Memphis airport receives $16 million for terminal upgrades

Memphis International Airport (MEM) will use $16.1 million from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to support a series of upgrades that includes an expanded security checkpoint and technological upgrades for baggage screening.

The FAA will award $2.89 billion for airports nationwide for the FY 2024 Airport Infrastructure Grants (AIG) program. The FAA has already awarded $309.9 million for the first two FY 2024 AIG funding rounds. The latest round was announced Jan. 30, allocating $243.7 million across 150 grants to 37 states.

MEM will use the funding to modernize terminals as a part of the airport’s 2022 Master Plan. The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority (MSCAA) updated the document to include plans for upgrading check-in, baggage claim, security screening, departure lounges, concessions and other areas of the airport. The plan also includes improving ADA access, expanding security screening for passengers and employees and processing passengers remotely.

Airport officials said the $16.1 million will help reconstruct the outer drive outside the terminal, modernize and increase the size of the ticketing and baggage areas, improve baggage and security technology, expand security checkpoints and enhance seismic protections.

The airport’s preferred plan calls for single security checkpoints and creating remote bag drop and self-ticketing areas. The plan also calls for an expanded queue zone and a single exit from the concourse to the baggage claim and ticket lobby. Renovations would also include installing two baggage claim carousels and building a Central Baggage Inspection System.

Modernization alternatives consider demolishing Concourse A and C, repurposing the areas for landside/airside facilities and expanding the building to create more terminal space.

MSCAA’s two general aviation airports – General Dewitt Spain and Charles W. Baker – will each receive $294,000 for improve infrastructure. This includes supporting construction for Baker’s upcoming terminal.

The FAA has made nearly $9 billion in AIG grants available since the 2021 enactment of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which provides $15 billion for airport projects through the Airport Improvement Grant (AIG) program, including runways, taxiways, terminal and roadway projects.

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