New flights, and an expansion project, boost Appleton Airport to another record busy year

GREENVILLE - The Appleton International Airport is set to have another record year as new flights and an expansion project aim to boost passengers arriving and departing to more than 930,000 by the end of 2023.

"Over the last few years we've seen incremental growth because more and more people are choosing to fly out of Appleton," Airport Director Abe Weber told The Post-Crescent.

Weber contributed the airport's continuous growth — up from 846,000 passengers in 2022 — to more people seeing benefits of flying out of Northeast Wisconsin following a surge in travel after the pandemic.

And, as the state's third-busiest airport behind Milwaukee and Madison sees more passenger growth, the airport is beginning construction on a $65 million upgrade and expansion project to attract more flights and better accommodate passengers.

How much has the airport grown in the last year?

Appleton International Airport plans to see a 14% increase in passengers from the end of 2022 to the end of 2023.

Since its record year in 2022, the airport added a non-stop flight between Appleton and Portland International Airport in Oregon with Allegiant Air over the summer.

The added flights to Portland make the city Allegiant's 11th destination and Oregon the seventh state the airline flies to out of Appleton.

"Seats on the Portland flights have continuously been full, so by all projections, we're assuming Allegiant will return that flight for the next summer season," Weber said.

According to the airport's most recent passenger statistics from March, all of Appleton's commercial flights have seen an increase in passengers in the year to date, with the biggest increase with Allegiant Air, which saw a 32% increase in the last year.

The airport's commercial flight success is in contrast to the decrease the airport has seen in air cargo traffic, which was down 16% from March 2022 to March 2023.

Weber said while the airport saw a boom in freight and travel flights after the pandemic, travel flights continued to steadily rise, but the airport hasn't seen the same rise for air cargo.

"We're seeing that come down a bit now," Weber said.

Furthermore, to keep up with the passenger growth and bring in more flights, the airport began construction on its $65 million terminal expansion project this year, which will increase the number of gates and passenger amenities.

What changes are coming to the airport?

Over the next two to three years the airport will expand its terminal by 250 feet and add four new gates.

Weber hopes the additional gates will encourage airlines to add more routes through Appleton and increase the airport's capacity for commercial flights.

To accommodate increased passengers, the expansion plans to improve the gift shop and restaurant and increase the number of restrooms.

Additionally, a second phase of the expansion project will improve ticket counters, baggage claim and the travelers' parking lot, but this portion has not been designed or put out for bids yet.

Once finished, the total project is estimated to cost $105 million with the majority of funding coming from state and federal grants.

The airport's most recent regional economic impact report from 2015 found it provided $604 million in economic output that year. Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson told The Post-Crescent at a press conference July 6 that the airport could bring in $1 billion in economic activity after its expansion is completed.

Sophia Voight is a local government and political reporter with The Post-Crescent. She can be reached with feedback and tips at svoight@postcrescent.com. Follow her on Twitter @sophia_voight.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton International Airport set to have another record busy year