Utah County pledges $78 million to help fund next phase of Provo Airport expansion
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- A Breeze Airlines flight takes off from the Provo Airport on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.
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- A SkyWest airplane departs the Provo Airport on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.
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- A rendering of proposed changes to be made at the Provo Airport.
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- A rendering of proposed changes to be made at the Provo Airport.
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- Renderings of proposed changes to be made at the Provo Airport.
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- A rendering of proposed changes to be made at the Provo Airport.
Utah County is going all-in on assisting the Provo Airport in its next phase of expansion.
The Utah County Commission voted to approve an interlocal agreement with Provo City Wednesday afternoon, putting $78 million toward funding expansion of the airport.
The county’s agreement provides $19.5 million up front for the airport, then a $3.9 million annual contribution for the next 15 years, according to County Administrator Ezra Nair.
The funds will contribute to a project that will expand the airport from four to 10 gates, increase the baggage handling and ticketing areas, and build out the airport for international travel.
“We’re super excited about the vision that the county has on this, that they’ve recognized the value of this facility and what’s happening here, and are willing to help really bring it to the next level,” Provo Airport Director Brian Torgersen told the Daily Herald.
County Commissioner Skyler Beltran called the agreement a “generational project” that will build out the Provo Airport to its “full potential.”
“Expanding the airport is a win-win,” Beltran said in a statement. “Not only will it boost tourism and visitor-generated revenue that can help benefit our citizens and reduce tax burden for years to come, but it will also provide increased convenience and travel opportunities to Utah County residents.”
The $78 million accounts for over 50% of the $140 million the expansion is estimated to cost. Torgersen said the airport has approximately $130 million “identified for the project” and is using largely the same fundraising formula that helped it secure $65 million for the terminal project that was completed in 2022.
“We have FAA, state, county, city and Mountainland Association of Governments on this expansion phase,” Torgersen said. “We were successful the first time around in that strategy. And so we’ve gone down that road again.”
Utah County’s portion of the funding comes from the county’s tourism, recreation, cultural and convention tax, or TRCC. No general fund money was used, Beltran said.
The county has accumulated a significant TRCC fund balance over the years, and county officials were waiting for a project they believed would be a worthy investment.
“This seemed like kind of the golden opportunity,” Nair said.
The airport has seen unprecedented growth in recent years, doubling the amount of passengers in each of the last two years. It is 12 to 14 years ahead of the FAA’s growth projections, according to Torgersen.
American Airlines began services from Provo in October 2024, joining Breeze Airways and Allegiant Air as one of the airport’s three commercial partners. Currently, passengers can fly to 16 locations from Provo.
Torgersen said there is a large amount of interest from other airlines, but the airport is currently at capacity and is unable to accommodate additional routes or airlines.
“This expansion essentially builds out the vision of the airport terminal facilities to get to the ultimate build out of what the Provo Airport is going to become,” Torgersen said. “And that’s not anywhere near Salt Lake, but the 10 gates is what we have envisioned, and we don’t see ourselves becoming much bigger than that ever.”
Nair said the arrival of American and Breeze at the airport has turned it into a “viable option” for residents and visitors, with 30% of the airport’s customers coming from Salt Lake County.
Utah County believes it can capitalize on that growth.
“You figure 80% of the people that are eating at your restaurants are our locals, and 20% are probably those travelers,” Nair said. “And so for us, this is such a good fit. This is a huge asset to the people who live in the county, but it’s also going to be a huge driver for tourism and continuing to replenish that fund.”
Torgersen said the project is split into nine different phases. The first phase, which will expand the “apron” or area where aircraft are parked, is expected to begin construction in April of this year and will allow the airport to accommodate additional overnight parking of aircraft.
The second portion of the project is the expansion of the ticketing and outbound baggage processing areas. Torgersen said the ticketing stations will be expanded from 10 to 28, and the baggage area will be built out to its full capacity.
The larger projects don’t have a concrete timeline, Torgersen said, but the airport has awarded a design services contract to Layton Construction for the terminal expansion.
“We’ve got them on board at this point to assist our architects and engineers in the design process,” he said. “And through that design process, we identify how much of the building we can build and if our budget is what we thought it needed to be.”
Also in the plans is expanding the airport’s parking lots and relocating the rental car location. Two of the new gates will also be designed to accommodate international arrivals.
“Momentum is a valuable tool,” Torgersen said of the growth. “Allegiant did a really good job to kind of put Provo on the map, and then Breeze came in as well as a brand new airline and was successful. I think just once people experience what it is flying out of Provo, they want to come back and avoid the chaos and the stress involved with larger airports.”
