New Terminal to Be Built At Duluth Sky Harbor Airport

DULUTH, MINN. — Duluth’s Sky Harbor Regional Airport may not be as large as DLH, the international airport, but it plays an important role for aviation enthusiasts. Small planes and seaplanes utilize the airport and now a new terminal will be built.

Located at the far end of Park Point, this is what the current terminal at Sky Harbor Airport and Seaplane Base is uninspiring.

Natalie Baker, the Duluth Airport Authority’s Director of Marketing and Communications said, ” This terminal is dated, it’s old, it doesn’t meet different requirements for ADA or even city regulations either.”

It’s a far cry from what the new $1.2 million dollar terminal will provide. The new terminal will better meet the needs of all its users. Public input was gathered and considered in the planning process for the new terminal.

“We included a number of public meetings at Sky Harbor and at the Park Point Community Center and we had different comment boards up and open for everyone to leave a suggestion or to make some of their opinions heard.,'” said Baker. “And we did it again during the design phase of the new terminal project as well.”

The vast majority of the money, 90 percent, to build the terminal comes from a federal grant. The remaining 10 percent comes from state and local funding,

Although not specifically a part of the terminal building project, a new building to store the airport’s snow removal equipment will also be constructed.

Baker said, “Right now we are storing the snow removal equipment in the attached hangar to the terminal. But that’s also a revenue-generating space. So, if we’re able to create a new building and put that up to store our snow removal equipment we’ll be able to open it up to more revenue-generating options.’

Work on the new terminal at Sky Harbor Airport is likely to begin later this summer or early fall and if everything goes as planned, it will be ready for use early next fall.