Navigating Through Construction at U.S. Airports

Somewhere in the bowels of the Minneapolis airport, a worker or two probably are doing some last-minute tinkering with the new passenger tram that’s supposed to glide on air, beginning later this month.

In San Francisco, the tracks and machinery are being laid for the BART rail extension that will connect the city’s airport with downtown next year.

In Detroit, a new $1.2-billion terminal will be unveiled in December.

Across the U.S., government and airline officials are spending tens of billions of dollars on airport expansions and improvements. Some of these projects are aimed at increasing traffic and reducing the delays that afflicted so many passengers last year, the tardiest year in U.S. air travel history. Other projects simply are efforts to make the airport experience less uncomfortable--adding skylights, restaurants and clubs for frequent fliers.

For the business traveler who struggles through these terminals, down these hallways and across these access roads, all this building activity is a two-edged sword: Soon we’ll be counting on these shiny new amenities, but until they’re up and running, we have scaffolding, tarpaulins and detours to contend with.

Here’s a look at improvements, expansions, annoyances, replacements, upgrades and relocations travelers can expect at the busiest airports in the U.S. Many of these airports, such as New York’s Kennedy International and Atlanta’s Hartsfield International, are in the early stages of grand expansions that won’t be done for several years. Others--most notably Los Angeles International--are handling far more passengers than they were built to serve, yet still await official decisions on whether to expand and how much.

ATL: At Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport (77.9 million passengers in 1999, the last year for which comparative statistics were available), a series of ground transportation improvements began in mid-January. Completion is expected by September.

Until then, peak construction hours are 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., but travelers are asked to arrive at the airport 45 minutes earlier than they ordinarily would.

The ground transport improvements, which carry a price tag of $6.4 million, are dwarfed by the work yet to come: a $5.4-billion redevelopment effort. A new rental car facility is scheduled for completion in 2003, and a new terminal for international flights, to be placed at the end of the existing Concourse E, is planned for completion in late 2004 or 2005.

More info: https://www.atlanta-airport.com

ORD: At Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (72.6 million passengers in 1999), a spokeswoman said the only project affecting travelers is construction along the departure-level roadway.

That work will reduce the number of available lanes from April to November. Though most of the work will be done 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., Chicago Department of Aviation spokeswoman Monique Bond recommends travelers arrive 90 minutes early for domestic flights (rather than the usual 60 minutes). Similar work on the arrivals level is expected to bring disruptions on a smaller scale.

Because the construction is clustered around the airport’s domestic terminals, Bond said, passengers heading to Terminal 5 (which handles international flights) probably won’t be affected.

At O’Hare’s 25-gate Terminal G, American Airlines recently completed an $80-million renovation, adding skylights to brighten the facility and a new Admirals Club.

More info: https://www.ohare.com

LAX: Though Los Angeles city officials are busy sifting through a handful of long-term proposals to expand LAX (67.6 million passengers in 2000, up from 63.9 million in 1999), the decision isn’t expected to reach the City Council until early 2002, and Federal Aviation Administration approval is required after that. In the meantime, LAX spokesman Scott Read said no major projects affecting travelers are planned in coming months.

More info: https://www.lawa.org

DFW: Officials at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (60 million passengers in 1999) said they have no major short-term projects, but plenty of larger, longer undertakings in the works.

In a $2.5-billion capital development campaign, the airport is adding a fifth international terminal, which will hold all international flights, and a new people-mover to circulate passengers among terminals. The airport-adjacent Hyatt West hotel is to be demolished in August and replaced by a new Hyatt Grand that will adjoin the new international terminal (which will be known as Terminal D).

Construction of the new terminal began last summer, and airport spokeswoman Tina Sharp said workers have raised the 50-foot-high pillars that will hold the new people-mover. Target completion date for all of these projects is 2005, Sharp said.

The new train-like people-mover system will replace the airport’s existing rail shuttle, and is expected to reduce passage time between buildings.

More info: https://www.dfwairport.com

SFO: San Francisco International Airport (40.4 million passengers in 1999) is spending $2.4 billion on upgrades, and two of its three biggest projects are yet to open. The one that has opened is a new 24-gate international terminal, which debuted in December, along with about 3,400 new parking spaces.

