Airport Experience® News - Retail Issue 2026

DIRECTOR’S CHAIR

That’s a $25 million project, a design-bid build project, that should open the end of next year. Then the Terminal B expansion is being done by CMAR (construction manager at risk). WARD: When will those B gates come on stream? NICHOL: Probably the fourth quarter of 2029. It’s so needed. If they were up and running now, the airlines would probably take almost all these gates.

The last thing I’ll mention is the consolidated rental car facility, which is going to be our biggest project at about $485 million. We’re doing it by progressive design-build. The [parties involved will] progressively agree on guaranteed maximum prices to us. We’ve got rental cars in the mix on this. We’re going to need to consult with them, and so the progressive approach is better in terms of facilitating changes as we go. I’ll mention one other thing. I’m very proud of the fact that the pedestrian walkway was funded with a slew of different funding, but it was the first TIFIA loan ever for an airport. (A TIFIA loan is a federal credit program run by the federal government. TIFIA interest rates are equivalent to U.S. Treasury rates.) WARD: On the concessions front, I know there have been several openings recently and more on the way. How are the transitions going? What’s next? NICHOL: We started in 2023 – we needed to refresh all of our food and beverage locations, 18 in total. I’m so proud of my staff. They met with 200 local entities to create interest for them to come and work at the airport, and we got great responses. We have a mix of some direct leases and some where they [partner with a prime

Below: Sacramento International Airport’s $1.4 billion improvement project includes a new pedestrian walkway between Terminal B and Concourse B, a new parking garage, new roadways, Concourse B expansion and a ground transportation center.

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AX NEWS SEPTEMBER 2026