Ketchikan International Airport’s terminal could double in size as part of an $89 million expansion that would reshape much of the airport complex over the next two decades.
The Ketchikan Borough Assembly will formally consider adopting the nearly 300-page plan today.
Consultants with national firm Mead & Hunt worked with the borough to put the plan together and presented it to the assembly last July. They recommended local policymakers plan to double the square footage of the airport terminal and expand jetliner and cargo plane capacity to support a projected 360,000 passengers by 2038.
The first phase of the plan includes moving the security checkpoint downstairs and adding a new lane, an expanded concessions area, a second covered jetway and a concrete parking area for a third commercial jetliner.
Funding for the $25 million first phase would come from passenger charges, airport cash reserves and a federal airport improvement program, borough officials said in January. Borough officials say they’ve also submitted the project for funding under the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last year.
The Ketchikan airport’s manager, Alex Peura, told KRBD Friday that the borough is negotiating a contract for design, engineering and project management for the first phase of the expansion plan. That’ll face an assembly vote later this year.
Construction is projected to begin in fall 2023 and last for roughly a year and a half.
