HIGHFILL -- Board members on Wednesday took the first steps toward adding a new, second concourse at Northwest Arkansas National Airport.
The current Concourse A was added to the terminal in 2011. The board voted Wednesday to have staff negotiate with Fentress Architects for conceptual drawings for the first phase of Concourse B. The design work will cost about $185,000.
Aaron Burkes, CEO, said he'd like to see the concourse designed and construction could begin sometime in 2023.
The new concourse would allow the airport to more efficiently use its boarding gates, according to staff. They're already looking at bringing some gates on Concourse A back into use for certain aircraft sizes and redesigning others.
Phase one would include an elevated walkway, a hold room for passengers and a covered walkway out to a ground-level loading area onto the aircraft.
Construction of the project is estimated to cost roughly $35 million to $50 million.
Longer range plans call for building out Concourse B to roughly match Concourse A.
The board also agreed to buy two parcels of property near the airport, one of which is in the path of where a new eastern runway could be built in 20 to 25 years.
One parcel is 100 acres directly east of the terminal on Waddell Road and Rakes Road for $1.9 million. The other is 35 acres northeast of the airport on Southwest Barron Road. The owner of the 35 acres offered to donate $452,125 toward the purchase, leaving a net acquisition price of $877,875.
The 100-acre parcel is directly in the path of the planned runway to the east. The 35-acre parcel has been identified for years on a land acquisition map as a parcel the airport should acquire.
Board members also were told Wednesday they should plan for the main runway at Northwest National to be 10,800 feet and a second, eastern runway of 8,000 feet. The current runway at Northwest National is 8,000 feet.
"Ten thousand, eight hundred feet is as long as you're ever going to have to build a runway at XNA," said Ryan Hayes, a consultant with Meade & Hunt, which did a runway study for the airport. "You only need two runways at this airport, ever."
The study considered the size of aircraft and uses expected at the airport in the future, Hayes said.
A side benefit is airport officials won't have to acquire as much land as they would with a longer runway, according to Hayes. It also avoids potential future conflict with roads north and south of the airport.
Staff will add the Meade & Hunt recommendations to the airport's layout plan.