Completion of Saskatoon airport renovations targetted for June 2014
By June 2014, the new passenger terminal at Saskatoon’s John G. Diefenbaker International Airport will be complete and spacious enough to serve up to 2.2 million travellers annually.
That’s the vision outlined by the Saskatoon Airport Authority (SAA) and its president and CEO Bill Restall Wednesday at the group’s annual meeting.
The SAA begins a decade-long, $105-million capital spending program this year. Roughly half of the funds will be used to update and expand the passenger terminal, with the remainder earmarked for behind-the-scenes work such as runways and hangars.
“The terminal project is a huge project to deliver. It’s probably going to take us 26 to 28 months,” Restall said.
“People are becoming more sophisticated travellers, we want to provide them a better level of service. There’s more people flying so we have to give them more space.”
With a record-1.2 million passengers in 2010 passing through the airport’s terminal — which was built in 2002 for an annual capacity of 1.4 million people — the expansion will be complete just in time to accommodate growing demand for air service at the facility.
Restall said some areas of the building are already experiencing cramped conditions and other parts of the terminal have required expansion since the 2002 upgrade. The security screening area, for instance, has been expanded twice in the past nine years.
Between two million and 2.2 million annual passengers will be accommodated by the new terminal upon its completion in three years’ time.
A business lounge, restaurants, shops and a spacious waiting area will become available for passengers on the other side of the security gate as work on the terminal progresses.
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