Still in the works: a nine-stop airport light-rail system (completion due in February 2002) and a station linking SFO to the Bay Area Rapid Transit rail system. When the BART station opens next year, trains are expected to carry travelers from SFO to downtown San Francisco in 29 minutes.

More info: https://www.flysfo.com

DEN: At Denver International Airport (38 million passengers in 1999), a spokeswoman reports no projects at the moment. The next major efforts probably will be the addition of a sixth runway and an airport-adjacent hotel--but there’s been no groundbreaking on either yet.

More info: https://www.flydenver.com

MSP: At Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (34.2 million passengers in 1999), this spring is expected to bring not only an additional passenger terminal but new ground transport and expanded retail and restaurant services.

The new Humphrey Terminal is scheduled to open May 2. The $80-million terminal, which will open with four gates and expand to nine by the end of this year, will serve as headquarters for Sun Country Airlines and several charter carriers.

The airport’s principal shopping area, Northstar Crossing, has added 11 food and retail outlets since Dec. 1, 2000--including Maui Taco, two Travel Mart stores, T.G.I. Friday’s, A & W, Godfather’s Pizza and Heritage Books & News. Further openings expected in conjunction with the Humphrey Terminal unveiling: Lord Fletcher’s restaurant, a Travel Mart and Lakeshore News.

Airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said that at the end of April, passengers no longer will step outside to catch a shuttle bus to reach the rental car facilities. Instead, said Hogan, travelers will take a new “hub tram,” a sheltered conveyance that hovers on a cushion of air (for about 90 seconds) as it carries passengers the 1,100 feet between the airport’s main Lindberg Terminal to the Hub Building that holds rental car outlets.

Also, the airport, which doubled its parking capacity to 14,000 spaces last year, has an additional 10,000 spaces expected to open in 2002.

Perhaps most encouraging for those wary of air-traffic delays, a fourth runway is to be added in 2003, a move officials say will increase flight capacity by 25%. (All of these projects are part of a broader $3-billion expansion program, begun in 1998, that is to be completed in 2004.)

More info: https://www.mspairport.com

DTW: Detroit Metro Airport (34 million passengers in 1999) is deep into construction of a new $1.2-billion Midfield Terminal, to be dominated by Northwest Airlines. The terminal is due to be completed in December, along with a second airport entrance for drivers and a fourth parallel runway to increase air-traffic capacity.

Begun more than four years ago, the 97-gate terminal project (which includes an 11,500-space parking garage, a customs and immigration processing facility and an overhead tram system carrying connecting passengers gate to gate) has been labeled the largest public works project in Michigan history. A joint project of Wayne County and Northwest Airlines, it is to include more than 80 stores and restaurants and its own electric-generation plant. A terminal-adjacent hotel is to open late next year.

Northwest, which uses about 60 gates in the Detroit airport’s Davey Terminal, will be Midfield’s main tenant, joined by commuter partner airlines and international carriers including KLM, British Airways and Lufthansa. Other domestic carriers will remain in the airport’s Smith Terminal.

Airport officials are considering options for the Davey Terminal, which will be idle once Northwest moves its flights to Midfield Terminal.

The new airport access road, which will bring in auto traffic from Interstate 275, is expected to absorb half of the traffic now entering the airport near Interstate 94.

Because of the strategies used by air-traffic controllers in directing jets, said airport spokesman Brian Lassaline, the addition of a fourth parallel runway will boost by 50% the number of flights the airport can handle, reducing delays substantially. The project, like the new access road, is scheduled for completion at the same time as the new terminal, at the end of this year.

More info: https://www.metroairport.com

MIA: Officials at Miami International Airport (33.9 million passengers in 1999) report no major disruptions for travelers. But anyone passing through probably will encounter signs, inside and outside, of a major expansion.

In all, $5.4 billion in construction is planned, and the work, which began in 1993, is expected to continue through 2008. When it’s done, the airport’s terminal and radiating concourses are to grow from 4.7 million square feet to 7.4 million.

