Fresno sets contract to expand its airport terminal. Here’s how much it will cost
Fresno’s airport is poised to undergo a multimillion-dollar expansion of its terminal, clearing the way for the anticipated completion by the end of 2025.
The Fresno City Council awarded a contract for almost $127 million to Q&D Construction, a company based in Sparks, Nevada, to build the terminal expansion at Fresno Yosemite International Airport. As part of the unanimous approval of the contract Thursday, the council also awarded a separate consulting contract for about $778,000 to Fresno-based Moore Twining Associates for quality assurance and inspection services.
The expansion of the terminal facilities is one piece of a broader modernization program nicknamed FATForward, a play on the airport’s official FAT identifying designation from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The city has already spent almost $8.5 million on the design phase of the project. “It is now time to award Phase Two of the … contract for construction activities necessary to deliver the project as designed,” said Henry Thompson, director of aviation for the city of Fresno.
In anticipation of the terminal construction, the city last year approved a contract for more than $10 million to extend the concrete apron or tarmac immediately east of the existing terminal building – a measure that set the stage for the construction.
The project calls for a new terminal concourse to augment the existing terminal building with two new passenger gates with boarding bridges to handle both international and domestic arrivals and departures, as well as expanded passenger waiting areas and new concession areas.
What is included?
The work also includes expanding the Transportation Security Administration’s passenger-screening checkpoint to provide greater capacity; a new inspection system for checked bags; upgraded conveyor systems for baggage; and a new Federal Inspection Service facility.
Thompson said the project, in the planning stages for years, is “in response to unprecedented growth and to maintain high levels of service expected by the public.”
City Councilmember Miguel Arias expressed concern over the design for the international arrival/departure area, which includes a lobby of about 2,500 square feet as well as an outdoor plaza. Arias noted that Fresno’s international flights to and from Mexico have scheduled arrivals and departures late at night or in the wee hours of the morning.
“I don’t want international passengers and their families to be waiting outside in the cold or in the heat,” Arias told Thompson. “I’d like to see the design include more indoor waiting areas just like we do” in the domestic terminal.
Thompson said that would require a change order to the existing project, at a likely cost of about $2 million. He added that could be incorporated into the project budget by returning to the City Council for approval of a change order.
The expansion of the terminal comes after the airport opened a new parking garage in the fall of 2021 with more than 900 parking stalls.
Beyond the terminal expansion, plans are also in the works to replace the aging FAA air-traffic control tower at the airport, as well as rebuilding one of the airport’s two runways.
