Jetport project rolling with stimulus boost
The Portland International Jetport didn't receive stimulus funds for its terminal expansion project, but the federal aid package did pony up enough to fund two ancillary projects, helping to lower the overall cost of the Jetport upgrade to a level that can likely be funded through conventional airport revenue.
"We didn't get all that we'd hoped from the stimulus package, but what we did get is critical to our plans and it looks like market forces might help make up the gap," Paul Bradbury, the airport's manager, told Mainebiz.
Yesterday, the airport was awarded $2.5 million for a de-icing fluid collection and recycling operation from the Federal Aviation Administration's portion of the stimulus package. That grant is in addition to the $13.5 million the airport already received to install new sophisticated baggage screening equipment that came from the Transportation and Security Administration's portion of the stimulus money.
An additional boon to the project comes from a sluggish construction industry, which is bidding aggressively for airport contracts. Although bids haven't been awarded as yet, Bradbury said they have come in about 20% lower than originally estimated.
"We hope to get (the cost of the project) into an affordable range, about $60 million," he says, noting the original cost was estimated at $75 million. He had applied for stimulus funds for the expansion back in January, pitching it as a shovel-ready project that had been mothballed last fall because of the turmoil in the financial markets.
At the $60 million price tag, the project can likely be financed through general airport revenue bonds, said Bradbury. Passengers departing Portland Jetport each pay a $4.50 tax that is used to pay the bonds, raising about $3.5 million last year.
Bradbury said the airport got other good news recently when AirTran, Delta, Continental and United Airlines announced additional flights this summer and JetBlue said it will use larger aircraft over the summer months.
"The airlines are behind Maine as a tourist and travel destination for the summer months," says Bradbury. "We are very grateful for that."
He estimates work on the expansion project will begin next spring, with a construction manager picked within three weeks. The project includes a 145,000-square-foot expansion of the terminal, a U.S. Customs facility upgrade and five new gates.
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