A little more than a decade later, the airport\u2019s redevelopment pivot will culminate this month with the first phase opening of a gleaming, light-filled new Terminal 1 that will eventually house 30 gates and eight airlines. By the time the final phase of the 1.2 million-square-foot building is complete in early 2028, the total cost between the two expansion projects will approach $5 billion.<\/p>\n
Multibillion-dollar investments in aging airport terminals across the country have become increasingly common amid a surge in travel that began well before COVID-19 and has rebounded sharply since the waning days of the pandemic.<\/p>\n
The existing Terminal 1 that San Diego\u2019s new facility is replacing is one-third the size of the new building and more than a half-century old, years past its useful life. It soon will be demolished, but the single runway will remain \u2014 along with the inevitable growth limitations that come with that.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing we like to remind people of is that the limiter of capacity at the airport is not gates, it is not square footage,\u201d said Matt Harris, director of governmental relations and strategy for the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, during a recent presentation to local elected leaders. \u201cIt is the runway and we have one of those, and we have no plans or ability to create a new one. Our one runway dictates the number of flights that can keep coming in and out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given that the more than 660-acre airport doesn\u2019t have sufficient real estate to expand, the airport had to engage in an exercise of musical chairs to make room for the Terminal 1 project. Among the buildings that had to be removed were the Airport Authority\u2019s former administration building and an old United Airlines hangar.<\/p>\n
Technically, Terminal 1 isn\u2019t likely to reach its operational capacity until about two decades from now, when roughly 20 million passengers \u2014 compared with last year\u2019s 10 million \u2014 are forecast to be flying in and out of the facility over the course of a year. In the meantime, airport officials want to spread the word that the long wait for a far more comfortable and enjoyable, 21st-century flying experience is finally over.<\/p>\n
![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758478050_835_SUT-L-T1-PREVIEW-029.jpeg\")
A highlight of the TSA entry point for passengers is an overhead art piece meant to depict Torrey pine trees. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Designer restrooms featuring shimmering blue mosaic tile and marble-like finishes, an outdoor dining area with downtown skyline views, new foodie-friendly concessions and a vast ticketing hall with dozens of check-in kiosks are among the many features likely to wow passengers accustomed to the existing Terminal 1, say airport officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re using a building in a setup that wasn\u2019t designed to handle the throughput that the airport has today and that it\u2019s projected to have into the 2040s,\u201d said Gil Cabrera, who chairs the Airport Authority board of directors. \u201cThat\u2019s what the purpose of this whole project is. You\u2019re going to be blown away by just how it looks and how much roomier it feels. I don\u2019t know about you, but I feel so constrained when I\u2019m in Terminal 1 now. You just feel like there are bodies everywhere. And it\u2019ll be a whole different vibe in Terminal 1 because the ceilings are taller and just about everything feels bigger and wider.<\/p>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SUT-L-Old-T1-3.jpg\")
Travelers frequently complain about crowded conditions in the old Terminal 1, which was never intended to accommodate as many people as it does today. (Eduardo Contreras \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other thing is, it\u2019s no longer these two circles (rotundas) with the gates. It\u2019s linear, so you\u2019re no longer on top of each other. Another biggie is that right now, there are two checkpoints kind of shoved into a very, very narrow space in Terminal 1. In the new terminal there\u2019s just one; that means you\u2019re never going to have go through the wrong checkpoint again.\u201d<\/p>\n
What does Southwest Airlines think?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s much to love about the new building, but what tops everything, says Southwest Airlines Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson, is the expanded number of gates.<\/p>\n
The airline, which is San Diego\u2019s single biggest carrier in terms of flight volume, still has not returned to pre-pandemic flight levels because of the more than three-year shutdown of five of the 19 gates in the old terminal due to construction activity. Come October, when Southwest releases its new schedule, there will be seven new nonstops, from Colorado Springs to Tampa. And passengers can expect, over time, still more flights once Terminal 1 grows to 30 gates in 2028, Watterson says.<\/p>\n
![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SUT-L-terminal-opening-002.jpg\")
Andrew Watterson, chief operating officer of Southwest Airlines, stands in front of the San Diego airport’s old Terminal 1, which will be demolished not long after the new terminal opens. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current terminal was built for an era where there were a lot fewer passengers, the planes were smaller, there wasn\u2019t such intensive security, and you didn\u2019t spend as much time at the airport,\u201d he said during an interview at the old Terminal 1 as the loudspeaker blared passenger alerts. \u201cThe feedback from our customers in San Diego starts from the curb \u2014 the curbside is very congested. TSA is undersized, the gate rooms are undersized, and the concession options are limited.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, it\u2019s probably on the lower end of our customer experience all around the system. But starting with our October schedule and then into our March schedule, we\u2019ll be back to our pre-pandemic highs, and after that, we will then have a chance to expand even more. And because there will be more gates, we will be able to also schedule longer flights, because longer flights mean you have to spend more time at the gate.\u201d<\/p>\n
While San Diego\u2019s single runway is an obvious barrier to adding more flights in general, it\u2019s not the primary one for Southwest, says Watterson. The two biggest improvements for the airline \u2014 and by extension, the passengers \u2014 are the additional gates and what eventually will be a second taxiway, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRunways are a common problem for the United States,\u201d Watterson said. \u201cThere are very few airports that actually don\u2019t have this issue, even airports with two runways or three runways. Right now, a lot of the focus is on air traffic control, and rightly so. But once you solve the air traffic control issue, just behind it is the runway capacity. The United States is not creating runways fast enough compared to overall air travel demand. It\u2019s not just a San Diego problem, but a national problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who pays for the new terminal?<\/p>\n
