YAKIMA, Wash.- It’s been 24 years since the last major renovations at the Yakima Air Terminal. Airport Director Robert Hodgeman says many components of the airport, including the HVAC systems, the roof and the control tower, are still the originals from the 1950s when the airport was built.
Starting in the fall, construction on the first phase of the modernization project begins, first tending to the roof and HVAC. YKM is going all in on the terminal, seeing as building a new terminal is not in the cards.
“In my conversations with the FAA, they said ‘yeah, you can build a new terminal-half the size of what you have now,'” says Hodgeman. “We’re growing. We don’t want to cut the terminal size in half. It’s already a pretty small building.”
Instead, YKM will work with what it’s given. That will mean stretching the space it already has and making it work. Eventually, the modernization project could open up the space currently used past TSA, for anyone without a ticket.
“It’s going to be dramatically different because currently all five gates are on the ground floor,” says Hodgeman. “Phase 1B will move three of those gates and TSA upstairs.”
The other aspect of renovating rather than building new is preserving the history of the airport.
“We’re not building a nice, brand new, sleek, shiny terminal,” says Hodgeman. “We’re going to take what we have and make it better. We’re going to embrace the history of the airport and it’s going to look like a very classy, 1950s terminal.”
Hodgeman says the entirety of the modernization project will last years to finish. Passengers will begin to see the work this fall, but it’s not expected to impact any travel plans or experiences.
