SRQ set to acquire land for expansion. Here’s what that means for airport passengers

It seems that a never-ending series of projects have been underway at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport in recent years.

Frequent fliers get it: with roughly 3.5 million more annual passengers than a decade ago, something had to be done.

The good news is that $200 million worth of projects should be completed by December. And the changes should make the flying experience easier for millions of passengers. Here are some of the upgrades:

▪ A $100 million passenger terminal will add five new passenger gates on the east side of the airport. The new ground-level terminal should be in service sometime in January. Budget airline Allegiant Air will base its SRQ passenger operations there.

Included in the $100 million terminal project is adding a second set of down escalators to the baggage claim area. That work should be completed this week.

Work on the escalators that go upstairs from the ticketing area will begin soon and take a few months to complete.

In the meantime, there will be one upstairs and one downstairs escalator in the baggage claim area. Once the escalator work is finished, there will be two up escalators from ticketing and two down escalators to baggage claim.

▪ A $50 million integrated baggage system, capable of handling checked luggage from anywhere in the airport.

▪ A $10 million ground transportation center for county buses, taxis, shuttles and ride-hailing services like Lyft or Uber.

▪ A $10 million ramp expansion for overnight parking for three airliners and expanded employee parking.

When these expansion projects are completed, Rick Piccolo, the airport’s president and chief executive officer, believes SRQ will be able to handle more than 7.5 million passengers a year. The airport currently serves about 4.5 million passengers a year.

SRQ airport’s future expansion plans

The airport has an ultimate build-out concept that could eventually add more gates to the terminal. The most likely place for more gates could be an expanded area near the still-under-construction ground-level passenger terminal. Those gates would extend into what is now the shade parking lot.

Also, Concourse A, which is the ticketing and baggage check area, could eventually see passenger gates added. That option would add three gates.

The airport now has concourses A and B, with B being the upstairs passenger loading and unloading area. In the future, the construction of Concourse C could add seven more passenger gates to the west side of the terminal.

New College land swap

On Monday, the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority approved a land swap with New College that will help protect entry to the airport from General Spaatz Boulevard off Tamiami Trail. The swap would also provide a buffer for the proposed long-term plan to add Concourse C.

Under that agreement, the airport authority would sell 30.94 acres to the State of Florida for $11.5 million. New College currently has a 99-year lease on the land. The lease was written in 1957 and the annual rent is $108,072, well below current market rates.

The agreement also allows the airport authority to reclaim 3.88 acres of leased property from New College, north of General Spaatz Boulevard. The airport would also get the General Spaatz right of way.

The authority would receive easements on the New College campus, west of U.S. 41, allowing all types of aircraft to use the airspace.

The proposed agreement is subject to Federal Aviation Administration approval and state funding.

What about SRQ’s parking problem?

SRQ could add a parking garage in the future. The airport added park-and-ride facilities and a cell phone lot in recent years to handle additional passengers.

That influx increased after Hurricane Ian dealt a devastating blow to Fort Myers in 2022. Many fliers who would have ordinarily used Southwest Florida International Airport in Lee County chose SRQ as an alternative.

That crush of passengers from Fort Myers has abated, somewhat relieving the parking situation at SRQ.

Futurists say that while Baby Boomers have always wanted to drive their own cars, millennials are more apt to use ride services or mass transit. Younger generations feeling less attached to driving their own cars could help lessen the demand for more parking space, Piccolo said.