Airport Experience® News - Pre-Conference Issue 2025

LATEST BUZZ

FAT FORWARD MOMENTUM Fresno Yosemite International Is Expanding To Meet Growing Demand

BY SARAH BELING

rawing visitors to its cities and nearby national parks, the Central Valley region of California has

– we’ve grown in passenger numbers in that time period, [and since the pandemic] have seen even faster growth, which justifies the need to expand more.” FAT, which surpassed its 2023 numbers with an estimated 2.67 million passengers in 2024, began work on the first phase of the expansion in September 2020 with the construction of a new four-level parking garage. Work on the main terminal expansion, which will add just over 100,000 square feet to the facility, broke ground in May 2023 and is “moving along really well,” says Thompson, who notes that the project is expected to be complete by fall 2025.

Above: A terminal expansion is underway at Fresno Yosemite International Airport as the airport seeks to keep ahead of expanding passenger traffic.

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long been a destination for adventure seeking travelers. For the team at Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT), a pattern of sustained growth across the region meant one thing: it was time to upgrade their facilities. “The projected growth in the Central Valley warrants expansion,” says Henry Thompson, FAT’s director of aviation on the impetus for the airport’s multiyear FATforward expansion project. “The last expansion we underwent was 20 years ago

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AX NEWS FEBRUARY 2025