BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - The city commission has approved a 20-year development plan designed to accommodate more passengers and an increasing number of large planes at Bismarck Municipal Airport.
The plan calls for better runways, taxiways and parking for planes in anticipation of a rise in the number of Airbus A320s using the airport, the Bismarck Tribune reported.
Project Manager Bart Gover works for consultants Mead & Hunt, which created the plan. Grover called the Airbus A320 the “most-demanding” aircraft to plan the airfield around.
“There are several airlines using that aircraft now,” Grover said. “But we see this as the aircraft that will be most active, most demanding over the next 20 years.”
Four more aircraft gates will be needed by 2035, the plan states.
The commission approved the plan Tuesday night. The Federal Aviation Administration must authorize the plan before it can secure federal funding, Grover added.
Gover noted a projected modest increase in passenger traffic means the airport will also need more parking spaces, a larger concourse and an upgrade to baggage handling systems.
The plan recommends expanding the current concourse by around 63,000 square feet (6,000 square meters), with a 10,000-square-foot (900 square meter) increase to the terminal.
Grover referred to parking as the “single most important revenue source at any airport in this country.”
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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com
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