Airport Experience® News - Conference 2023

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BIG LIFT IN GRAND RAPIDS GRR’s “Elevate” Expansion and Modernization Is Underway

BY C AROL WARD

nahugemove for a small hubairport, Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) is investing more

The total passenger count for 2022, at 3.46 million, was just shy of the 2019 record year. “We expect in 2023 we’ll be right back to that [overcapacity] situation, which goes back to why we need the projects,” Richardson says. “In 2019 we were leaving people and bags behind because we couldn’t process everything fast enough.” The overall Elevate project consists primarily five parts: • The Concourse A expansion, currently underway with expected completion in the first quarter of 2024, will add eight new gates, for a total of 22, along with new amenities to serve the traveling public. The total cost is expected to be about $110 million.

Above: Gerald R. Ford International Airport in

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Grand Rapids, Michigan is undertaking a massive $500 million capital project that will prepare the airport for the next decade of growth.

than $500 million to take its facilities to the next level. The project, currently underway, is one of the largest capital expansion projects in the U.S. for a small hub airport. “Prior to 2019, we were literally busting at the seams in terms of growth and in terms of our ability to handle all of the passengers,” says Torrance Richardson, president and CEO of the Gerald R. Ford International Airport Authority, noting that growth has resumed post-pandemic. “The amount of growth in our region was really driving the need for us to move forward with some of these significant capital expansion programs.”

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