Built in the early 1990s and designed to handle one million passengers annually, Pensacola International Airport currently is straining to handle nearly three times that number. To accommodate the record-breaking growth, Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves is making a $70-million terminal expansion project a top priority of his administration. “We aren’t bursting at the seams, we’ve lost the seams,” Reeves says.
Airport Director Matt Coughlin says design and engineering plans call for five new passenger loading gates and a major expansion of the security screening area. “Our master plan envisions future expansions to include another concourse to the north of the current terminal,” he says, and the ultimate configuration may be as many as 23 gates.
While those design and engineering plans for the five new gates are in hand, what’s missing is the $70 million — and a diligent search is on for funding. “We are pursuing federal funding through various airport grant programs to include the FAA’s $5 billion, multiyear Airport Terminal Program,” says Coughlin.
Meanwhile, the City of Pensacola, which owns the airport, is working with state legislators to secure FDOT funding.
As of March, state lawmakers had allocated $1 million in the Senate budget and $750,000 in the House budget. Despite the shortfall in funding, Coughlin says he is cautiously optimistic Pensacola’s terminal expansion project will break ground in 2025.
Meanwhile, three neighboring airports in Tallahassee, Panama City and Destin-Fort Walton Beach also are enjoying robust passenger growth that is moving expansion plans forward.
Those projects include:
- Construction of a $28-million International Processing Facility at Tallahassee International Airport.
- Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport’s recent 125,000-sq.-ft. expansion of its food service area. Airport Executive Director Parker McClellan says design plans are underway to expand the North Terminal and add three passenger loading gates.
- Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport recently installed three new passenger loading gates. The $4-million project was approved and funded by the Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners.