Planes and automobiles: Jacksonville International Airport expanding gates and parking

Jacksonville International Airport is heading into the thick of $440 million of construction that will build a new concourse and parking garage as the airport feels the growing pains from record-setting numbers of fliers.

The biggest change will be the addition of a third concourse that will add gates for planes and enable Jacksonville to have more flight choices.

More flights means greater demand for parking that's already squeezed. The Jacksonville Aviation Authority will be building a third parking garage in walking distance of the terminal.

The aviation authority kicked off the construction with a ceremonial ground-breaking Friday morning attended by state Department of Transportation District 2 Secretary Greg Evans, U.S. Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, U.S. Rep. John Rutherford, R-Jacksonville, and Mayor Donna Deegan.

"Northeast Florida, put your seats in the upright position, stow those tray tables because with the addition of Concourse B, Jacksonville International Airport is cleared to really take off," Bean told the crowd gathered in the terminal.

Here's what travelers can expect during the construction and after the work is done.

New concourse has been in the works for 16 years

Councourse B will be between existing concourses A and C, which might prompt questions about why the airport doesn't already have a Concourse B.

The airport once had a Concourse B but tore it down in 2009 after the construction of concourses A and C in 2008. The aviation authority has been planning since then to build a new Concourse B between A and C, but the Great Recession of 2008 and the global Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 caused steep drops in air travel and put those plans on hold.

Jacksonville Aviation Authority CEO Mark VanLoh joked that when stormy weather forced the ground-breaking ceremony to move indoors, that was another case of adapting to outside forces.

"We were starting to wonder — look outside — if this program was cursed," VanLoh said.

This time around, construction of the concourse will be happening. The aviation authority got the building permit Wednesday from the city. Construction will occur over the next two years with completion by the end of 2026.

Concourse will add six gates to handle record-setting travel

The two existing concourses have a total of 20 gates. Concourse B will start with six gates. VanLoh said American Airlines, which is the busiest airline at Jacksonville International Airport, will get five of those gates, creating more space for the airport to handle planes during peak times each day.

Deegan said the airport set a record in 2023 with 7.4 million travelers going through it, a 13% increase from 2022. Concourse B as designed will let Jacksonville International Airport move 10 million passengers.

Deegan said the airport landed new nonstop flights to Los Angeles, San Diego and Pittsburgh in 2023 "and we are working hard to finally land that nonstop to London — hope to have that in the pipeline very soon."

"I believe our travel and tourism will only grow from here," she said.

State's investment in airport expansion is its biggest ever for region

The state Department of Transportation is kicking in $54 million for the concourse expansion. It's the largest single investment FDOT has ever made in an aviation project for Northeast Florida, said Evans, who heads the district that covers 18 counties.

In addition to state money for the concourse, a combination of federal grants, passenger facility charges, customer facility charges and the aviation authority's own financing will pay for the new concourse and the parking garage.

The total $340 million tab for the concourse also covers expansion of the security checkpoint that already has been completed in the terminal. That work added more lanes for travelers to go through and installed new screening equipment.

The project also will build a new taxiway and ramp in phase 2 and then the concourse in phase 3. The construction of those phases can overlap.

For travelers, the main impact of the concourse construction is it will force relocation of the food court that is located in the terminal after people pass through the security checkpoint. The aviation authority says it has worked to add other dining options such as Angie's Subs, Chili's, Southern Grounds and Vino Volo to offset the loss of the food court. The authority also will have an alternate site for pet relief since the current pet relief site will make way for construction.

New parking garage will add 2,000 spaces

Construction will start this summer on a $100 million, six-level parking garage that will be built behind the hourly and daily garages. The new garage will be displace some surface parking spaces that are within walking distance of the terminal.

The construction of the parking garage will have more impact on travelers than work on the concourse because parking already hits capacity during heavy travel times.

Air travel surge: Jacksonville International Airport sees record 7.4 million passengers

"Building anything over the top of an existing parking lot is a nightmare," VanLoh said. "We're looking forward to getting it done and providing more spaces."

While the two-year garage construction takes place, the aviation authority is adding other parking options that will bring 1,287 spaces online elsewhere, though most of those won't be in walking distance of the terminal.

The authority is adding 287 spots at Economy Lot No. 1 with an expected completion by July 29. The authority is paving Economy Lot No. 3 so it can handle parking year-round with 800 spaces. It will be open starting Memorial Day weekend and have eight more electric vehicle charging stations.

Finally, the authority says improvements to the valet vehicle storage area will free up 148 parking garages spaces and 53 surface parking spots.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville International Airport concourse and parking garage