COLORADO SPRINGS — The Colorado Springs Airport is expanding its footprint by nearly 600 acres. It plans to add more space for businesses at the Peak Innovation Park. The idea is to make more money to put back into the airport and keep costs low for flyers.
The city invested $38 million in the airport's surrounding property - Peak Innovation Park, adding 562 acres to the property for development over the next five years.
This summer, the airport reported its highest passenger numbers in more than 20 years. So far this month, there has been a 17% increase in flyers compared to last November.
"That has allowed us then to take on projects to stay one step of ahead of the growth that we have," the airport's aviation director Greg Phillips said.
The expansion should bring in $176 million in revenue to the airport over 40 years, the park's development director Troy Stover said. By 2025, he said the entire park is projected to have an economic impact on the city $1.8 billion every year.
"This airport will then able to have additional revenues that can help fund the airport and not put all of the costs on the airlines and the users of the airport," Stover said.
"Would definitely love to see some shopping in the area," first-time flyer Matt Martel said. "I love it. It's clean, it's easy to navigate, more of a chill vibe."
"It's probably a good thing for Colorado Springs. Hopefully, it doesn't get like Denver but I don't think it would," Sarah Stejskal, a flyer for 13 years, said.
Airport staff say they are gearing up for another record-breaking winter travel season. They say the expansion project is that much more needed to keep up with the increasing number of flyers.