Airport’s International Terminal Project Gets Funding Boost

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

Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport is expecting to receive some funding assistance from the federal government for its long planned development of a new international terminal.

The airport began working on the project a decade ago. Initially, the project was estimated to cost between $50 and $55 million. Between 2017 and 2020 the county budgeted approximately $50 million for the project through a combination of airport reserves, passenger fees and debt. But the COVID-19 pandemic led the airport to pause construction and in the ensuing years inflation led to a new estimated cost of about $80 million.

To get the project off the ground once again the airport needs more funding. In 2024, the airport applied for a federal grant under the Airport Terminals Program, funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed under former president Joe Biden. In October, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced its intent to award the project approximately $8.5 million.

The plan is to redevelop Concourse E, which was closed in 2017, into a two-gate, 55,700-square-foot terminal with room for up to 400 passengers at a time, allowing the airport to accommodate as many as 175,000 international passengers annually.

The airport has pursued the project for years as a replacement for the current international terminal, which is small and outdated and disconnected from the main airport terminal. Built in 1975, the international terminal can only hold 140 people at once, which is fewer than the capacity of 767 and 787 aircraft that can carry up to 200 passengers. It has one gate that can accommodate one aircraft at a time. The gate is also not large enough for 767 or 787 aircraft typically used on international flights.

The project has broad based support, including from the local business lobby and major corporate interests based in the region. International travel is a major part of day-to-day business for major companies, and the new terminal is expected to attract a greater array of international flights from the carriers. It’s also pitched as a potential boon for local tourism.

The grant funding likely will not close the budget gap, but the airport should have a much firmer idea of the total project cost by the end of the year. The county’s Department of Administration recently began soliciting bids for construction on the project.

The airport will not receive the funds from the federal government until the project is underway, Harold Mester, director of public affairs and marketing told Urban Milwaukee. “We still need to receive the bids and determine whether we have enough funding to move forward with. the project,” he said.

However, the new administration of President Donald Trump has created much confusion surrounding the federal grant making process and whether state and local governments can expect the funding they have been awarded.

The Trump administration has frozen federal spending related to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law across the government. Attorneys General across the country have filed lawsuits challenging the administrations wide ranging funding freeze and two judges have sided with them, ordering the administration to continue disbursing funds. This past week U.S. District Judge John McConnell agreed with defendants arguing the administration was refusing to comply with earlier rulings and still withholding federal funding.

U.S. Department Of Transportation grant documents have indicated the administration is even attempting to claw back funding it had previously awarded for local transportation projects.

Urban Milwaukee has been unable to reach a representative of the FAA for comment on the status of the Airport Terminals Program.