JJ Skippy
Well-known member
Hello! For some more content in this section, I thought it would be worthy to look into the expansion project happening at my local airport.
Background
Our current terminal, named the Costello Terminal, opened all the way back in 1970, replacing the old municipal terminal on the south side of the airport. Costello opened with around 8-9 gates, but prior to this project starting, Costello had 7 gates. All gates can handle at least a regional jet, with a few designed to handle Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s, and one is equipped with Boeing 757 capabilities. It has seen several renovations throughout the years, most recently in 2012 to modernize the look and feel of the terminal.
Left: Postcard of the old terminal building. Very few pictures of this facility exist online, but I have some featured in my Retro FSD thread.
Right: Postcard of the Costello Terminal sometime in the early 70s.
With FSD seeing record passenger numbers and more flights with larger aircraft the last few years, talks have been held about expanding the existing terminal or building a new one. The former option has been given the go-ahead as funding recently became available. The project, valued at $70 million, will see the airport gain four gates for a total of 11 once the project is complete. Additional projects, like a central atrium, expanded hallway space after the security checkpoint, and a fifth gate with CBP facilities, will cost another $25 million total and are dependent on extra funding.
Groundbreaking was held in September, and so far I haven’t had a chance to check out the progress myself. The current Gate 1 has been closed as part of the new expansion will sit here. Below is what the project will look like — ETA is scheduled for March 2027, though with everything else added on, it will be late 2027. Definitely a long ways to go, but I’m excited to see how this project develops! They’ve talked about expanding since the 1980s, so I’m really excited to see this actually happening!
Background
Our current terminal, named the Costello Terminal, opened all the way back in 1970, replacing the old municipal terminal on the south side of the airport. Costello opened with around 8-9 gates, but prior to this project starting, Costello had 7 gates. All gates can handle at least a regional jet, with a few designed to handle Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s, and one is equipped with Boeing 757 capabilities. It has seen several renovations throughout the years, most recently in 2012 to modernize the look and feel of the terminal.
Left: Postcard of the old terminal building. Very few pictures of this facility exist online, but I have some featured in my Retro FSD thread.
Right: Postcard of the Costello Terminal sometime in the early 70s.
With FSD seeing record passenger numbers and more flights with larger aircraft the last few years, talks have been held about expanding the existing terminal or building a new one. The former option has been given the go-ahead as funding recently became available. The project, valued at $70 million, will see the airport gain four gates for a total of 11 once the project is complete. Additional projects, like a central atrium, expanded hallway space after the security checkpoint, and a fifth gate with CBP facilities, will cost another $25 million total and are dependent on extra funding.
Groundbreaking was held in September, and so far I haven’t had a chance to check out the progress myself. The current Gate 1 has been closed as part of the new expansion will sit here. Below is what the project will look like — ETA is scheduled for March 2027, though with everything else added on, it will be late 2027. Definitely a long ways to go, but I’m excited to see how this project develops! They’ve talked about expanding since the 1980s, so I’m really excited to see this actually happening!
