Nov. 14, 2022

The number of gates at the Sioux Falls Regional Airport could double in the next two decades – with some needed before that.

A long-range plan looking at the airport’s overall needs includes a concourse study that looks at potential layouts for expansion.

“Initially, for the next five to 10 years, we could use three to four more gates,” executive director Dan Letellier said. “And then we’d need to expand further.”

The airport’s seven gates allow it to park up to 10 aircraft, he said.

“And we quite often have eight or nine planes a night,” he said. “So we would go to 14 gates in the next 20 years and have 15 parking positions. The push is to forecast for medium-size (aircraft) and less regional jets, so that would all accommodate that, where right now we can only have six mainline aircraft.”

The number of pilots is expected to decrease, he said, meaning airlines likely will fly larger planes and potentially fewer daily flights. Some of that already is happening with legacy carriers that serve Sioux Falls.

Three concepts for how the concourse expansion could look are being considered, and the Airport Authority is expected to support an option at its meeting this week.

One idea, which dates back to an older plan, would create a “T” shape while more recent versions would look more like a “Y” and not require existing gates to be put out of service during construction. The “Y” could build out one leg at first and the other as needed and potentially include a triangle space in the middle for concessions or a waiting area.

“They all have pros and cons,” Letellier said. “We’re close to making a selection, but it would be a multiphase project or at least two phases.”

The recommendation likely will be some sort of Y that would angle off to the left between existing gates one and three, maintaining existing restaurant and office areas.

“The biggest challenge is finding out how to pay for this project,” Letellier said.

A few years ago, one version could have cost $20 million or less. That’s now ballooned to more than $100 million. And that’s on top of the parking ramp the airport recently started.

“It’s a little challenging timingwise,” Letellier said, adding the work would require “a significant funding partnership” of some kind that has never been done before, but “first we have to come up with a concept.”

Heading into the busy holiday season, the airport continues to see solid traffic, he said. Fares nationwide are 30 percent to 40 percent higher than a year ago on legacy carriers such as American, Delta and United.

“We’ve been fortunate, and I think what’s driving a lot of traffic is Allegiant has maintained more destinations than ever through this time of year,” Letellier said. “You’re seeing some Florida service come back, service to Phoenix ramp up, and they’ve continued to fly to Southern California. Nashville is doing really well. So all that service ramps back, and fares have gone up, but compared to what’s available on some of the major carriers, it’s still very affordable.”

Low-fare direct flights out of Sioux Falls to the Orlando International Airport won’t be returning this winter.

Frontier Airlines, which had been expected to resume the flights this month, has removed 43 routes, with the majority to destinations in Florida, Simple Flying reported in late summer. The Denver-based airline started the twice-a-week direct flights a year ago.

It also has dropped the direct flights out of Sioux Falls to Las Vegas that it added last year.