Southwest Airlines Prompts $60M Expansion Plan At BWI Airport

HANOVER, MD — BWI Airport officials are asking the state to speedily approve construction of five more gates for Southwest Airlines, which is adding flights at the Baltimore area airport. The $60 million project would expand Concourse A by 55,000-square-feet.

BWI needs the Maryland Board of Public Works to quickly approve construction of the additional gates, because five gates will temporarily close in 2020 so a new baggage-handling system can be built. Assuming state officials give their OK to the expansion, construction would start in January, with the work completed before July 2020.

Plans call for Concourse A to gain new passenger waiting areas, plus new shops and food and beverage concessions in the project. The passenger areas will be built to hold the 175 people Southwest’s new Boeing 737 MAX8 airliners can carry, reports The Baltimore Sun.

The request will be considered by the Board of Public Works — whose members are Gov. Larry Hogan, Comptroller Peter Franchot and State Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp — on July 19.

“The governor is incredibly proud and supportive of BWI's continued success and growth, and looks forward to reviewing this item and addressing the proposal at the upcoming Board of Public Works meeting,” spokeswoman Amelia Chasse said in a statement to the Sun.

Southwest Airlines accounts for more than 60 percent of the daily flights at BWI Airport, WTOP reports.

Last year, more than 26 million passengers used the airport.

Image courtesy of State of Maryland