Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport passengers should be using new holding area by mid-April

Officials at Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport expect to begin using their new passenger holding area in mid-April.

Airport Director Barbara McNally said Tuesday that work is nearing completion on building a new secured passenger holding area on the airport’s southwest side where passengers who have been screened by TSA wait before boarding their aircraft. The new holding area will be twice as large as the old one (large enough for 120 people) and will have a new enclosed loading bridge that will allow passengers to get between their aircraft and the terminal without going outside on the tarmac.

The work is part of the $15.3 million airport terminal modernization project.

That boarding bridge has been installed in what will be the new secured passenger holding area, meaning passengers won’t use it until that area is operational, McNally said.

“We’re getting down to the end,” she said about work that is moving into details such as wall work and a courtyard that will include a water feature.

The estimated completion date is April 15, and McNally said she expects passengers to begin using the new area soon thereafter. Screened passengers now are being held in a temporary area near the baggage claim area and boarding their aircraft out of the terminal’s south end. That means the equipment that allows that to happen must be moved to the new boarding area before the site can begin accepting passengers. The temporary holding site will be converted to storage space, airport officials have said.

Completion of the boarding area means the contractor can move to the final stage of the terminal modernization project, which will include renovation of the airport’s front entrance. McNally said the contractor is projecting a completion date for the entire project of April 2, 2025. That also means the City of Lawton will begin coordinating a road repair project, mill and overlay work on King Road, the primary entrance and exit point from South 11th Street. Ward 5 Councilman Allan Hampton had said that road work wouldn’t be done until the terminal renovation is completed.

Herring Construction began working on the project in early 2023. The multi-phase project includes construction of a new secured passenger holding area, which will feature a larger waiting room to hold more passengers and more space for the security screening done by TSA, as well as separate corridors for boarding and deplaning passengers. It also includes the loading bridge.

The final stage focuses on the airline area on the north side of the terminal, to include moving TSA’s check baggage screening area behind a wall, outside the public view. The terminal’s front entrance also will be upgraded, to include plans to cut the number of access points into the building to make the building more energy efficient.