When an airport expansion is completed in summer 2026, Durango-La Plata County Airport passengers will be greeted by spacious interiors with vaulted ceilings, natural lighting and cultural reminders of the Four Corners.

“What we’re trying to create is a more open and spacious feel for the public, as well as aggressive daylighting and then aggressive windows onto the airside so we have very good public views of the aircraft operations looking out onto the ramp,” said Tony Vicari, aviation director at the airport.

The $36 million expansion will add about 24,000 square feet to the 40,000-square-foot building – about a 60% increase in size. It will also renovate several thousand square feet of the existing building.

By the time it is done, the airport will have new restrooms, a new baggage claim area, a new TSA screening area and four gates with seating areas (excluding the 4,500-square-foot tent area currently occupied by American Airlines).

What it won’t include are some of the features found at much larger airports, like escalators, jetways, a food court, smoking lounge, airline ambassador clubs or an air traffic control tower.

The goal is to increase the size of the airport to match demand without overbuilding it, Vicari said. Airlines want to make sure customers have a good traveling experience without having to overpay for landing fees, he said.

The airline industry is moving away from 50-passenger regional jets to those that carry 75 to 150 passengers, he said. With larger planes, more seating is needed in the terminals.

And with more overall passengers, the airport must provide more parking, larger ticketing windows, more efficient TSA operations, bigger restrooms and concession areas, and larger baggage screening operations.

“The needle we need to thread as an airport is making sure that we have the infrastructure here so they (airlines) can conduct their business successfully,” Vicari said. “But we don’t want to overbuild that infrastructure to the point where I have to charge the airlines exaggerated amounts of money, whereby we’re not competitive with other airports.”

Passenger traffic at Durango-La Plata County Airport has doubled the past two decades, from about 200,000 passengers per year to what is expected to be 400,000 passengers this year, according to Vicari and the city of Durango.

“It’s not aggressive growth – like we’re not seeing double-digit growth on an annualized basis over the last five years – but it continues to be incremental, with the exception, of course, of 2020, the COVID year,” Vicari said.

The existing terminal was built in 1988. Since then, passenger traffic has grown 120%. Yet, no major changes have been made to the building’s footprint with the exception of the addition of a 4,500-square foot temporary tensile fabric structure for American Airlines.

What’s more, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks required the TSA screening area to be reconfigured and increased in size, which put a squeeze on other parts of the airport.

“It gobbled up what used to be a boarding gate, essentially, at the airport, pre-9/11,” Vicari said. “That’s a whole full-on boarding gate, but it’s about 90% occupied by the footprint of the TSA screening checkpoint.”

The terminal expansion is being funded entirely by airport revenue streams and federal grants. La Plata County voters overwhelmingly defeated a proposed 20-year property tax increase in 2016 that would have raised $40 million for a brand-new terminal with $35 million to $40 million in matching funds from the Federal Aviation Administration.

“There is no local property, sales or lodgers tax that’s associated with the funding for this project,” Vicari said. “ … That’s something that we’re proud of. … We’re taking advantage of the airport’s strong financial position.”

The most recent economic impact study done by Colorado Department of Transportation Division of Aeronautics shows Durango-La Plata County Airport had an economic impact just shy of $300 million and drives 2,600 overall jobs in the community.

It is used by locals to access friends, family and business travel. And it is heavily used for inbound visitation related to tourism.

“I think it’s safe to say that the airport is one of the larger economic generators in the region,” Vicari said. “We want to make sure we maintain that with good facilities so that we can maintain the air service we have and continue to push for added air service and augmented air service for the community.”

Jack Llewellyn, executive director of the Durango Chamber of Commerce, said the airport is vital to the economic well-being of the Four Corners. It serves residents in northwest New Mexico and Southwest Colorado, giving them a direct route to Denver, Dallas, Phoenix and other major hubs on a seasonal basis. It also serves as a gateway for tens of thousands of inbound tourists and business travelers.

Some people may not appreciate the added visitation, but Llewellyn said those people likely don’t own a business. Durango has grown at roughly 2% over the past 40 years, he said. That is a healthy level of growth. Communities that don’t grow – he used Walsenburg as an example – can lose their appeal.

“When you don’t have growth, it’s not healthy,” Llewellyn said. “I was here in the early and late ’80s, and every other storefront was boarded up downtown. It was not a good situation.”

He said Durango is unlikely to see explosive growth because of its limited infrastructure, and it is somewhat landlocked by topography and federal lands. He noted that not every person who visits Durango buys a house.

“Like it or not, we are going to be a tourist destination because Durango has a lot to offer, from the train to hiking, biking, fishing, camping, (the) river – there’s so many amenities that we have,” Llewellyn said. “It’s something that the airport is a major contributor to helping serve.”

And there’s nothing wrong with having an airport that can comfortably accommodate locals and visitors, he said. He also said he’s flown into the Cayman Islands, and the airport is crowded and chaotic.

“You like having a little bit of elbow room,” he said. “As we bring in more planes, having that terminal expansion is a positive thing.”

The expansion is occurring in two phases:

As of last week, the foundation for Phase 1A had been poured, and cinder blocks were rising where the terminal walls will be constructed.

Construction at a fully functioning airport requires extra employees, some of whom work odd hours, and a willingness to stop or limit work during especially busy times.

Andrew Everett, superintendent with Nunn Construction, noted that his crew is working within 30 yards of a $50 million aircraft. Workers must keep a jobsite clean to prevent materials from blowing away and must stop certain activities to prevent unintentional damage to the planes or passengers boarding and deboarding planes, he said.

Workers are assigned to an interlocking gate system that opens and closes for loads of checked baggage, and to allow construction equipment to enter and exit the work zone at the northeast end of the terminal.

“Our goal for this project was to not interfere with any of the airport’s operations,” Everett said. “ … This is a secure area. So I’ve got to have that gate manned at all times.”

Construction has required power and water shut-offs, but construction crews limit those interruptions to the early morning hours, between midnight and 5 a.m., to avoid disturbing airport operations.

“That will be the case throughout the duration of this project,” Vicari said.

As part of a major construction project, construction crews are running new electrical conduit and tapping into plumbing lines. An old generator that provides backup power to the airport will be replaced and relocated to provide a new source of backup power.

Upon completion, the terminal will feature wood ceilings with slatted boards, sloping roof lines, terrazzo flooring and a brick outer facade.

“Architecturally, this thing’s going to be really cool,” Everett said. “It’s something that everybody out here is going to be really proud of.”

shane@durangoherald.com