House Speaker Johnson tours Sarasota Bradenton International Airport’s $70M expansion

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, got some construction dust on his shoes Monday as he walked through the construction site for the $70 million ground-level passenger terminal at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.

Johnson is in town for a fundraiser at Congressman Vern Buchanan’s house, his first since being elected speaker in October.

In all, there are $200 million in expansion projects at SRQ, which has seen a 300% increase in passenger traffic since 2019, making it the fastest-growing airport in the United States if not the world.

In addition to the ground-level terminal, which will add five new passenger gates, also in the works or completed are quadrupling storage capacity at the airport’s fuel farm, installing new escalators and a new baggage handling system and expanding parking facilities.

“Our nation’s airports are at the top of everyone’s list this time of the year,” Johnson said of the busy holiday travel season.

Rick Piccolo, president and CEO of Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, said that this was Johnson’s first visit to the local area and he was pleased that he used his time here to see the projects underway at SRQ.

Speaker Johnson tours SRQ airport

The Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority has set a December 2024 deadline to have the ground-level terminal completed.

Buchanan called Johnson a “servant leader” and said that he will play an important role in getting projects like the one at SRQ “over the goal line.”

The House passed the Federal Aviation Authority reauthorization act earlier this year, which is now pending in the Senate, Johnson said.

“It will grow the aviation workforce, improve safety, ensure reliable flights for the American people and do everything we need to do. We are duty bound to make sure that happens,” Johnson said.

“Our bill also streamlines the FAA in Washington and it invests in our airport infrastructure through the airport improvement program. It cuts down on the red tape that makes it hard to build new airports and projects like the one we are witnessing here. It also provides the new opportunities for pilots to ensure that we have the workforce we need to safely grow service,” Johnson said.

“America is the gold standard in aviation in aviation safety and innovation, but the FAA needs reform, it needs investment and stability to continue that legacy,” he said.

Johnson urged the Senate to take up the House’s FAA reauthorization bill and send it to the president’s desk in order “to maintain the gold standard that we are all so familiar with,” he said.

Johnson also took some non-airport-related questions from the press during his visit.

Aid to Israel

“Israel is a top priority for the United States. Supporting our ally there is critical. We passed the bipartisan Israel support package out of the House a while ago, not long after I took the gavel — about a month ago. It’s been sitting in the Senate on Chuck Schumer’s desk. And so we are encouraging them to get that done,” Johnson said.

War broke out Oct. 7, when Hamas militants in Gaza crossed the border into southern Israel, killing at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting some 240 others, the Associated Press reports.

Israel immediately declared war with weeks of airstrikes and a ground offensive, which by some estimates left over 13,300 dead in Gaza, according to PBS.

During the current truce, the two sides have been exchanging hostages for prisoners.

Aid to Ukraine

“Ukraine is another priority. Of course, we can’t allow Vladimir Putin to march through Europe. We understand the necessity of assisting there,” Johnson said.

“What we said if there is to be additional assistance to Ukraine, which members of Congress believe is important, we have to also work to change our own border policy,” Johnson said.

Republicans have linked aid to Ukraine with new border security measures to help manage the influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“And so there has been a lot of talk and negotiation ongoing with that. I think most of our Senate colleagues recognize that those two things need to move together because we owe that to the American people,” Johnson said.