Apr 29 2019
Welcome to part five of our continuing posts on our airport’s history. Why the look back? Well, we’ve got a birthday coming up! On May 6 the airport’s current terminal will be ten years old.
But there’s something else as well …
Airport terminals are special places. It doesn’t have anything to do with brick and mortar. It’s about emotion. It’s about our connections to each other, and distant places.
Think about it — an airport terminal is special because …
It’s where family reunions take place …
Where you took your first airplane ride …
The departure point for the journey of a lifetime …
Where you embraced the person you haven’t seen in 15 years …
A place where arriving passengers are sometimes greeted with marriage proposals …
It’s where a journey begins and where it ends …
It’s home.
Our photos this week begin where the last post ended: an aerial view taken August 8, 2006. It’s on the west side of the airport, looking east. The control tower is in the middle of the photo. Below the tower is the dirt turned area where the current terminal will rise. Above the tower you can see the 1964 terminal. The road leading from the top of the 1964 terminal is West Kearney Street. Keep that dirt turned area in mind as you look at the rest of the photos.
Take a good look at the last photo. It's late January 2008. On the west side of the building looking southeast. The dirt turned area is transformed. The terminal is firmly rooted and rising. The outline of the entire complex is now visible: parking lots. Roads. Aircraft taxiways and ramps.
It’s hard to believe that the grand opening will happen in just 16 months.
More next week.
American Airlines begins non-stop seasonal service to Miami in February!