Additional improvements are scheduled for roadways and parking, along with added space for cargo storage and handling and the construction of a fourth runway. (Groundbreaking for the runway, which isn’t expected to affect traffic on other runways, was last week. Target date for completion is July 2003.)

Information officer Inson Kim of the Miami-Dade Aviation Department said minor road work has been in progress around the airport, but passengers should find no dramatic changes in the facility.

The airport features eight concourses, labeled A through H, radiating like fingers from a main terminal. The expansion eventually will connect concourses A through D directly to each other, making a single super concourse of 47 gates. A new concourse (labeled J, so that travelers don’t confuse I with 1) also is planned.

“It’s like building a new airport on top of an existing airport,” Kim said.

More info: https://www.miami-airport.com

LAS: By mid-April, officials at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport (33.7 million passengers in 1999) were hoping to complete renovation of the C-Gate area dominated by Southwest Airlines.

Meanwhile, grading began in December to add a northeast wing to the airport’s D-Gate satellite concourse. The project, to be completed in late 2003, will add 10 gates for domestic flights. (The airport has 93 gates now.)

The next projects are more ambitious: two more terminals (both proposals under environmental review now). Assuming approval, airport spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said, a charter-flight terminal is expected to break ground in 2003, with completion in 2005. The other new terminal, which would handle domestic and international flights, would break ground in late 2004 and open in 2007.

(After that, around 2010, comes a new northwest wing for the D-Gate concourse. And then a second airport.)

More info: https://www.mccarran.com

EWR: Newark International Airport (33.6 million passengers in 1999), the busiest of the three major commercial airports serving New York City, is in the middle of a $3.8-billion overhaul that includes a new control tower (to be completed by the end of 2002), added parking, renovated and expanded passenger terminals (most notably the addition of a dozen new gates to the Continental-dominated facilities in Terminal C). Most work is to be completed by the end of this year.

For many travelers who have passed through in recent months, however, the big hang-up has been this airport’s troubled monorail system. The existing 1.9-mile monorail through the airport was closed for repairs in September 2000, forcing travelers to use a makeshift shuttle bus system. The monorail reopened March 10.

As part of the overhaul, officials plan to extend the monorail route by a mile, linking it with New Jersey Transit and Amtrak service. The extension, an airport spokesman said, is expected to begin passenger service by the end of 2001.

Until then, airport officials recommend that travelers allow an extra 30 minutes of travel time beyond airline recommendations. For updates, passengers can call (888) EWR-INFO.

More info: https://www.newarkairport.com

JFK: At New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (31.7 million passengers in 1999), authorities forecast billions in spending in coming years, most of it spread among the nine terminals. One spokesman calls it “the largest airport redevelopment program in U.S. aviation history.”

Another key addition is the AirTrain, an 8.1-mile, $1.9-billion light-rail system that will connect with the area’s train and bus systems. A Port Authority spokesman said tracks have been laid and work continues on the new system, which will carry travelers from terminal to terminal, from terminal to rental car outlet, and from all those points to a pair of off-airport ground transportation hubs. The first to be completed, with a targeted opening by the end of 2002, is the AirTrain connection to the Howard Beach Metropolitan Transportation Authority station, where the A train of musical fame picks up subway travelers heading into Manhattan. The second ground transport hub, to connect with AirTrain in 2003, is the Jamaica station in Queens, which serves several bus and subway lines, as well as the Long Island Rail Road.

At JFK’s Terminal 4, which handles international carriers including Air Lingus, Air India, Egyptair, Sabena and SwissAir, a $1.1-billion reconstruction and expansion effort is to be completed by June.

At Terminal 7, which handles British Airways, $220 million in road work and parking work is to be completed in the second half of this year.

At terminals 8 and 9, American Airlines and the Port Authority have begun work on a $1.4-billion project to convert the two terminals into one large terminal, roughly doubling the number of gates from 29 to at least 55. Work on that project is expected to continue until 2006.

Work is yet to begin on the expansion and modernization of terminals 2 and 3 (where Delta’s gates are) and terminals 5 and 6 (where United’s gates are).

More info: https://www.panynj.gov/aviation/jfkframe.HTM