Major expansion efforts and improvements are in the works for both Phoenix Sky Harbor and Phoenix-Mesa Gateway airports.
Both airports have put up record travel numbers in the past fiscal year, and both are eyeing new projects to accommodate the continued growth.
At Sky Harbor, construction of a new concourse with six new gates in Terminal 3 is expected to be completed by 2027.
“We need those gates yesterday,” said Jay DeWitt, Sky Harbor’s assistant aviation director and chief development officer. “2027 those will be coming online but those will be the last gates we can add to terminal 3 or 4.”
As they run out of room to expand in terminals 3 and 4, Sky Harbor is looking to build a new terminal to the west, near where the old terminals 1 and 2 used to sit.
“We’ve got land to accommodate it and we’d start construction around 2030,” DeWitt said, though first flights aren’t expected to begin until 2035 or 2036.
Final funding numbers are not yet available, but it will cost billions of dollars, all funded by airline fees – basically rent airlines are charged to be at Sky Harbor.