JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After years of delays, the Jacksonville International Airport is expanding, breaking ground Friday on the new “Concourse B.”
Currently, the airport has “A” gates and “C” gates, but building Concourse B will add six gates, which means more flights can be scheduled. And the plan is to allow four more gates for plane parking if necessary.
There are also plans for a new taxiway that will allow more than one take-off point and a third parking garage that will add roughly 2,000 new parking spaces.
In 2023, more than 7.4 million people flew into and out of the airport. That’s 3 million more people than the previous year. The expansion could allow at least 10 million people to fly into and out of Jacksonville every year by 2035.
Jacksonville Aviation Authority CEO Mark VanLoh said the vision for Concourse B formed more than a decade ago but there was some turbulence along the way.
“Everything was thrown at this project. Sixteen years ago, we dreamt of this concourse. Then the economic crisis hit and basically shut down the United States for a couple of years. We got back on our feet and then COVID hit. Then that shut us down for three years. Now we are setting records again,” VanLoh said.
It was originally scheduled to open between 2014 and 2015 after the original Concourse B was demolished in 2009.
New plans for the concourse were announced in 2019, but that project was delayed because of the pandemic.
There was a steep drop in people traveling through the airport from an average of 12,000 people a day in 2019 to just 500 a day in 2020.
So far, 12 new TSA checkpoints were added in December to make lines shorter. Beyond the checkpoints, there are also new restaurants and shops.
Michelle Barnett, the chair of JAA, said she hopes this transforms the airport and enhances travelers’ experience.
“More concourses obviously mean more opportunities. That means more destinations, different planes. People will be able to have more direct flights out of Jacksonville and it would be easier for people to get to Jacksonville,” Barnett said.
Representatives at the airport expect construction on Concourse B to be completed by the end of 2026.