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Thursday, July 29, 2010
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Airport renovation plans may take off
Senior Reporter A renovated and expanded Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport terminal may have a more futuristic look, added space and possibly a jet bridge.
Funding for the proposed $6.4 million project may come from airport improvement funds that were not used for other projects and were returned to be redistributed in the region. Steve Sievek, airport manager, said terminal improvement projects have been high priority for funding.
The Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport's terminal renovation project is based on real need, Sievek said, not a facelift for a 30-year-old facility.
"There are a lot of good reasons for doing this," Sievek said.
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A Cirrus corporate jet sat outside the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport terminal building Wednesday afternoon. The airport commission is working on plans to renovate the terminal, adding space to the secure passenger waiting area and potentially adding a jet bridge for boarding.
Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey
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Many of the needs are driven by security measures never considered before Sept. 11. Before that day changed the face of American air transportation, Brainerd's open seating area for waiting passengers was more than functional. The bathrooms were across the hallway, but certainly near enough to be convenient.
Post-Sept. 11, the airport created office space for the Transportation Security Administration and transformed the open seating area into a secure zone. Passengers wait there once they are through the security screening. But, once there, they had no access to bathrooms unless they left the secure space. That meant they had to be re-screened before they could re-enter.
The size of the secure area works well for the typical 34-passenger Mesaba airplanes, Sievek said. But he said that space is stretched to accommodate nearly 100 passengers or more associated with Sun Country charter flights.
Screening passengers in groups of 30 or so means a delay before departure that airlines eye with a hard look at the bottom line, considering fuel costs and time schedules. Sievek said a 20-minute wait to board the passengers becomes a 90-minute wait.
Grant approved
U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) Wednesday announced a grant of $1,417,146 for the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport. to extend the runway and the taxiway.
The grant, one of two announced, comes from the Department of Transportation.
The other grant of $1,774,160 is going to extend runway and construct a taxiway at Cook Municipal Airport.
The DOT funds are disbursed through the Federal Aviation Administration.
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The proposed project puts a new face on the terminal building. The red brick would be covered with an insulated metal panel creating an improved energy efficiency. The addition of a raised center skylight is planned to bring more light into the terminal's interior.
Other space additions create a secure and private baggage screening area. Currently, baggage is screened in public view. So Sievek said other passengers are there while security may have to rifle through one traveler's undergarments.
The renovation would allow the bathrooms to be updated to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Plans are to add a companion restroom so an individual in a wheelchair who needs assistance will have privacy. Bathrooms would be available to passengers within the secure area along with vending machines.
A non-secure waiting area with a view of the landing area would continue to be available for family and friends of departing or arriving passengers.
One of the additions the airport wants to include in this project has been on the wish list for a long time - a jet bridge. It would serve the expected transition to regional jets in the future and charters now. The 50-70 seat regional jets already fly in daily to Bemidji. The regional jets could be in Brainerd's future.
The bridge links the terminal to the waiting aircraft. Passengers, including those who need a wheelchair or who find climbing the exterior stairs difficult, would be able to use the bridge link to reach certain planes. Currently, all passengers exit out on the tarmac and use an exterior staircase to access the planes in all kinds of weather. A lift is available for passengers who use wheelchairs. Sievek said the airlines wanted to retain the flexability to use the exterior stairs with aircraft, as well as access the jet bridge.
With the renovation, luggage would move on a conveyor for the behind the scenes screening.
The main change is the expanded secure waiting area for passengers, which would be created by bumping out the current space onto the tarmac. The entire area would gain from fire protection sprinkler system and all the bathrooms would be redone.
Ninety percent of the funding is expected from the transportation funds - created from ticket taxes and jet fuel and other related taxes for airport property such as de-icing equipment. The airport may have 10 percent to pay.
The project, with state participation sought along with federal funding, could take a year to complete. Construction would have to coincide with daily flights. The airport has four departures a day and loads 16,000 people on planes each year, Sievek said, which doesn't count charter flights that may add another 1,000 passengers.
While the airport has yet to hear about the terminal project's funding it did learn Wednesday that it will get a grant to extend the runway and taxiway.
Brad Davis, airport commission member, said the extension will be attractive to charters and will benefit regular flights. On hot summer days now, Davis said, the aircraft has to either reduce its fuel or its passenger load because the runway isn't long enough. The extension is expected to solve that issue.
If the terminal funding is known in time this season, work could begin this fall.
Sievek said for people who wonder if this is the right time to spend on the airport when money may be more needed elsewhere, it's important to keep in mind these funds are dedicated to improve airports, which generated the dollars to begin with.
"To me this is a very positive story for our area and the airport," Sievek said.
RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
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