Price for Airport’s International Terminal Has Nearly Doubled
Milwaukee Mitchell Airport now expects project will cost $95.2 million.
Concourse E. Photo taken Aug. 30, 2024 by Graham Kilmer.
The cost to develop a new international terminal at Milwaukee Mitchell Airport has nearly doubled in the decade since the project began.
In 2015, the airport began planning for a new international terminal, deciding it made sense to redevelop Concourse E (unused since 2017). At the time, the project was estimated to cost approximately $50 to $55 million, with construction getting underway by 2020. But the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted those plans. Meanwhile, inflation and additional project design costs have pushed the cost higher and higher.
The airport now estimates it will cost approximately $95.2 million to redevelop Concourse E into a two-gate, 55,700-square-foot terminal with space for 400 travelers.
The airport is still working on putting together a funding stack for the project. Officials are going before the Milwaukee County Board in April to revise the total project cost in the plan approved by county supervisors prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, as Harold Mester, airport director of public affairs and marketing told Urban Milwaukee.
Before the pandemic hit, a budget of $55 million was approved for the project. Since then construction costs have increased an estimated $38 million and an additional $2.6 million has been spent on design.
“This Committee report is the next step in positioning the Airport to move forward once the final funding plan is identified and confirmed,” Mester said.
The airport started pushing the project forward again in 2024, working with the local business lobby and corporate leaders to promote the project for federal funding. The project has secured bipartisan support among a handful of members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation, according to County Executive David Crowley‘s Office.
“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,” Crowley said during at a press conference at the airport in August last year.
The airport secured an additional $8.5 million in federal grant funding through the Airport Terminals Program, funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) passed under former president Joe Biden. But President Donald Trump‘s administration has attempted to roll back spending appropriated through the BIL since coming into power earlier this year.
The airport plans to pursue additional funding under the terminals program, “should the program be offered later this year,” according to a report from Airport Director Brian Dranzik headed for the county board.
A new international terminal capable of handling the larger Boeing 767 and 787 aircraft used for long flights is expected to be a boon for both consumers and local businesses: facilitating easier international business travel, boosting tourism and attracting more international flights from the carriers.
The current international terminal is a barrier to any progress on this front. It is undersized and outdated, according to the airport. It’s also disconnected from the main terminal of the airport. It was built in 1975 and has room for only 140 travelers at a time, which is fewer than the passenger capacity of any modern aircraft used for international flights.
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What international business travel do they aspire to have?
Is the airport trying to build the market for international travel or meet demand?
B. Neumann – I thought MKE had a direct flight to Toronto but apparently it does not. That would be the most obvious nonstop international route for business. I frankly can’t imagine business passengers enduring a connecting flight and customs just to get to Canada.
It looks like the only current international nonstops to and from MKE are Punta Cana, Montego Bay, Cancun, and Puerto Vallarta. Many of these are probably snowbird seasonal, and the business more on the order of monkey business… 😉 So, basically flying Milwaukeeans somewhere else to spend their money.
I’m flying out of O’Hare later this month on Turkish Airlines. Is Mitchell big enough to handle a 787, 747 , 777, A350? Still much easier just to hop on Coach USA for $65 roundtrip.
O’Hare has 1.1 million square feet just for Terminal 5. A few other simple google searches show MKE doesn’t have the space needed to have such flights. Much less reducing the size of the current E Concourse.
Many people may argue the current demand for international flights out of Milwaukee would show that this project is unnecessary, but 20-30 years from now we’ll be glad. I don’t think anyone in the right mind imagines MKE operating long haul international flights in place of O’Hare, but I can see many Canadian cities along with possibly a few in Mexico operating flights to Milwaukee.
“Money is always worth more now than later”
Franklin Furter, there was an Air Canada Milwaukee-Toronto nonstop for many years (and before that in the 1980s, American Airlines flew that route), but apparently it ended sometime after 2022. Because Trump is ticking off Canada, US/Canadian travel is way down. Air Canada is cutting back on flights to the US. I suspect travel between the US and both Europe and Asia will sharply decline in the next few months, too.
You know, there is already an “international arrivals” terminal north of the existing terminal. Why isn’t it sufficient? Can it be connected to the existing structure to save money?
There used to be a connection but it was torn down years ago. That whole “new” one is terrible / minimally viable. There’s already been previous articles on all the issues with it / how none of it is salvageable / worth investing in vs a real new terminal.