OGDEN — When Breeze Airways announced last month it would be establishing a commercial presence at Ogden-Hinckley Airport in February 2024, the clock began ticking for airport officials.

Breeze’s arrival will necessitate the reintroduction of several elements that have been gone from the airport since it last saw commercial service in 2022.

Airport Manager Bryant Garrett told the Standard-Examiner on Thursday that safety and security are among the biggest boxes to check.

“There’s what’s called an ARFF Index — aircraft rescue and firefighting,” he said. “You have to have certain-sized equipment and a certain amount of training. We never gave that up, so that one is fairly easy.”

While the airport still meets safety standards that it met while commercial service previously was active, the airport will need to do work to bring security back.

“Essentially, 90 days after you no longer have any airlines, you have to essentially de-federalize,” Garrett said. “TSA (the Transportation Security Administration) has what’s called an ASP — Airport Security Program. There’s a big, long regulation and essentially you have to write a document that tells you how your airport is going to meet those standards. We were released from that obligation in September of 2022 and I have to gain that certification back.”

He said they are nearing completion of reworking security protocols for the airport.

“I’m on the third iteration of the security deal,” he said. “I write it initially, I submit it, they make red lines, it comes back, I either accept them or argue them and I submit them back in. They are now in the process of submitting it back to me with minor edits instead of major edits.”

He said it will require a sign-off from the TSA’s federal security director for the state of Utah.

“Once he’s signed every page of the 180-page document, we’re all prepared and will have one last security inspection where he goes over our whole program,” Garrett said. “That is in the last phases.”

And then there’s also the matter of preparing the terminal building itself.

Garrett said there had been some big plans for the terminal prior to Breeze arriving.

“We had a large renovation that we’d essentially prepared $7 million to cover the cost of,” he said. “When we opened up bids, they were much closer to $10 million and I didn’t have any way to bridge that gap. We were seeking ways to come up with the additional money and that’s when Breeze approached us and indicated that if we were a willing participant in a little incentive, they would be willing to start service. Now I don’t have time to do a large renovation of the terminal; I’ve got to get it back into shape.”

Instead, the airport has initiated a $2 million renovation of the terminal building.

“The area that used to be the airport administrative office has been given up and that will be five kiosk ticket counters,” he said. “We’re using roller tables instead of conveyor belts. The other part of TSA, outside of regulation and oversight, they’ve got to put in a piece of baggage screening equipment … and they also have to get in the normal equipment like the X-ray equipment, walk-through metal detectors and what’s called Advanced Imaging Technology, which is the one you stand up in and have the sensing equipment rotate around you. … All of that equipment has to be in and installed by trained technicians and it has to be calibrated before the first use of it.”

Garrett said the goal is to finish renovations by Feb. 1 to have everything ready for service later in the month. He noted that they are having issues with getting a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system due to supply chain delays but believes one will be available for use by the time they’re needed in the summer.

He added that much of the personnel hiring will be done by outside entities.

“TSA (will have to) either hire additional people or they will need to obligate people that are already employed at Salt Lake to come up to Ogden,” he said. “Breeze has to select a ground handler that will do most of their ticketing functions, customer service, a gate agent, flagging in the aircraft and loading the baggage both onto the aircraft and off to take it to baggage claim.”

Garrett said he’s satisfied with the progress being made.

“We’re on budget and we’re on schedule,” he said. “I don’t think I could ask for more than that.”

Breeze Airways will begin serving Ogden-Hinckley Airport on Feb. 21 with service to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California.

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