The regional airport in Medford serves a large area and is a doorway to the rest of the world for many living in Southern Oregon and Northern California.
Airport Director Amber Judd said they鈥檙e forecasting double the amount of passengers in 20 years. They鈥檙e projecting around a million passengers to pass through every year by 2042.
Judd said the airport needs to double in size to handle that many passengers. She said they鈥檙e already struggling to meet the demands of airlines with only two jet bridges.
鈥淥ur terminal is only 15 years old, but it was designed for a whole lot of smaller regional jets, which don't exist anymore,鈥� said Judd with Jackson County Commissioners on November 26. 鈥淎nd the trend is only bigger and bigger.鈥�
Judd said there are other issues pointing to a lack of space at the airport. They can only operate two security checkpoints at a time, and there's no more check-in desks available if new airlines want to come in.
Judd said the proposed expansion will almost double the square footage of the airport to meet demand. And that鈥檒l take a lot of money.
鈥淭his is a very, very expensive project,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd as much as we've tried to save over the last 10 plus years we don't have this much money saved.鈥�
Judd expects the entire project to cost around $180 million based on the latest projections. The most expensive part is a major concourse expansion. They would build a new two-story concourse, capable of handling at least six planes at a time.
Judd said based on their current funding options, she feels comfortable moving forward with the new concourse, along with an expansion of outbound luggage handling.
While Jackson County owns the airport, it operates independently, and doesn鈥檛 rely on county funding to run.
Judd said increasing some of the fees the airport charges will help cover some of the costs. They鈥檙e also looking at state and federal grant funding. But, they still don鈥檛 know how much money they could get from those.
The airport could start seeking a designer for the project as soon as December. But construction isn鈥檛 expected to begin until the end of 2026 at the earliest.
