Sarasota Bradenton International Airport is expanding. When will construction be done?
The planned ground-level passenger terminal at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport is no longer just a concept.
The 75,300-square-foot ground boarding facility, which will eventually have five gates, a four-lane security checkpoint, nursing rooms, a pet relief area and restrooms, now has a roof and a concrete floor, as well as underground utilities.
Also planned are 970 seats, 630 with power for phones and other electronic devices.
The new terminal rising from the construction site was a welcome sight for members of the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority, who met Monday afternoon.
“Steel is going up. It’s coming along well,” Rick Piccolo, the airport’s president and chief executive officer, said of construction.
Piccolo is working under a December 2024 deadline to have the ground-level terminal completed, a tight schedule considering that a $70 million package of airport expansion projects did not officially begin until March.
SRQ airport has record-breaking traffic
SRQ became the fastest-growing airport in the United States just before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequent growth has been nonstop, with an estimated 4.3 million passengers expected to pass through the terminal this year.
Southwest Airlines, which started service at SRQ in February 2021, served 69,755 passengers at Sarasota Bradenton International in August, the most of any airline.
Delta was number two, with 62,241 passengers and Allegiant, which started service at SRQ in in 2018, was the third leading carrier with 43,698 passengers.
Allegiant, which now has three passenger gates at SRQ, will take over all five gates in the ground-level terminal when it opens. Allegiant’s current three gates will be freed up for other airlines.
In August, SRQ reported a 10% increase in total passenger numbers as the summer travel season concluded. During the month, 261,091 passengers traveled through SRQ, an increase of 10% as compared to August 2022 despite the impact of Hurricane Idalia, which shut down air service for a couple of days in August.
Passengers traveling through the airport year-to-date totaled 2.9 million, a 14% increase over the first eight months of 2022. The 12-month activity through August 2023 totals 4,209,480 passengers, a 12% increase compared to 3,744,982 passengers for the 12 months through August 2022.
“The positive trajectory of passenger traffic at SRQ is expected to continue well into the fall season with the addition of new and returning flight services,” Piccolo said in a press release.
“We can’t get that terminal up fast enough,” Piccolo said.
Also coming to SRQ are four new escalators, two in the baggage wing and two in ticketing, and expansion of the ground transportation area at the west end of baggage claim. Planned are improvements for the use of space by taxis, buses and limos and relocation of all three rental car companies to one lot to perform maintenance, fueling, cleaning and storage.
In addition, the baggage handling system will consolidate the three existing systems into one fully inline system.
New service coming to SRQ
▪ Philadelphia/Wilmington, Del. (ILG) – Avelo Airlines, starting Nov. 2
Returning service
▪ Toronto, Canada (YYZ) – Air Canada, starting Oct. 31
▪ Cleveland, Ohio (CLE) – Frontier Airlines, starting Dec. 21
