This article was updated at 6:47 p.m. with comments from Max Tracy.
Burlington International Airport is receiving a $14.5 million federal grant to expand its terminal building and consolidate security checkpoints.
The grant was announced Monday afternoon at a press conference hosted by Mayor Miro Weinberger. The grant is expected to cover 90% of the project. Passenger facility charges will cover the remaining 10% — a fee applied to most airplane tickets that goes toward the upkeep and maintenance of the city-owned airport.
Gene Richards, the airport’s director of aviation, said the project will make the airport more efficient and reduce costs, although he doesn’t know a specific amount yet.
“It’s a beginning for efficiency,” Richards said, “to get rid of some confusion and make it that simple little airport that it should be.”
The grant will allow the airport to:
• Build a two-story addition on the south side of the passenger terminal, adding 26,240 square feet of floor space.
• Expand the Transportation Security Administration’s area to offer five screening lanes on the first floor.
• Consolidate two security checkpoints into one.
• Improve passenger circulation by creating a direct route between the northern and southern concourses.
The construction is set to begin in July and will take 12 to 18 months. Richards said the construction should cause “zero” disruption to passengers. The airport has built a walkway that joins the northern and southern concourses so passengers can avoid the construction zone.
Richards said the TSA staff will shrink by 30% because of efficiencies resulting in the remodeling. He doesn’t expect job losses; rather, staff members will be moved around to other duties.
The airport is celebrating its 100th year of operation during one of the most tumultuous eras for air travel, the result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Weinberger praised U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, who attended the virtual press conference, for helping Burlington with the project, which “was given little chance of funding initially.”
The grant is coming from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Supplemental Airport Improvement Program, which mainly involves large airports, but Leahy, who chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, advocated that smaller airports be eligible, too, Weinberger said.
Leahy said he thinks Burlington will attract people from all over the country when it’s safe to travel again, and fortifying the airport to handle the traffic should be a key priority.
“You start building now because it will get better,” Leahy said. “We’re not going to wait till all Covid is gone. We have to start preparing now. Because the economy will come back. And Burlington is going to be extremely important.”
When the pandemic hit and travel came to a virtual standstill, the Burlington airport projected losses of up to $30 million. The airport secured an $8.7 million federal grant, shaved costs wherever it could and refinanced some of the airport’s bonds in order to stay afloat, Richards said.
“It’s a guessing game on when the passengers are going to return,” Richards said. “We’re doing very well, and I’m feeling confident we’re going to come out on the other side in a good place. So I can’t predict anything negative at this point.”
About an hour after the press conference, Weinberger’s mayoral reelection campaign sent out a press release, celebrating the airport expansion and criticizing Progressive mayoral nominee Max Tracy for opposing airport expansion.
When it came to the city council for authorization last month, Tracy had voted for the airport project but had voted against a different airport project in 2019. Weinberger pointed to a Tracy comment that he doesn’t support “that above-and-beyond sort of continued expansion” for the airport.
Tracy said his opposition to continued airport expansion stems from climate change concerns and the impact the airport has on the city’s goal to reach net zero energy consumption by 2030.
“At no point does he recognize the climate impacts the airport has,” Tracy said of Weinberger. “And my position has been that we need to create a plan for addressing carbon emissions related to air travel coming out of the airport and carefully consider the impacts of those emissions in any expansion that might take place.”
“In the months and years ahead, Burlington will need to take on the incredible task of rebuilding our community and economy from the pains of the pandemic,” Weinberger wrote. “This mission will only be possible if Burlington’s mayor is capable of collaboration on major issues, including the airport. The future of our airport will be far more uncertain should Max become mayor.”
