After multiple consecutive years of record-breaking travel numbers, the Sioux Falls Regional Airport breaks ground on a new concourse expansion.
Dan Letellier is the Sioux Falls Airport Executive Director. He said this project is a big one.
“It’s been some challenges embarking on, and we keep saying, a ‘generational project.’ But it truly is, you know? It’s a $100+ million project if we complete the full build. That’s the building, it’s, all this needs to be paved over for aircraft parking," Letellier said. "So it’s a considerable expense [and] certainly the largest project the Airport Authority has ever been involved in.”
The concourse expansion construction will unfold in phases. The first phase includes a hallway, gates, restrooms and the airport ramp. Officials say this phase will cost close to $70 million. Construction should finish by March 2027.
Additional phases could include food, beverage and retail options, additional gates, and a new customs facility to handle international flights to the area. Those would mean $30-35 million more, and construction would continue well into 2027.
Letellier said the expansion responds to growing demand.
“You know in the past 12 years we’ve more than doubled the number of people flying in and out of the Sioux Falls Regional Airport, and with the continued influx of people into the community," Letellier said. "You know, those people fly, whether they’re flying for personal reasons, leisure, business, we’ve seen record levels of passenger traffic for the last three or four years.”
Letellier has hinted that the expansion could lead to new travel opportunities for locals as well. That could look like direct flights to “hub” destinations such as the New York, and D.C. areas, as well as potential leisure destinations like San Francisco and New Orleans. However, nothing is concrete yet.
