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Friday, April 14, 2000

Pan Am's Pease terminal in Portsmouth, NH to expand

By Christine Gillette Portsmouth Herald Staff Writer

PORTSMOUTH - The air passenger terminal at Pease International Tradeport will be expanded thanks to a vote yesterday by the Pease Development Authority board of directors.

"It's getting pretty tight in our terminal," said PDA Executive Director George Meyer.

The board yesterday voted unanimously to hire engineers Hoyle, Tanner & Associates and architects H.L. Turner Group to develop a scope of services and fee structure for the design of a 150,000-square-foot expansion to the terminal.

The construction, for which a start date has not been set, will be the second expansion of the terminal, which was originally 7,000 square feet. The PDA built on 45,000 square feet in 1998 in a $5.6 million addition. Both Hoyle Tanner and Turner worked on the 1998 expansion.

"The (terminal) has experienced a steady growth in traffic over the past several months. Pan Am has added destinations/flights, and charter activity has been initiated by others," PDA Director of Engineering Jerry Dexter states in a memo on the project. "As a result there are times when (it) is very crowded with air travelers. In the event of any significant further increases in service through the facility, more space and/or airside support (such as jet bridges) will be necessary."

The price of the project has not been determined yet, but Meyer said its construction could be carried out with funds from the Federal Aviation Administration or a "public-private partnership" with a corporation or airline.

Currently, Pan American Airways is the only airline offering scheduled passenger service from the terminal.

Meyer said the PDA doesn't have any new movement toward bringing in another scheduled carrier, stating that it's "extremely different to get airlines to talk about" their plans until they're ready to come in to an airport.

"They take a long time before they change their routes," he said.

Predominantly, he said, the PDA is interested in bringing foreign charters through the terminal on a regular basis. Pan Am and another company have, in recent weeks, used the terminal for just that, sending passengers down to the islands from the airport.

The PDA board also voted to expand parking at the terminal to create 1,000 new spaces across the street. That site, which will be used for a regular parking lot initially, will eventually be built up as a parking garage, MacDonald said.

The board also voted yesterday to hire Hoyle, Tanner & Associates to do the engineering work on the new parking lot.

Currently, the terminal has about 600 parking spaces between the lot in front of the building and two overflow lots off Exeter Street.

MacDonald said the parking garage could be built in conjunction with the terminal expansion.

Meyer said he hopes the construction of the garage could be funded through the FAA's Military Airport Program.