WEST BAY — Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport officials mapped out a 20-year growth plan for ECP’s facilities at a meeting last week, moving another step forward in the master planning process.
During the meeting, the airport board directed consultants to move forward with a recommended $33.6 million terminal expansion plan, one of the five terminal growth concepts presented at the meeting.
Once completed, the master plan will provide staff with 5, 10 and 20-year planning horizons for the airport, with improvement projects carried out in phases as passenger activity increases.
“This program is based on you attaining those activity levels,” said Project Manager Paul Puckli, who presented the concepts to the board. “Your numbers are down a little bit, so you’re going to want to scale back a little bit in terms of this program.”
Expansion of the security checkpoint and outbound baggage claims areas were positioned as the highest priority projects, which Puckli said will likely need to occur within the first phase of improvements within the next five years. The first phase also includes relocation of one airport gates, the expansion of four gates and an expanded concessions service beyond the security checkpoint.
The second and third phases of expansion would add two gates to the terminal and also additional concession space. Phase three, Puckli said, is still 20 years out.
“As traffic continues to grow … you can see we’re adding additional gates,” Puckli said. “We’re building more concessions, we’ve got more passengers, more revenue is being generated. You can see how this logical flow of building is growing and you’ve got the central core of concessions.”
The five concepts ranged in price from $26.7 million to $38.3 million.
The chosen plan had the second highest price tag, but Puckli said the “split concessions” concept provides the most flexibility and the greatest potential for revenue, with two central concessions areas positioned at the top of the existing escalator.
Consultants will now go back and break down the cost of the expansion plans by phase, so projects can be completed as funding becomes available.
“The flexibility is there,” said ECP Director Parker McClellan. “It gives us the ability to move forward in pieces.”
A master plan is needed for airports to be eligible to receive state and federal funding for improvement projects.