Improvements to the Ogden-Hinckley Airport are on the way, and local officials are hoping to accommodate more airlines and passengers going in and out of the Junction City.
On Monday, city leaders officially broke ground on the latest round of improvements to the airport, which will include an expanded loading and drop-off zone and a new facade and entrance to the facility. The improvements will also include an indoor baggage claim, as travelers have previously had to pick up their luggage outside.
The project is slated to wrap up in October and cost around $4.4 million, with over 90% of those funds coming from grants via the Federal Aviation Administration, according to airport director Brian Condie. He added that down the line, the FAA will also pay for a new control tower at the Ogden airport. Sanders Associates Architects designed the airport addition, and Kier Construction will build it.
Condie said the number of gates inside the airport won’t change, but added the improvements will allow for more space for offices, car rentals and space for additional airlines to use.
The new additions are the latest improvements for Ogden-Hinckley, as the airport has remodeled its interior in recent years. Those prior improvements include a new lobby and TSA screening area for passengers.
Condie added that the latest improvements will address a number of lingering issues for the airport. One of those issues includes the new loading and unloading zones, which has caused headaches in the past.
“There’s a roundabout in the middle of our drop off,” Condie said. “So if one vehicle parks there, it blocks everybody else from dropping off, and then passengers are crossing traffic. So it improves the safety of our traveling public.”
City officials are hoping the improvements will court more commercial flights through Ogden, which has seen a number of airlines come and go throughout the years. Ogden-Hinckley currently has one airline, Breeze Airways, that goes to one destination — Orange County, California.
Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski said these sorts of improvements can make Ogden a more appealing destination for commercial airlines, and he knows there are plenty of customers to the north who could utilize Ogden-Hinckley instead of driving to Salt Lake City International further south.
Nadolski added that the city will continue to try and court new airlines and try to bring in additional destinations.
“We’ll continue to talk to additional airlines as they consider expansions,” Nadolski said Monday. “We want to make sure that we’re always that opportunity for those, but we also want to make sure that we’re signaling to them, ‘look at the improvements we’re making.’”
The airport has long been a money pit for Ogden City. Last year, an audit from the Utah Legislature found the Ogden-Hinckley Airport consistently lost money from 2006 to 2022, costing the city around $15 million during that timeframe.
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