Bipartisan Coalition, Business Leaders Support New International Terminal

Concourse E. Photo taken Aug. 30, 2024 by Graham Kilmer.

A coalition of local officials and business leaders gathered at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport Friday to stump for federal funding for a new international terminal.

Airport officials have been working on a new international terminal project for years, initially securing funding in 2017. But the project was paused when the COVID-19 pandemic devastated air travel, and the ensuing inflationary pressures pushed the estimated project cost beyond the previously secured funding award. The estimated cost was approximately $53 million in 2017. Now that number is closer to $80 million, said Airport Director Brian Dranzik.

The airport and Milwaukee County are working with federal officials and powerful local business interests to revive the project with federal funding made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The airport has applied for a competitive grant from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that could help close the approximately $30 million budget gap, Dranzik said at a press conference Friday.

The project is expected to boost travel in and out of Milwaukee Mitchell, leading to more flight options for leisure and business travelers alike; and boosting the local economy through increased tourism and efficiency for local companies doing business internationally.

“The real message that we want folks to understand is that in order to redevelop this particular concourse, Concourse E, it’s going to take the federal funds to do it,” County Executive David Crowley said. The county’s already troubling financial position has worsened over the past year, as a confluence of factors — including poor sales tax returns — have widened budget gaps in this year and next.

If funding is secured, the airport will redevelop Concourse E, shuttered in 2017, into a new two-gate facility for both domestic and international travel. The current international terminal is small, outdated and disconnected from the airport’s main building complex, presenting logistical challenges for international travelers and airlines alike. It was built in 1975 and has a capacity of 140 passengers, which is lower than the 200-person capacity of larger Boeing 767 and 787 aircraft used for long flights.

Redeveloping Concourse E is “as much of an efficiency, right-sizing effort as it is a move to the future,” Dranzik said.

Prior to the pandemic, plans included the demolition of the 66,000-square-foot Concourse E and the construction of a new 55,700-square-foot international terminal. It would have room for 300 to 400 passengers, allowing the airport to handle more than 175,000 international passengers a year.

The project has bipartisan support at the federal level, with members of the Wisconsin legislation like U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil and U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald backing the project, according to a spokesperson for Crowley.

Dale Kooyenga, a former Republican state legislator and current executive director of the powerful Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, said international travel is a critical part of day-to-day operations for many local companies that do business overseas.

If the FAA awards Milwaukee Mitchell the grant, Kooyenga said, “what they are doing, is they’re making Wisconsin more competitive, and therefore they’re making America more competitive.”

To hammer this message home, Tim Albrecht, a group president with Milwaukee Tool, told press gathered at the airport that the company has manufacturing and sales operations in North America, South America, Asia and Australia; with 21,000 employees across the world and more than 4,000 in Wisconsin.

“International travel is often needed for our teams to get things done,” Albrecht said. “To be able to fly on a moment’s notice, to go fix a problem overseas, or to have people come to Milwaukee and enjoy what we have built here in the multiple campuses — the nine campuses — we have across the state.”

Peggy Williams-Smith, Visit Milwaukee CEO, said it was “obvious” from their standpoint that a new international terminal would bolster travel in and out of Milwaukee and support the local economy. The tourism and hospitality industry in Milwaukee supports approximately 27,000 jobs and generated more than $2 billion in revenue last year, Williams-Smith said.

“Again, I can’t stress the important role that this airport plays in promoting our region as a tourism destination,” Williams-Smith said. “Our routes, the carrier options, the overall airport experience, are so incredibly important to meeting planners and leisure visitors alike.”

Both Dranzik and Crowley noted that increased traffic in and out of Milwaukee Mitchell will draw more flights and destinations from the air carriers.

Airlines are primarily interested in “who is using the airport,” Dranzik said. The carriers want to understand who in the area is using the airport and what the “leakage factor” to other airports is.

Update: An earlier version of this story included incorrect information provided to Urban Milwaukee stating U.S. Rep. Glen Grothmann was among those supporting the project.

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