Tulsa Airport to build $30mil international concourse

[formerly405Tulsan]

Half of the cost will be paid for by the feds - kudos to whoever pulled that off. Hope is to take advantage of the people flying to Mexico I suppose. My thought is, would they really build this without assurances from an airline that they will bring in a route for the new terminal?


https://www.newson6.com/story/64cc3c...DAt5El8CRqub1I

[chssooner]

Good for Tulsa. They are trying. OKC has this, and had done nothing with it. So who knows.

[PhiAlpha]

Good for Tulsa. They are trying. OKC has this, and had done nothing with it. So who knows.

So Tulsa just announced that they’re building one, with no commitments from any airline to bring international service, which means they’re ”trying” but OKC has already built one that has only been completely open for a little over a year and a half (which was still while travel was recovering from the pandemic) and you’re implying that it means they aren’t “trying”? Unless Tulsa’s numbers are drastically better than OKC’s when their international terminal opens, I highly doubt they will have an international destination before OKC does. Tulsa is building this for the exact same reasons that OKC did and with the goal of eventually being able to add international service.

[catch22]

The city, state, nor the airlines, have any control over Customs and Border Patrol staffing. There is a good probability that if OKC or TUL got an international Mexico flight, it would still have to land in DFW on the way up to clear customs because of the CBP electing to not staff an immigration facility at either airport. The city can build a facility that meets the requirements (really it is just segregated walkways leading to a document check room, a separate baggage claim, and some other security features to ensure that passengers and bags are separated from the non-international area of the airport until they have cleared). There's nothing special about it, but it does need to be in a specific configuration. I doubt they would even purchase or setup any equipment (as needs change through the years). So really OKC's "international" facility is nothing more than unfinished space that would be built out in the event CBP staffed a immigration facility at the airport. Tulsa's will be the exact same: a configured, but unfinished space.

In the event OKC or TUL landed a Canadian flight, it would preclear customs in Canada and would not need to use any of the international facilities at OKC or TUL.

[UrbanistPoke]

The city, state, nor the airlines, have any control over Customs and Border Patrol staffing. There is a good probability that if OKC or TUL got an international Mexico flight, it would still have to land in DFW on the way up to clear customs because of the CBP electing to not staff an immigration facility at either airport. The city can build a facility that meets the requirements (really it is just segregated walkways leading to a document check room, a separate baggage claim, and some other security features to ensure that passengers and bags are separated from the non-international area of the airport until they have cleared). There's nothing special about it, but it does need to be in a specific configuration. I doubt they would even purchase or setup any equipment (as needs change through the years). So really OKC's "international" facility is nothing more than unfinished space that would be built out in the event CBP staffed a immigration facility at the airport. Tulsa's will be the exact same: a configured, but unfinished space.

In the event OKC or TUL landed a Canadian flight, it would preclear customs in Canada and would not need to use any of the international facilities at OKC or TUL.

Is the OKC one attached to the terminal? I feel like I've seen discussions on it in the Will Rogers thread but can't find any pictures/site plan of where it is and how it interacts with the main terminal.

I would be curious what the international numbers are to destinations if you totaled up OKC, Tulsa, NWA, Joplin/Springfield, and Wichita. Just given the size of the facility being built in Tulsa it's hard to see anything more than a summer time few days a week service similar to how they operate flights to Destin and other vacation areas like 2x a week once a day part of the year or something like that.

I'd imagine there's enough demand regionally, question is would a direct flight to Cancun or Mexico City from either Tulsa or OKC be much cheaper than booking one with connections in Texas if they could land at least once a day flight for everyday of the week. That you could convince people to drive to either from other cities instead of booking a connecting flight from say NWA - DFW - Mexico City. The layover probably isn't that much more time than you're added time to drive to Tulsa or OKC from Wichita or NWA etc.

[BG918]

Some pics below. My understanding is that the finishes for this expansion will eventually be used throughout the terminal - not sure what the timeline is for those projects though

[UrbanistPoke]

Is the OKC "international" gate attached into the main terminal though like this one will be? I can't seem to find any info on it. I was thinking OKC had built a new facility, but that is was still separate from the main terminal/didn't have those connecting hallways. I could be wrong though, just can't find any info about it or how it was set up.

TUL was just renovated - those finishes look pretty similar to what they've already done in the main terminal area. What else would they renovate/change?

