Officials invite the public for behind-the-scenes tour of new terminal at COU

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Dozens of people from all over Mid-Missouri got a first-hand look today at the progress of the new $23 million terminal at the Columbia Regional Airport.

"They announced the behind-the-scenes tour and it was very informative. The old terminal had been kind of neglected for a long time and needed a refresh," Steve Spellman, Columbia resident.

The new 52,000 square-foot terminal will be almost three times larger than the old one, and, workers said today they have spent more than 74,000 hours working on it so far.

"We have four gates, three of which will be operational on day one and with those three there are three boarding bridges that serve three different plane positions on the apron," Mitchell Fuemmeler, project manager at Nabholz Corporation said. 

The new terminal will have a ticketing area, TSA checkpoint, a boarding bridge and a restaurant.

Mike Parks, Columbia Regional airport manager, said the previous terminal needed an upgrade.

"Our current facility was built during the 60s so it's an aging infrastructure that needed a lot of improvements, accessibility concerns of course we are going to have a lot of benefits in this terminal," Parks said.

The terminal should be ready for use by labor day weekend.

Parks said they are going to continue having conversations with American and other airlines about flights they could potentially offer once the terminal is complete.