Accommodating post-9/11 security measures, making changes called for by airlines and incorporating related capital projects are adding $52 million to the projected cost of the new Midfield Terminal Complex at Southwest Florida International Airport. Funding for the increase will come from additional state and federal grants, debt- service reserves and other airport revenues.
Modifications needed to accommodate TSA's new passenger- and baggage-screening procedures include a more complex baggage-handling system, expansion of the terminal by 27,000 square feet, more space for passenger-screening checkpoints and wider corridors leading to those checkpoints, and operations and administrative space for TSA. Terminal improvements, which the airlines had planned to pay upfront, also are included in the $52 million. The new 28-gate terminal, scheduled to open in 2005, will replace the existing 17-gate terminal, which was opened in 1983. The new terminal is designed to be expanded as needed, to an eventual 65 gates. The airport accommodates more than 5 million passengers annually.