BEGINNING OF CONSTRUCTION AT SRQ

 

New Terminal Construction to Begin at SRQ

Today, construction on a terminal extension that will add five additional gates at the Sarasota Bradenton Internal Airport begins. The project, according to SRQ Airport CEO Rick Piccolo, would enable the formerly modest airport to handle up to 7 million people annually.

The $71 million vertical building phase, the largest chunk of the $100 million terminal project, will begin at an 11 a.m. ceremony on Air Cargo Avenue. This comes after a three-year period in which travel to and from SRQ quadrupled, making it the airport in America with the fastest growth.

Piccolo said, "I've been at airports for 50 years and I've never seen anything like this.

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the airport handled almost 1.3 million passenger trips annually. Nonetheless, the airport handled close to 4 million passenger flights in 2022, and Piccolo predicts 4.5 million in 2023. All of that has taken place in buildings constructed with a maximum envisioned capacity of around 3 million passengers per year.

During the start of the epidemic, there were six airlines operating nonstop flights from the airport to 12 locations. Presently, 55 nonstop destinations are served by 11 airlines flying into and out of SRQ.

The main objective of the new terminal will be to accommodate SRQ's accelerated growth from 2020. The airport served more people in the previous three years thanks to improved scheduling software and the hire of 100 more employees, and new gates, concessions, and basic inside space will help to alleviate the current capacity concerns.

Piccolo is confident that once additional facilities open, the airport can do much more thanks to the efficiency gains brought on by necessity. The new terminal, a $50 million baggage system, and a number of other enhancements will cost $200 million to be made to the airport over the next 18 to 24 months. Piccolo anticipates that when that work is finished, airlines will seek to expand their service and destinations in the upcoming year.

Once the epidemic began, Florida tourism experienced a surge in visitors as the state started removing lockdown restrictions in advance of popular travel spots. Yet, SRQ continued to expand strongly after that. Piccolo gives credit to several elements.

One is new visitors to the Gulf Coast in 2021 who made additional trips. Many even purchased homes, whether they were temporary or long-term. Piccolo declared, "Our little secret is no more."

Yet the lengthier automobile rides that must be factored into travel schedules were partly a result of the rise in traffic between Sarasota and Tampa International Airport, the largest major airport. While SRQ used to lose a lot of passengers to TIA, more people might now opt to fly out of this airport because of an increase in destinations.

The brand-new terminal will be known as Terminal A when it opens and won't be connected to the current terminals. Passengers will pause at the current ticketing locations before proceeding to a different security checkpoint depending on which gate they utilize. The airlines that will use the additional gates have not yet been chosen.