A passenger leaves Garage B before sunrise at T.F. Green Airport, in Warwick. The parking is close to the terminal, another reason why fliers favor Green.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

WARWICK — In a setback for the jet set but a boon to budget fliers, T.F. Green Airport is ending valet service at Garage B and significantly lowering the price for parking at the covered lot.

The move follows the expiration, at midnight tonight, of a long-term contract with The Parking Company, a local business the airport had recently engaged in a lengthy legal dispute over control of the garage.

Parking at the 750-space garage will now cost $17 per day, about half the price The Parking Company charged.

Under the previous arrangement, about 50 to 100 travelers used the garage on an average day, according to the Rhode Island Airport Corporation. It is now expected to fill up, corporation spokeswoman Patti Goldstein said yesterday.

“It was being underutilized,” Goldstein said. “People want to be in a closed environment whenever possible.”

Brian C. Schattle, the chief financial officer for the airport corporation, said the switch would reverse the steep decline in parking revenues, one of three largest sources of income for the agency.

Over all, parking revenue at Green dropped $2.1 million in the last fiscal year, according to airport corporation records.

The new pricing scheme makes Garage B less expensive than Garage A, a popular facility in which 1,285 parking spaces are linked to the terminal by a covered walkway. Those spaces cost $20 per day.

Garage C remains the least-expensive covered garage at the airport. It has 1,500 parking spaces, rented at $15 per day. The 4,300 outdoor spaces at Lot E cost $11 per day.

The new parking operator, Chicago-based Standard Parking Corp., is immediately implementing other changes at the state’s major airport.

For the first time, the fleet of shuttles that ferry travelers from Lot E to the terminal will be made up of compressed-natural-gas vehicles. The shuttle buses will utilize a CNG filling station at the airport, the only facility of its kind in the state.

The transition is part of efforts to reduce the environmental impact of the airport, according to Goldstein. “It is a conscious effort on our part for Green to be greener,” she said.

The new CNG-powered vehicles, owned by Standard Parking and decorated with the Green name and logo, produce far less carbon dioxide than the diesel-fueled minibuses they are replacing.

The fuel is also less expensive than traditional gasoline, and the owner of the filling station, Boston-based Alternative Vehicle Service Group, gives the airport a 10-cent-a-gallon discount.

Standard Parking also provides shuttle bus services at O’Hare International Airport, in Chicago, and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, in Texas.

At Green, the new Lot E shuttles will provide “bumper-to-bumper” service, chauffeuring travelers from their cars to the terminal. Shuttle drivers will help carry luggage.

Until now, the free shuttles have operated a “fixed route” system, picking up and dropping off riders at open-air shelters, sometimes at night and in frigid temperatures.

“It’s a real increase in customer service,” Schattle said. “This is a major upgrade.”

The Downing Corp. built Garage B in 1987 and The Parking Company managed the facility under a 20-year agreement with the airport corporation.

The airport agency owns and operates Garage A and Lots E and D. Beginning at midnight tonight, it will begin leasing Garage C from New England Parking LLC, and it will take over Garage B, after the 20-year contract with The Parking Company expires. Standard Parking will manage all parking facilities at the airport.

The legal dispute with The Parking Company began after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks caused a slowdown in air travel. The airport corporation, saying it was dissatisfied with the amount of general parking, seized control of Garage B.

The corporation ran the garage from August 2004 to March 2006, when it was returned to The Parking Company by order of the state Supreme Court. Seven months later, the justices awarded The Parking Company $4.1 million in lost profits.

The corporation brought in about $3 million per year when it ran Garage B. That dropped to about $500,000 when it reverted to valet service, according to Schattle.

The airport corporation previously operated its own valet service using the hourly lot across the street from the terminal. But that ended in 2001, after new security regulations restricted vehicular access to the terminal entrance.

“We continue to make improvements, bringing more parking options online and employing the use of environmentally conscious CNG vehicles,” Mark P. Brewer, the airport director, said in a statement yesterday. “Travelers can look forward to exciting new parking promotions in the months to come, as well as high levels of customer service from Standard Parking.”

bgedan@projo.com