorter tarmac times stem largely from the fact that aircraft flying into and out of MacArthur don't use the same airspace that the Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports do.

At security checkpoints, MacArthur also fares better. The average wait time during peak morning hours is between eight and nine minutes, said Paul Crispi, assistant federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration at MacArthur. The agency does not now publish security checkpoint wait times for other airports, but a TSA official at Kennedy Airport estimated that security lines from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. average between 15 and 20 minutes. At LaGuardia, the wait time is about 25 minutes.

Add to that MacArthur's smaller crowds, free Wi-Fi, and ample, close-by parking, and travelers like Michael Delucia are sold.

"I'll pay extra to come here," said Delucia, 38, of West Islip, a collectible car dealer who flies about four times a year to attend auctions. "It's just easier."

The airport does have drawbacks. It offers fewer flights, and those flights can be more expensive than similar legs from other metropolitan area airports. MacArthur also offers no direct international flights and only has two airlines using it - Southwest and US Airways.

That's an advantage for domestic travelers wanting to avoid long security lines, airport commissioner Teresa Rizzuto said. After the attempted bombing of an airliner making its way from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day, security officials "are really focused on the international customer right now," she said.

Rizzuto, who is working to attract more passengers and more airlines to MacArthur, said she has spoken with three airlines interested in opening Long Island routes.

"We are the best alternative to relieve the congestion in the New York area," Rizzuto said. "We are. We are it."

It took the Dobkins 45 minutes to drive from Woodmere to Ronkonkoma on Thursday. They parked in a long-term lot, hopped a shuttle to the terminal and checked their bags at the curb. Walking through security, even with a special pat-down because Bob Dobkin, 72, has a pacemaker, was a breeze, they said.

Bound for Florida for a bas mitzvah, they were converted.