[BG918]

TUL was just renovated - those finishes look pretty similar to what they've already done in the main terminal area. What else would they renovate/change?

It’s been almost a decade since the renovation. Basically they will update the entire airport to match the finishes of this expansion - new flooring, seating, ceilings, lighting. I’ve heard they wanted to increase the ceiling height of concourses to match that of the newer central security area so that could be part of the “refresh” as well.

The highest priorities right now though are getting this built along with a new air traffic control tower.

[unfundedrick]

Is the OKC "international" gate attached into the main terminal though like this one will be? I can't seem to find any info on it. I was thinking OKC had built a new facility, but that is was still separate from the main terminal/didn't have those connecting hallways. I could be wrong though, just can't find any info about it or how it was set up.

TUL was just renovated - those finishes look pretty similar to what they've already done in the main terminal area. What else would they renovate/change?

From this article.

https://airportimprovement.com/artic...pands-terminal

"The new expansion could have simply addressed the airport’s two major needs: increased checkpoint capacity and additional gates. However, OKC broadened discussions during the design and planning stages to consider other desirable features. That led to earmarking space for a future Customs and Immigration area and adding a gate specifically to accommodate international flights. Assistant Airport Director Scott Keith explains that OKC receives a lot of diversions, especially from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, and many are international flights that sometimes need to deplane. “We’ve never had a good spot to do that,” Keith remarks. Until the full Customs and Immigration facility is complete, the airport will take international passengers to a separate holdroom in the lower level of the new concourse."

[UrbanistPoke]

From this article.

https://airportimprovement.com/artic...pands-terminal

"The new expansion could have simply addressed the airport’s two major needs: increased checkpoint capacity and additional gates. However, OKC broadened discussions during the design and planning stages to consider other desirable features. That led to earmarking space for a future Customs and Immigration area and adding a gate specifically to accommodate international flights. Assistant Airport Director Scott Keith explains that OKC receives a lot of diversions, especially from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, and many are international flights that sometimes need to deplane. “We’ve never had a good spot to do that,” Keith remarks. Until the full Customs and Immigration facility is complete, the airport will take international passengers to a separate holdroom in the lower level of the new concourse."

Thanks for that article - interesting. It sounds like there's two gates that could accommodate international flights BUT they didn't fully build out the customs area which sounds like Tulsa would be... I wonder if that has been a sticking point of OKC not being able to attract any international flights. OKC airport shows those two gates as vacant too.

Honestly seems like a waste of money for both Tulsa or OKC to have gates like this, but the way infrastructure funds are allocated they might as well build them if they can get the money. It's money there for the taking and if we don't get it for Oklahoma projects it just goes to another state and still gets spent. Might as well try to get as much of it as we can as a state.

[UrbanistPoke]

It’s been almost a decade since the renovation. Basically they will update the entire airport to match the finishes of this expansion - new flooring, seating, ceilings, lighting. I’ve heard they wanted to increase the ceiling height of concourses to match that of the newer central security area so that could be part of the “refresh” as well.

The highest priorities right now though are getting this built along with a new air traffic control tower.

If they really have a long-term goal/vision to do that they might as well do what Kansas City did and just tear the old building down and build new. Ceiling height isn't an easy thing to modify like you're describing. They did a good job with what they had though, the renovations they've done have made the airport in Tulsa feel a lot nicer. Adding those small bump ups in the concourses did help a lot to make the ceiling heights not feel so low like it did before. It does still feel rather outdated especially in the check-in areas, baggage claim, etc. The parking garage is awful too - it needs to be twice the size it is currently. Same with OKC, the parking garages at both are terrible and way too small. Every time I've flown out of either the last two years the garages have been completely full.

[unfundedrick]

Thanks for that article - interesting. It sounds like there's two gates that could accommodate international flights BUT they didn't fully build out the customs area which sounds like Tulsa would be... I wonder if that has been a sticking point of OKC not being able to attract any international flights. OKC airport shows those two gates as vacant too.

Honestly seems like a waste of money for both Tulsa or OKC to have gates like this, but the way infrastructure funds are allocated they might as well build them if they can get the money. It's money there for the taking and if we don't get it for Oklahoma projects it just goes to another state and still gets spent. Might as well try to get as much of it as we can as a state.

If they do get agreements for international flights, having space available is the major expense. Adding the other things required would be relatively inexpensive and quick.