The Oklahoma City Airport Trust on July 24 presented a long-range terminal master plan for Will Rogers International Airport that maps projects the trust says are intended to accommodate growth from the airport's current passenger levels toward as many as 20 million annual passengers.

The plan, presented to the trustees as an informational item, lays out staged projects — a north-side parking garage tied to a 6 million-passenger milestone, a later reconfiguration of the terminal frontage and removal of the elevated roadway to add gates by the 8 million passenger milestone, and a full build-out that the materials show could reach about 40 gates and wider roadway capacity by the 20 million passenger scenario.

The plan matters because it sets the trust's framework for future capital spending, including projects that will require separate approvals and outside funding, and it aims to keep operating costs competitive for airlines, airport staff said.

“We went through an analysis with the consultant and picked a couple milestones of, okay, what will we need when we hit 6,000,000 passengers, what will we need when we hit 8,000,000? And then ultimately 20,000,000,” Director Mulder told trustees during the presentation. Director Mulder characterized the garage project as the near-term item tied to the 6 million-passenger threshold and said construction is expected to start next year with the goal of having it complete by the 2028 Olympics.

Trust staff and the planning consultant laid out the tradeoffs that drive the plan: airport terminal needs (gates, security checkpoints, ticketing, baggage claim) and the land-side capacity needed to serve them. The current terminal configuration, the presentation says, includes 21 gates; the long-range concept shows an expanded west concourse and an east extension that together would allow roughly 40 gates in the ultimate build-out.

On the roadway in front of the terminal, the study shows a multi-phase approach. The near-term parking garage will connect to the existing tunnel; later work would remove the existing two-level front garage and elevated loop roadway and expand linear roadway frontage and lanes, described in the presentation as an ultimate six-lane upper/lower arrangement to increase pick-up/drop-off and circulation capacity.

Trust staff emphasized that the master plan is a 30,000-foot-level document intended to be implemented through a sequence of smaller projects rather than a single massive program. “Phasing it and staging it, we feel we'll be able to, and we are affordable for the airlines today and that would be our goal to keep us affordable,” Director Mulder said.

Trustees asked about related systems and future options. When a trustee asked whether the plan accommodates a future transit link between the airport and downtown, staff replied the plan preserves space for such a connection and that more detailed coordination would occur as projects advance. Staff also said they plan to brief Oklahoma City Council about the master plan and that the next individual project coming back to the trust for approval will be the north parking garage.

Staff also reviewed airfield capacity, saying the airport currently has two independent parallel runways that provide substantial operational capacity and that, based on current estimates, adding new runways is not expected to be necessary in the next 25 years. “We have a lot of airfield capacity. We don't expect that we would need to do a lot,” staff said.

The master plan was presented for information and will return to the trust next month as a received item before any individual project approvals. Trustees indicated general support for having a long-range plan and the phased approach described in the presentation.

Looking ahead, specific project approvals, grant applications, design work and public engagement steps will determine the timing and configuration of individual elements in the plan.