SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) — The Sioux Falls Regional Airport was hoping to move ahead with a more than $100 million plan to design a new concourse, but with recent decisions from state lawmakers the future of the project is uncertain.
During an Airport Authority Board meeting on Tuesday, the board discussed the future of the proposed expansion to the Sioux Falls Regional Airport. Ultimately no action was taken regarding the project.
Senate Bill 127 would have allocated money from the states general fund to help fund projects like Sioux Falls Regional Airport’s concourse expansion and Rapid City Regional Airport’s terminal expansion.
The bill failed on the House floor with 37 yeas, 32 nays and one legislator excused. The legislation required a two-thirds majority vote to pass.
Without state funding, it leaves the airports’ portion of the project up to almost $50 million.
“It’s a tough decision to take on a significant amount of debt, but it’s a project that we all agree is needed,” said Dan Letellier, Executive Director of the Sioux Falls Regional Airport. He added they want to move forward with the project, but it all comes down to funding.
“We have to be financially responsible and to ensure that we have the funding in place, that the amount of debt that the airport is taking on is something we’re comfortable with, but right now we’re taking a bit of a pause,” Letellier said. “We’re trying to get the latest construction estimates, all that’s a bit in flux now with some changes in tariffs and how that impacts materials for the project.”
The project would add five new gates at the airport and expand the terminal capacity. Letellier said in a previous interview the new addition would be at least an 18-month project.
Letellier said the demand for travel is only going to continue to grow and the airport needs to grow to accommodate.
“In our particular region we have people moving to Sioux Falls on an annual basis and those people are gonna travel,” Letellier said. “That demand is gonna continue to grow if we aren’t able to increase the capacity by additional flights and larger aircraft, then prices will go up.”
South Dakota airports are public entities, but are limited in what funding they can receive and what they can charge, adding they have zero influence on where airlines fly or the rates that they charge. A state study shows the airport has a $500 million impact on the Sioux Falls area.
Letellier said a decision needs to be made on the project soon or it could face additional expenses and further delays.
“I would say it’s on a bit of a pause until we get some updated figures, if we’re gonna move forward with it this year, this summer, we really need to make a decision fairly soon so they can get those, bids out for contractors,” Letellier said. “Time is running short, if we don’t make a decision here fairly soon, we would pushing off the project to at least another year.”
Letellier added that while the first 3 months of travel for the year are keeping a record breaking pace, we could see demand soften in later months.
“Future demand for the rest of the summer and fall is starting to to soften quite a bit so they’re looking at pulling back some schedules and some routes that they had already out there,” Letellier said. “The airlines are concerned about the economy and as people are maybe a little more cautious about how they’re spending their disposable income that certainly could impact our level of travel for the rest of this year.”
The Sioux Falls Airport Authority Board is set to discuss the proposed expansion again in April.
