Airport Executive Director Bill Wyatt was among those who spent a long night shutting down the old facilities — which closed about midnight — and quickly opening up a shiny new terminal, concourse and garage a few hours later. Another concourse will open on Oct. 27.

“It was like a symphony watching all the planning come together and teams making everything happen quickly,” he said, including painting new stripes on the airport road, changing all the directional signs and moving aircraft over to the new concourse. “It took a year and half just to plan all that.”

Wyatt said a few small technical glitches appeared here and there. “But there was nothing that was a show-stopper.”

For example, John Collins of Wellsville, arrived in a taxi about 4 a.m. as some of the final switch-overs were happening, and his cab driver was confused by the changed road configuration. “He had to ask directions. But someone was there to help.” Collins also said he had to get used to finding his way in the new airport, “but I just followed the signs and it was fine.”

Wyatt said the airport “plans to go overboard for a while” in having plenty of extra people to help passengers find their way around. He adds the new roads — including an elevated road to the drop-off area — are safer and easier to understand now than the recent often-changing lanes amid construction of recent years.

Wyatt said a silver lining of the pandemic is that smaller crowds made the transition easier as everyone started using new systems ranging from new-generation security scanners to the seven miles of new conveyor belts for baggage.