THE CHINESE CONNECTION

A few months ago, I read with interest your articles about transforming the Niagara Falls Airport into a hub for Asian air traffic and cargo. I believe this is an excellent idea, and could possibly be a boon for the region.

I grew up in Buffalo, and we still have a family home in Clarence, so I return fairly often to visit friends and family and maintain the house. I currently live in Washington, DC, and my business is software and IT exports to Asia, and now I am beginning to do some outsourcing in the same sector. In addition, I am chairman of the International Committee for the Northern Virginia Technology Council. The NVTC (www.nvtc.org) is the largest tech council in the country, representing over 1,200 companies, many of which are small and medium sized, but go all the way to IBM, Microsoft, AOL and the like. We have most of the big defense contractors on our board as well, such as Lockheed Martin. The northern Virginia area is home to the second largest tech industry in the US, after Silicon Valley.

The International Committee is the most active, since we have visiting delegations from around the world constantly wanting to do business with our member companies, and we’re at the center of the IT sector. Additionally, our member companies are very interested in business worldwide.

Next fall, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute will open in Loudon County (that’s in northern Virginia, a few miles out from Washington, DC). The HHMI has several offices around the US and is the largest private medical researcher in the US. They are closing them all down to consolidate them here. As a private foundation, they are able to do all the research that the National Institutes of Health cannot do, so there will be a symbiotic fit of biotech and medical research in our area.

Also in Loudon County is planned a World Trade Center. Unlike all other WTCs, this one will be for profit. It will occupy several acres of land, and the plan is to have offices from all regions of the globe, with housing for long-term visitors from around the world and so on. It is planned to be a one-stop place for all import and export needs around the world.

So the Washington region is poised to have one of the largest biotech, software and IT industries in the world. Moreover, the Asian economies are growing at a tremendous rate. The Chinese economy will surpass the US in size by 2020, perhaps earlier. Japan is the second largest economy in the world right now, after the US. Korea, Kuala Lumper, Taiwan, Singapore, India—all plan to grow large numbers of middle class. What Buffalo needs to do is understand all that’s going on and learn how to take advantage of all this. How?

What this all means is that trade with Asia will increase tremendously. Goods and services will expand and be transferred, and services means people. So airlines will need to handle huge amounts of cargo and passengers. It seems obvious, then, that there will be increased demand for the largest planes, since there will be greater efficiency in moving cargo and people in large numbers. Homeland Security rules, however, prohibit the huge jumbo cargo planes from coming close to major population centers. Therefore, even if Dulles airport in Virginia were to expand to accommodate the planes, they might not be able to land there. That would include the major airports of all major US cities. As a logical alternative, these planes could fly in from Asia to Niagara Falls, unload the people and cargo and disperse them to smaller planes bound for Boston, New York City, Washington, Chicago and so on. Because Buffalo is a one-hour flight to most of the population in North America, it would be in an ideal location for this purpose. Buffalo would in fact be replicating its Erie Canal role—being a transfer point for loading and unloading cargo and passengers.

To do that, you would need large warehousing close to Niagara Falls airport. You would need a first-class terminal to handle people of various nationalities and languages as they get their connecting flights. With the Falls so close by, though, airlines could allow a few hours layover so that people could enjoy the scene—imagine what a boost that would be to that city alone! I’m not a fan of casinos, but since they are there, and not in Washington, NYC, Chicago or Boston, people could get in a few hours of slots or whatever before they finish their trip.

So, what the NFTA needs to do now is start prepping the Niagara Falls airport to be a truly international airport and position itself as a hub for all Asian air traffic, specifically for China. If all Chinese trade for the West Coast were funneled through Buffalo, that alone would create hundreds of jobs and tremendous wealth in the region.

More: Because the Washington area is growing so much, especially in the tech and medical sectors, Buffalo can develop itself as an adjunct to Washington. In other words, find out what’s going on here, and get the companies to outsource to Buffalo. Find complementary things that Buffalo is good at (such as the bio-medtech corridor) and act not as a competitor but as a partner with our local companies. Why would companies here do that? Because they can be assured the same level of quality of service, but at a cheaper price, and because traffic is getting worse and housing prices are rising beyond many people’s means. Buffalo is only one hour away by plane, and is a pleasant place to visit and do business. The housing and other things are cheaper, and traffic is not a problem. Since some people’s commutes are up to two hours each way, it’s actually faster to fly to Buffalo.

So: Because of it’s location, Niagara Falls could be the major hub for Asian trade, cargo and travel for the East Coast, and the Buffalo and northern Virginia regions could enter into a partnership to relieve the problems of growth that exist in the Washington area.

Randall Reade

Washington, DC