Airport ready to launch new set of improvements

St. Petersburg- Clearwater International will spend $45-million to improve its capabilities.

[Times photo: Bill Serne] ATA gate attendant Holly Hughes, left, helps passengers get their baggage off a flight arriving from Chicago on Thursday.

By JEAN HELLER

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 23, 2000

CLEARWATER -- St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport, which just opened a new, more spacious baggage facility, isn't taking long to savor it before kicking off a series of additional improvements.

By summer's end, airport officials say they will have started projects to lengthen the main runway and construct a new one, expand the cargo ramp, build six jet bridges that will keep passengers out of the weather as they board their flights and update some electrical systems.

The $45-million in improvements are aimed at getting the airport ready for an increase in business and allowing the facility, which serves nearly 1-million passengers a year, to attract long-haul charters.

The 8,500-foot main north-south runway is adequate to handle any commercial aircraft flying today.

"But the additional runway length will give the big planes greater range," said airport director Jim Howes. "Now, with a full passenger and baggage load, the wide-bodies don't have enough room to take off without reduced fuel loads. That's fine for trips up to Canada, but you have to take full fuel for a flight to Europe or South America, and that's business we want to go after."

The main runway will be lengthened by 1,200 feet at the south end and 300 feet at the north end, taking it to 10,000 feet total, 1,000 feet smaller than Tampa International Airport's longest runway.

A smaller north-south runway to the west of the main runway has been serving a dual purpose as a runway for small, general aviation aircraft and a taxiway for larger aircraft. The 4,000-foot strip will become exclusively a taxiway and a new, 4,000-foot general aviation runway will be built east of the main runway.

These projects would be financed by a $25-million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration and would take about four years to complete, Howes said.

Six new jet bridges will be added at a cost of $20-million, paid for by federal entitlement grants, the state Department of Transportation and revenue bonds. Four of the bridges would extend from the second level of the new baggage facility and two will replace existing gates in the terminal building.

The airport will keep five ground-level gates.

"Our intent would be to start the architectural and engineering phases by the end of the summer, allowing a year to a year and a half for that process," Howes said. "We'll break ground in 2002 and finish the work in 2003."

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