Durango-La Plata County Airport held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday on a $7 million terminal expansion that will add a boarding gate and expand on seating areas, concession stands, public restrooms and the post-security screening area.

The expansion will help DRO accommodate more travelers as the passenger loads have grown nearly every year during the past 10 years.

Aviation Director Tony Vicari said flight load factors have been reaching 80% to 90%, meaning planes are typically 80% to 90% full. By comparison, flight load factors had historically been in the 70% range. Often, a 90% load is considered full by airlines, because they must factor in additional passengers from previously missed flights.

Since the existing terminal was built in 1988, airport traffic has doubled, Vicari said.

Phase 1A construction will occur on the east wing of the building, the side that serves United Airlines. Phase 1B will renovate the west wing where a temporary tent structure has housed the American Airlines terminal for the last 10 years.

“As a temporary structure, it has a finite shelf life to it,” Vicari said of the tent structure. “And we’re already over a decade into the life cycle of that temporary structure, so we need to have a game plan to be able to backfill that square footage, because it’s not going to last forever.”

It was necessary to begin work on the east side to add space before beginning work on the west side, which will displace a large number of passengers.

“This is a significant moment for our community,” said Durango City Councilor Jessika Buell during the ceremony. “DRO is a major economic engine for Durango, La Plata County and the Four Corners region, producing approximately $300 million in economic impact and supporting over 2,700 jobs.”

The project is being headed by Mead & Hunt, Dibble Airport Development and Nunn Construction.

Nunn Construction Division Manager Sam Krier said Phase 1A will likely have to use 20 to 50 workers per day to finish the project.

“This is going to create a big infusion into our economy here,” Krier said. “This is a Davis Bacon job, which is prevailing wage, meaning there’s going to be a lot of well-paid workers out here.”

United Airlines recently began serving DRO with a 126-passenger Airbus A319 because of increased demand to and from Denver.

With the addition of larger aircraft, Vicari said the airport could experience higher peak traffic flows, especially when flights to and from different places overlap creating an influx of travelers.

“With our seasonal service to Houston restored, there will be more opportunities for overlap,” Vicari said. “It wouldn’t be unusual to see 200 people come through in a relatively short period of time, and we’re making sure our facilities can accommodate that.”

The terminal upgrades will add 60 to 70 seats, thereby increasing the airport’s capacity to serve more flights.

The $7 million project has two sources of funding. A majority of the funding comes from a $5.1 million federal grant from the Federal Aviation Administration. In 2021, a bipartisan bill was passed to fund the modernizing of airport infrastructure.

DRO chipped in $1.8 million from fee revenue generated by the airport. This includes fees paid by the airlines, leasing rental car space and parking.

“We want to reiterate that this project is not contemplating using any local taxpayer funds through either of the development phases,” Vicari said.

Phase 1A is estimated to be complete by the spring of 2024 and Phase 1B will likely begin in the summer of 2024.

Phase 1B will bring larger changes to the layout of DRO. About 25,000 square feet will be added to the airport to replace the tent structure on the west wing. Transportation Security Administration screening is planned to be relocated with a more linear layout, in addition to a new baggage claim area, and another flight gate and seating area.

This will eliminate the current “Z” TSA screening layout and make it linear to improve the functionality of the airport, Vicari said.

He said the current airport layout was designed before Sept. 11. After the attacks, security checkpoints were fit into any area airports had available.

“It’s not laid out in the most passenger-friendly area, and it creates some real choke points,” Vicari said.

Construction of Phase 1B will likely take until 2026 to finish because it is a much larger project. It is estimated to cost about $25 million, for which airport management is seeking additional federal grants. DRO will also attempt to supply about $8 million in funding from airport fee revenues.

“There’s still some work to do, definitively, on 1B,” Vicari said. “We have to complete the design and there are a few outstanding pieces on the funding side that still need to be locked in. But we're moving ahead and feel good about our direction there.”

Despite the construction, Vicari says airport operations will not be interrupted. He added that the airport is undergoing construction in a phased manner so that it can avoid impacting existing operations while expanding.

tbrown@durangoherald.com