Pensacola airport's $70 million expansion has been years in the making. What to know

Brandon Girod, Pensacola News Journal
·5 min read
2

Before leaving office in November last year, former Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson began putting plans into motion that he hoped would culminate in an estimated $70 million expansion of the Pensacola International Airport terminal.

Signs that the airport had finally outgrown its bones became evident at the time as it began struggling to house planes that landed and was coming close to capacity.

"I think we're going to need a second terminal," Robinson said during a weekly press conference in May 2021. "We've been talking about it. In the long-term plan, it's already there.”

The number of passengers during that time frame was 10% above the same week in 2019. More recently, the Pensacola airport had a record-breaking passenger count in fiscal year 2023, seeing a 17% increase from 2021.

Passengers pick up the baggage at baggage claim at Pensacola International Airport Sunday, April 3, 2022.
Passengers pick up the baggage at baggage claim at Pensacola International Airport Sunday, April 3, 2022.

Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves has since taken up the baton and hit the ground running in what is likely to be a long marathon as the city works toward funding millions toward finalizing a design for the terminal expansion while still working to lobby funds for the construction portion of the project.

"I don't want this design to be completed and it starts to collect dust while we wait on potential funding for construction," Reeves told the News Journal in July.

The timeline for when the airport expansion will break ground has likely floated to 2025 as the city continues to wait for money available at the federal and local levels.

Here’s what to know.

Why is a new airport terminal needed?

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pensacola International Airport has continued to see record-breaking travel numbers. In March 2022, the airport saw a 40% increase in passengers compared to March 2021 and broke that year’s record of 2.3 million passengers.

During his “State of the City” address at CivicCon on Tuesday, Reeves gave updated numbers for fiscal year 2023, which showed a record-breaking 2.65 million passengers that passed through the airport’s terminal gates.

Finalizing PNS design: Pensacola fronting half of the $4 million design of a new airport terminal

The fiscal year 2023 saw an 8.6% increase in passenger counts in 2022, a 17% increase over 2021 and an 87% increase over 2013.

Reeves pointed out that the Pensacola International Airport's number of annual passengers has increased by a million travelers over the past decade.

How much will the new terminal cost?

The construction portion of the Pensacola airport terminal expansion was previously estimated to be around $70 million, though designs have yet to be finalized.

Robinson said that there would be money at the federal and local levels available to help fund the project. The city may look at issuing bonds to fund the cost of the project not covered by state and federal grants. The bonds would be paid back with fees the airport collects.

Passengers pick up the baggage at baggage claim at Pensacola International Airport Sunday, April 3, 2022.
Passengers pick up the baggage at baggage claim at Pensacola International Airport Sunday, April 3, 2022.

The city had been waiting until all funding for the project was in place from the Florida Department of Transportation with a plan to do designs this year and begin construction in 2024 or 2025, but so far, the city has only received half of the funding needed for the terminal design.

Regardless, Reeves said he wanted to move forward with the project and fund the other half out of the airport's fund reserves because the airport is in critical need of expansion.

When will the new airport terminal expansion be complete?

When Robinson first presented the idea, he believed work on the terminal would take between five to seven years, resulting in everything wrapping up between 2027-2029.

Last year, Pensacola’s airport director, Matt Coughlin, said that the expansion’s design and engineering would be complete this year and groundbreaking would begin in either 2024 or 2025, though that timeline may be inching closer toward the latter estimate.

'State of the City' address: With $72M in grants, record downtown & airport visitors, Reeves keeping pedal down in year 2

What new features will the expansion bring?

The full details of what the new terminals will bring won’t be completely known until the design is finalized, but the Mayor gave a quick summary in his “State of the City” address.

The new airport expansion will include a larger security area, five new gates (which will increase the airport’s capacity by almost 50%) and new concessions.

What airlines fly out of PNS?

PNS is partnered with seven commercial airlines:

  • American Airlines

  • Delta

  • Frontier Airlines

  • Silver

  • Southwest

  • Spirit

  • United

What nonstop flights does PNS offer?

PNS features nonstop flights for more than 15 cities. Flights are offered year round unless otherwise stated.

American Airlines

  • Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT)

  • Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA)

  • Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)

  • Miami International Airport (MIA)

  • Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) — Seasonal

  • LaGuardia Airport (LGA) — Seasonal

  • Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) — Seasonal

  • Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) — Seasonal

Delta

  • Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL)

Frontier Airlines

  • Denver International Airport (DEN)

Silver

  • Orlando International Airport (MCO)

  • Tampa International Airport (TPA)

Southwest

  • Nashville International Airport (BNA)

  • Dallas Love Field (DAL)

  • William P. Hobby Airport (HOU)

  • Denver International Airport (DEN) — Seasonal

  • Kansas City International Airport (MCI) — Seasonal

  • Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) — Seasonal

  • St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) — Seasonal

Spirit Airlines

  • Ft. Lauderdale Airport (FLL)

  • Orlando International Airport (MCO)

United

  • George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)

  • Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)

  • Denver International Airport (DEN) — Seasonal

How large is PNS?

Passengers pick up the baggage at baggage claim at Pensacola International Airport Sunday, April 3, 2022.
Passengers pick up the baggage at baggage claim at Pensacola International Airport Sunday, April 3, 2022.

The Pensacola International Airport features a 159,000-square-foot, two-story terminal and a two-story concourse with 12 gates and 10 loading bridges.

PNS sits on 1,400 acres and also has a parking garage with a skyway totaling 963 available spaces, a main surface lot with 830 spaces and two economy parking lots that have 538 and 465 available spaces, respectively.

There are 80 total daily arrivals and departures on average. The daily total seat capacity is 7460 on average.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: PNS terminal expansion is years in the making. What you need to know