SOUTH BURLINGTON — A swanky new terminal with an open-air observation deck is slated to open at Vermont’s largest airport as soon as the end of March, officials said on Thursday — with the demolition of several existing gates expected to start right after.
The project, at Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport, is replacing four existing gates in the facility’s north terminal with four more-spacious ones that branch off of a glassy, timber-framed concourse. The new gates will offer more seats and are situated further back from the airport’s taxiway, allowing newer, larger airplanes to use them.
“We are creating an airport that lasts,” said Nic Longo, the airport’s director of aviation, during a tour of the new facility with reporters on Thursday.
The new terminal is heated and cooled with geothermal energy pumped up from the ground below. It includes a third-floor observation room and outdoor deck, both of which people will be able to access without going through airport security. The deck offers a full view of the airport’s runways as well as Camel’s Hump and Mount Mansfield.
That publicly accessible area will also include new offices for the airport’s staff and a meeting room for the Burlington Airport Commission. Other amenities, back downstairs in the secured terminal, include a new children’s play area and a fireplace lounge. There will not be any food or drink vendors in the new concourse, according to Longo.
Construction started on the new building in October 2024. Officials plan to open it to passengers on March 31, Longo said, though he cautioned that date was tentative.
After that, work will start on demolishing the existing gates — Nos. 3 through 6 — as well as the administrative offices that the new concourse is replacing, Longo said.
The project is slated to cost $68 million, which is higher than a $45 million estimate officials gave previously. Longo said that initial figure reflected only the cost of the new building, while the higher figure more fully reflects the cost of the project including demolition of the existing gates and the facility’s new geothermal heating system.
The project remains almost entirely funded with federal dollars, he said. A large piece is $34 million in congressionally directed spending, also known as an earmark, that was secured by former U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy in 2022. The project also has funding from the Northern Border Regional Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration. Local funding for the project, required to match the federal dollars, comes from fees the airport already charges passengers every time they book a ticket.
Also on Thursday, officials presented a new consultant’s report that found the total number of jobs supported by the airport is about 15% higher than it was the last time that data was studied, in 2018 — for a total of about 5,650 jobs today.
That includes people working at the airport itself and also the Vermont National Guard base located across the tarmac, home to the F-35 program, as well as the electric aircraft manufacturer Beta Technologies, which is also based there.
Total wages paid out by airport-based employers has increased by more than 90% in that timeframe, the report found — something tied to Beta, as well, officials said.
