Trenton-Mercer Airport is expanding. Here's what you need to know

Not on board with gargantuan airport terminals?

More travelers are turning to smaller airfields where they can park just outside the terminal, easily pick up their luggage, and be on their way while the plane is still refueling.

Here's every thing you need to know about the local Trenton-Mercer airport, which sits just over the state line from Bucks County, and the plans the FAA and Mercer County have for it.

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Frontier flies out of Trenton-Mercer

Currently, Trenton-Mercer hosts just one commercial airline. Frontier offers nonstop flights to Atlanta, Charlotte, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Raleigh, Tampa and West Palm beach.  More popular destinations such as Cancun, Mexico, can be reached via connecting flights.

Deals and amenities at Trenton-Mercer Airport

The main terminal at Trenton-Mercer is a three-story building about the size of an elementary school. The Skylounge bar and restaurant is on the third floor. The lounge serves typical American fare from buffalo wings and Caesar salads to short stack pancakes, drafts beers, and cocktails.

It typically opens at 7 a.m., and the first-floor bar/concession stand opens at 5 a.m. Draft beers include Brooklyn Lager, Landshark, and Goose Island IPA. Bloody Mary's and other mixed drinks start at $5.50.

Security screening is on the first floor of the terminal.

Trenton-Mercer operates with TSA Precheck, allowing registered travelers to move more quickly through security screening. Ifly.com offers estimates on wait times for getting to your gate and passing through security. You can find  TTN Arrival Delays, TTN Departure Delays, or use iFLY's TTN Flight Tracker.

Why do travelers take to the tarmac at Trenton-Mercer?

For many, the most memorable part of the Trenton-Mercer experience is walking on the tarmac. Unlike other local, and larger, airports, Trenton-Mercer does not have gangways or jet bridges for transporting passengers from the terminal to planes. Fliers enter and exit the planes on stair cars parked just off the runway.

Can you park at Trenton-Mercer Airport?

Trenton-Mercer Airport has two parking lots just off the terminal and named after Amelia Earhart and the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American battalion on U.S. fighter pilots. A third spill-over parking lot is located about three minutes from the main terminal and a shuttle service is provided.

Parking is $2 per hour or $10 for a full day.

How do you get to Trenton-Mercer Airport?

Located four miles north of Trenton, most travel by car to Trenton-Mercer. The airport is a stone's throw from I-295 in Ewing, New Jersey.

For others, New Jersey Transit provides bus service to the airfield from the West Trenton Rail Station, the Hamilton Rail Station and the Trenton Transit Center. Enterprise and National Car Rental both operate from the airport.

Expansion plans at Trenton-Mercer Airport

Mercer County has big plans for its airport. Yet there's no sign of construction on the airfield more than a year after plans were approved by the FAA.

Trenton-Mercer Airport plans to quadruple the size of its existing terminal and build a parking garage for approximately 1,040 cars and trucks. The FAA forecasts a 51% increase in flights from Mercer County, rising from 316,665 to 476,507 by the year 2035.

In May 2022, the FAA approved a project to modernize facilities first constructed in 1975. The terminal can feel cramped. Much of the available space at Trenton-Mercer was given over to security and screening devices after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2011.

Engineers hired by Mercer County submitted to the FAA a 392-page environmental report and argued that the airport's expansion would have little or no impact on the environment or noise pollution.

Bucks County's Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick has asked the federal government to slow the planned construction of a much larger airport and runway that send planes flying over parts of Lower Makefield, Middletown, Upper Makefield and Yardley.

In April, he testified before the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

In August, U.S. Senators Bob Casey and John Fetterman told the U.S. Department of Transportation to perform more rigorous studies on the project and its impact on the local environment. Officials in Lower Makefield and Yardley also joined in the protests this year.

Yet, officials in Mercer County said they are moving ahead with the planned construction with a new terminal potentially completed by 2024.

More: Fitzpatrick asks feds to halt construction of Trenton-Mercer Airport without more study

In a letter, Fitzpatrick, R-1 of Middletown, told U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeig that an expanded Trenton-Mercer Airport might lead to increased air and water pollution.

Fitzpatrick said the government should conduct a more intensive study of the airport expansion and the potential for "lasting impacts to the southeastern Pennsylvania region and beyond."

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Flying Trenton-Mercer Airport: What you need to know about expansion