Work on New Cheyenne Airport Terminal to Start Soon

After eight years of work, Cheyenne Regional Airport officials are hoping to break ground on a new terminal this summer.

"The terminal site earthwork that's going to have to happen before we can start working on things like getting the foundation set and the building pad and all that, that will be happening sometime between the end of June and early to mid-July," said Jim Schell, Assistant Director of Aviation.

The 28,000 square foot facility, which will be located just west of the airport administration office on Airport Parkway, will include the passenger terminal, a vehicle parking area and an aircraft parking apron.

"The existing terminal is past its lifespan," said Schell. "A lot of the systems in there are outdated and barely functioning as it is right now, and a lot of the layout of the existing terminal doesn't lend itself well to modern security requirements."

Schell says the existing deficiencies have made it very difficult to maintain air service.

"We're building this new terminal for the future," said Schell. "With the absence of the new facility, we have no shot really at having any sort of air service in Cheyenne or any sort of sustainable air service into the extended future."

The $15.5 million project is expected to be completed by late 2017.

"We can't take a couple of bad years and throw out the fifty years before that that were successful for air service," said Schell. "So we're looking forward to the future, we're looking forward to growth and continuing to sustain air service down the road here and we're confident that we can make that a reality for Cheyenne."