Customers who fly out of South Bend International Airport could notice more activity and faster service now that the airport has completed a major $105 million expansion project.

Vice President of Operations Patrick Mac Carthaigh tells us the effort started in 2019 when a need to expand capacity was noticed. He says South Bend International has seen increased traffic in recent years.

“We are seeing more traffic specifically in terms of passenger employments,” Mac Carthaigh said. “Year to date, we’re at about 20%, 27% year over year. And through the past few years, we’ve gone from the mid 300,000 to this year, we’re going to be in excess of 500,000 employments.”

That’s more than one million passengers. Mac Carthaigh says the now-finished project included the realignment of a taxiway with the ramp lowered about four feet, enabling mainline aircraft and larger regional jets to use any gate.

“We have a common use system here where we can put any airline and any aircraft on any gate as needed, and that’s really helped us maximize the ability to say yes to the airlines, when Allegiant might come in with three flights during a given flight block. Previously, that wouldn’t have been possible.”

They had two gates available before the construction.

Mac Carthaigh says the project also included a dedicated deicing pad for faster winter operations, 20 acres of reinforced concrete ramp space, 26 miles of new cables, and 475 upgraded airfield lights. While many of those things don’t directly affect customers, they improve safety.

Mac Carthaigh says of the $105 million spent on the expansion project, $96 million came from the federal government, while the rest was from state and local sources.

A ribbon cutting for the expansion was held this week.