St. John’s airport expansion Part 1 to open July 12

ST. JOHN’S — St. John’s International Airport announced Tuesday the opening date of the first phase of the expanded airport terminal building will be July 12.

The construction for the first phase of the expansion began in late 2014 and has added 145,000 square feet to the departures area of the airport terminal.

The first flights on the morning of July 12 will operate through the new pre-board screening area, which will be accessible through the first floor adjacent to the checkin area, the airport said in a news release. The new departures lounge will feature additional seating and gate capacity, and more food and beverage and retail outlets.

The existing terminal building was designed to accommodate an annual capacity of 900,000 passengers. Since the initial opening in 2002, the annual passenger volume at the airport has grown to exceed 1.5 million passengers, resulting in a building with many operational constraints and limited services, the airport said.

The expansion currently underway is designed to address these issues.

Construction on the second phase will begin in 2019 and add about 100,000 square feet to the arrivals area.

When the expansion project is completed in 2022, the airport terminal building will be more than double its existing size at 420,000 square feet.