Airport gives sneak peek of new international terminal

Members of the media got a glimpse of the Calgary International Airport’s new terminal building on Friday as the massive expansion project nears completion.

The new concourse for passengers heading to U.S. and international destinations is scheduled to be completed next fall, but it would not open until 2016 so the area can be tested and staff can be trained.

The five-level, 183,500-square metre complex will have 22 new gates including two wide-body slots, new U.S. and Canada customs facilities, a state-of-the-art baggage handling system and a new Compact Transit System (CTS) to ferry passengers from concourse to concourse.

“YYC’s connection processes will allow passengers to connect easily from international, trans-border and domestic, while remaining post-security and without having to pick up and recheck their bags,” the airport authority said in a release.

The airport’s ongoing $2 billion development program also included the construction of a new 4.2 kilometre runway — the longest in the country. The $620-million runway came into service in June. The city built a six-lane, $294.8 million tunnel underneath it. 

The airport is the third busiest in Canada, with 14.3 million passengers using it last year. Toronto is the busiest, followed by Vancouver. 

Other new terminal facts and figures:  

• Adds about 2 million square feet of space, or about 34 football fields.
• All the major structural steel has been installed.
• 95 per cent of 620 kilometres of radiant tubing has been installed.
• 56 per cent of 218,727 square feet of granite flooring has been installed.
• 57 per cent of 180,000 square feet of wood ceiling panelling has been installed.
• It has 29,800 square metres of exterior wall glass (5.4 football fields).
• 83 per cent of the nine-kilometre baggage handling tote-tray conveyor system, which is able to process 4,000 bags per hour, is in place.
• 500,000 litres of rainwater can be collected and used for flushing low-flow plumbing fixtures.
• 6.9 million person-hours have been spent on the project to date.