Opening of new air terminal pushed back to at least 2018

The Columbus airport eyes the new terminal amid industry uncertainty.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Recent decisions by three airlines to reduce flights through Port Columbus International Airport will lead to a drop in travelers this year and will push back the planned opening of a new terminal until at least 2018, an airport official said.

A record 7.7 million passengers passed through the airport in 2007.

But with the closure earlier this month of Columbus-based low-cost carrier Skybus Airlines, the decision by JetBlue Airways to pull out of the airport in January and Delta Air Lines’ announcement in March of additional deep cuts in its schedule, airport officials expect the number of passengers to drop to about 7.2 million this year.

The drop will cause plans for the opening of a new terminal, which would replace the 1950s-era building, to be pushed back from 2015 to at least 2018, Elaine Roberts, chief executive of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, told board members recently.

Port Columbus’ five-year lease agreement with its remaining airlines expires at the end of 2009. Airport officials will then have to make a case for fee increases that would help pay for the new terminal and other projects.

But industry experts don’t see an end to high fuel prices, and airlines are likely to resist any extra costs.

In Indianapolis, where Roberts was an airport board member before coming to Columbus, a new terminal is set to open in October after 30 years of planning.