A massive makeover of St. Louis Lambert International Airport — involving consolidation to a single, 62-gate terminal — could cost $3 billion.
In a best case, construction could begin four years from now, and take another five or six years.
current Terminal 2, finished in 1998 and now home to Southwest Airlines, or its garage could house a consolidated rental car facility,
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Hamm-Niebruegge reviewed familiar highlights of the one-terminal plan — gates capable of accommodating mainline flights, wider concourses for more concessions, the retention of Minoru Yamasaki's domes at Terminal 1, a single baggage area and Transportation Security Administration checkpoint — but also addressed other features, such as a new parking garage, constructed partially on a decommissioned fuel farm, that would double the airport's number of close-in spaces. Roadway access would also improve, she said, as vehicles get more lanes and drivers have more time to make decisions.
A MetroLink stop would be built into the east end of the new terminal, and part of the current Terminal 2, finished in 1998 and now home to Southwest Airlines, or its garage could house a consolidated rental car facility, Hamm-Niebruegge said.
And the new terminal could be expanded eastward if needed, though Hamm-Niebruegge said it could accommodate 620 flights a day, more than Lambert saw while it was a hub for the former Trans World Airlines. Lambert expects 21 million passengers in 2040; in 2019 it counted 15.9 million passengers, a figure that fell to 6.3 million in 2020 amid the pandemic. Last year, Lambert counted 10.3 million passengers, but could reach 13.5 million this year, Hamm-Niebruegge said.
A single terminal was pitched when the airport last completed a master plan, Hamm-Niebruegge said, but could not be executed because of the airport's high debt and fees, taken on to construct the infamous W-1W runway project to accommodate Trans World Airlines, which was later taken over by American Airlines and massively reduced Lambert flights.
"We were in no shape, nor did we have the support of airlines" — which ultimately fund large capital projects through fees — "back then until we could get cost under control and show a plan for how we're going to grow," Hamm-Niebruegge said.
Lambert's debt is now below $500 million, and poised to drop further with annual payments totaling more than $60 million, Lambert data show. And Lambert's landing fees have declined, making this the right time to fully remake the airport, Hamm-Niebruegge said.
The federal infrastructure bill passed last year makes available $5 billion over the next five years for so-called "medium hub" terminals like Lambert, Hamm-Niebruegge said.
However, "we would never get half of that because they're going to distribute that to all of the airports in your planning process, but we hope that we could take advantage of some of that," Hamm-Niebruegge said.
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And she said the airport, with annual expenses of more than $138 million, is getting some $80 million in federal Covid-19 aid, which it wants to use, in part, on building replacement facility and airfield maintenance shops, plus a storage unit, that would be displaced by the new terminal.
Hamm-Niebruegge made clear there will be a local cost. She said she doesn't yet know how much debt Lambert could be forced to take on to fund the project, with more analysis forthcoming.
"We know that we have to maintain a level of cost that's going to continue to attract carriers to grow," she said, acknowledging that costs could rise some. "But when you think about the costs that we're going to need to maintain a facility, from an infrastructure standpoint and not an enhancement standpoint, versus the cost of being able to build a new facility, reuse the domes, grow those revenues. That's what's going to be able to allow us to stay competitive."
Building would not start soon.
Information provided by the airport said the master plan could be completed in the fall, with Federal Aviation Administration approval required. Negotiations with airlines could take another two years. A 12-month environmental review process could occur during that window. But an 18-month architectural design process cannot move forward until the airlines, Southwest being the biggest, have signed on, Hamm-Niebruegge said. In a best case, construction could begin four years from now, and take another five or six years, she added.
Costs have risen for giant projects, including at the downtown convention center, which, like the airport, is owned by the city of St. Louis. But Hamm-Niebruegge said she didn't think that would jeopardize the airport's new concept.
The airlines, she said, have already been engaged in the planning of the airport expansion proposal and are familiar with Lambert's drawbacks, including long walking distances in Terminal 2, which is near capacity, and abundant but functionally obsolete space in Terminal 1.
"They see the challenges we're going to face for the future," she said.
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