Fanfare, new digs greet first flight at new Detroit terminal

ROMULUS, Mich. -- A few shocks greeted bleary-eyed revelers returning from Las Vegas at 5:15 a.m. today to Detroit Metro airport's North terminal.

Like TV cameras filming their arrival. Wayne County Executive Bob Ficano waiting at the gate to hand them a gift bag. And perhaps most surprising of all, a shiny new terminal that looked nothing like the building where they left Detroit.

The Spirit Air Flight 788 was the first arrival at the airport's new $431-million terminal, which officially opened for business in the wee hours this morning. On its first day of operation, the terminal avoided any significant turbulence — no major delays were reported and glitches were limited to slowdowns in computer systems or cash registers confusing new employees.

The mood was as buoyant as the giant balloon arch that stretched across the terminal walkway.

"We are ecstatic," said Lawrence Barber, station manager for Detroit's Southwest Airlines operation. Southwest's passengers could pose for pictures this morning with a staffer dressed in a plane costume and got a free T-shirt emblazoned with the words "Southwest Airlines New Digs in Detroit".

"For most of our employees … the Smith terminal is all they know," Barber said, referring to the aging building decommissioned today. "They didn't know they were working in a primitive operation.

"Today everybody is bubbly. We feel we have arrived."

At 3 p.m. there were no problems reported said Rita Vae Lobdell, station manager for Lufthansa. "It went very smooth, we are glad to be here," she said.

The long-awaited, 24-gate North Terminal replaces both the Smith and Berry terminals at the airport. Many not all of the 11 airlines now operating out of the North terminal had been in the Smith building, an aging structure with very few amenities and outdated equipment.

The North terminal opened with six gates that have not been leased by any airline. However, by mid-morning today, five of those six empty gates had already been used by airlines to handle overflow traffic, said Scott Wintner, public affairs specialist for the Wayne County Airport Authority.