The number of passengers in and out of Eugene Airport has been relatively flat since 2021. Airport officials say that’s because flight capacity is pretty much full, prompting talk of expansion.
Work to expand seating in Terminal A is underway, as are a variety of other projects. But the big ticket item on Lift Off Eugene, a website of plans for the airport’s future, is a third terminal and expansion of other areas–such as ticketing and baggage claim–to accommodate more gates.
Information from that website has been presented to a variety of groups from City Club of Eugene to the Eugene City Council.
On Tuesday, Airport Director Kathryn Stephens presented at a work session of the Lane County Board of Commissioners, where she said that funding sources to grow the airport could include federal, state and local government.
But she also mentioned a model used by the University of Oregon, where benefactors pay for facilities, then hand off control after construction.
"Same concept for the airport,” she said. “Come in, build it, then turn it back. It’s an immediate economic boost, and we operate just as we are today but with eight additional gates."
Stephens said they could not find an instance of this exact model of funding expansion at other airports.
“We’ve seen some naming rights here and there. We saw some much smaller scale benefactor funding at, say, Provo, Utah, but this is much bigger,” she said. “And I really have to give credit to the University of Oregon and their great benefactor base because that is really where this idea is coming from.”
Lift Off Eugene identifies three projects without identified funding. They include Concourse C design and construction, and expansions of the ticket counter and baggage claim areas.
The three projects together would cost nearly $241 million.
