OGDEN — Funds from the federal infrastructure bill and COVID-19 relief appropriations will allow construction earlier than previously expected to nearly double the Ogden-Hinckley Airport terminal’s size as part of a plan to increase commercial flight capacity.

Airport Manager Bryant Garrett was in Phoenix on Wednesday, attending a conference where he hopes to attract additional commercial airline business to Ogden. But first things first, regarding the terminal.

“Bottom line, you are limited by your infrastructure,” said Garrett, reached by phone for questions about the airport’s new funding. “It’s a bottleneck. We are trying to morph a terminal built in the late ’40s to be able to take multiple large air carrier flights at the same time.”

In June last year, the city approved terminal work of more than $2 million, including $520,000 in local funds from Business Depot Ogden lease revenue and $1.5 million in federal funds. Now, an additional $5 million is available from federal coronavirus relief legislation and the 2021 infrastructure bill, according to city documents.

The planning commission recently approved the additional spending, which, if the city council agrees, will allow work to begin quickly on the terminal expansion. City Planning Manager Greg Montgomery said Wednesday the plan will go before the city council for final approval within a few weeks.

The terminal’s square footage will increase to more than 36,000 from the current 20,000, according to project plans. The existing Transit Security Administration passenger holding room’s capacity is 204 people, which makes it impractical for airlines to schedule simultaneous flights when some of them have up to 180 passengers. Garrett said the expansion will boost capacity to 450 people.

The plan also will allow construction of an indoor baggage claim area — passengers currently pick up their luggage under a canopy outside the terminal. The expanded terminal will have four gates as well, Garrett said.

Two airlines now use the Ogden airport: Allegiant Air, with flights to Mesa, Arizona, and Avelo Air to Burbank, California.

Garrett said the expansion follows on recent improvements such as a $250,000 terminal roof replacement and the $350,000 job to remove the old air traffic control tower, which was seismically unstable.

The series of projects is being done for about $8 million without the city needing to take on debt, he said. A new terminal would cost $45 million to $60 million.

Garrett said other projects include a new taxiway on the airport’s west side, where long-range plans contemplate the eventual construction of a new terminal as the airport’s needs grow.

Montgomery said that the terminal expansion and hoped-for expanded airline business will improve the airport’s bottom line, a step toward making the airport self-sustaining. “We are really always trying to promote the airport and getting others involved,” he said.

In the background of the terminal expansion, the city is navigating legal entanglements with longtime general aviation hangar lessees. As part of an airport master plan the city adopted in 2020, the city is not granting hangar lease renewals. Dozens of those tenants have filed a federal lawsuit against the city, alleging their rights are being trampled and the city is unconstitutionally seizing their hangar improvements.

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