Runways aside, airport terminal projects are extremely pricey, whether it\u2019s Kansas City, LaGuardia or Dallas, which have undertaken major modernization efforts over the past several years. In San Diego, all that extra space, not to mention passenger-friendly amenities like a high-tech baggage handling system and plenty of eye-catching public art, comes with a hefty cost. What started out as a $3 billion budget later grew to $3.8 billion, for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n
Airport Authority Chief Financial Officer Scott Brickner explained that the initial $3 billion figure was an estimate that predated the hiring of a contractor and designers who later refined the cost to $3.4 billion in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cSubsequently, in January 2024, we increased the budget by $370 million due to cost escalation coming out of COVID,\u201d Brickner explained. \u201cBut it was actually a good story because when I talked to all my colleagues at the time, they were seeing 20, 30, 40% increases in their budgets for their capital programs, whereas ours was just under an 11% increase.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody was happy about it, but it could have been much worse. And making that decision during COVID to proceed with the project allowed us to get a lot of the work under contract and started before all those hyperinflationary effects would impact us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Financing of the project comes largely from the airlines in the form of the terminal rent they pay to the airport, in addition to landing fees and aircraft parking, Brickner said. There\u2019s also a host of non-airline revenue sources such as parking, concessions, and ground transportation and rental car concession fees.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SUT-L-AIRPORT-RECORD-0223-012.jpg\")
A Southwest Airlines plane taking off at the San Diego International Airport (Alejandro Tamayo \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
While in years past, airlines frequently have balked at helping finance a good share of the cost, that wasn\u2019t the case in San Diego, which has been talking about and planning for a new Terminal 1 for more than a decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou read about problems between airlines and airports and financing, and it\u2019s because it\u2019s not a collaborative approach,\u201d said Watterson. \u201cSan Diego took a very collaborative approach to building the terminal, so the airlines were literally on board from the beginning. As a result, it was very smooth, as far as the agreement between the airlines in the airport, and also very fast, because I can\u2019t overstate how difficult it is to build a new terminal while you\u2019re operating one right nearby. This is a very difficult situation the airport managed well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt said he\u2019s impressed by not only what he says is the speedy completion of the project but the willingness of the airlines to finance it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to understand that the only thing that moves quickly at an airport are the airplanes,\u201d said Harteveldt, founder of Atmosphere Research Group. \u201cEverything else takes forever because airports are not like typical construction projects. In the case of terminals, they have to be designed, not only to serve the passengers and the planes, but to meet very stringent journey and safety standards.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd airlines obviously don\u2019t like paying more for anything anywhere, so the fact that the airport got the airlines on board is an enormous accomplishment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond the airlines, yet another component of funding comes from the air travelers themselves. Each passenger pays a facility charge of $4.50 that\u2019s collected by the airlines and later remitted back to the Airport Authority.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a tax, it\u2019s a user fee,\u201d Brickner said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t use the airport, you don\u2019t pay for it. If you do use the airport, depending on what services you use, you do pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brickner said that from the beginning it was assumed there would only be a federal contribution of $80 million. Instead, the agency ended up getting more than $300 million from the federal government.<\/p>\n
What does $3.8 billion buy you?<\/p>\n
Much has been made of the designer restrooms, the upper-level patio dining venue<\/a>, and locally based dining and drinking concessions that include such familiar names as The Taco Stand, Ambrogio 15 and Cutwater. But bottom line, everything at the new terminal is simply more spacious.<\/p>\n Airline passengers are likely to be especially thankful for a roomier security screening area that will initially have 13 lanes compared with the 10 in the existing terminal. Given the area\u2019s larger footprint, it will be less likely to have the bottlenecks commonly found in the narrower screening area in the old facility.<\/p>\n Also far more spacious is the baggage claim area, which, in the first phase, will have seven carousels \u2014 more than twice the current number. It\u2019s also expected to be a more efficient and speedier system, thanks to a basement-level, 4-mile-long baggage belt that will be able to handle higher volumes of luggage.<\/p>\n Abundant seating, including rocking chairs, can be found at each of the gates, and every other seat is powered for electronic devices. Pops of color and custom artwork are everywhere, from the exterior entrances to the restrooms and mosaic-clad columns past the security area to the imposing gold-finished art piece suspended from the ceiling, which is meant to represent three Torrey pine trees.<\/p>\n The overall project, though, is much more than a new modern terminal. Part of the reason for the significant federal investment is the considerable airfield work that is being undertaken, most notably a second taxiway intended to ease congestion for planes awaiting takeoff and others making their way to gates upon arrival at the airport. While it\u2019s not akin to a second runway, it should make takeoffs and arrivals, especially during peak periods, much more efficient.<\/p>\n About 70% of the taxiway already has been constructed and is currently in operation. The remaining 30% will be built during the second phase of the terminal project, with completion expected by August 2028.<\/p>\n \u201cTo get to the runway right now, there\u2019s just a one-lane road where you can only move in one direction at a time,\u201d Cabrera explained. \u201cAnd if there are any airplanes that need to come back or need to move to another spot, the traffic going to the runway has to wait to go around them. This new taxiway will allow for two-way traffic onto and from the runway.<\/p>\n \u201cThis just makes that sort of ballet of airplanes on the airfield more efficient, and it should improve some of the timing in terms of both your pushback timing and your getting to the gate.\u201d<\/p>\n Another game-changer for the airport \u2014 and one that\u2019s already up and running \u2014 is the new three-lane, on-airport roadway that entirely bypasses North Harbor Drive and delivers motorists to Terminals 1 and 2, as well as the parking garages. The net effect is the removal of 45,000 cars a day from the once-congested North Harbor Drive, which now feels almost empty at certain times of the day compared to before the roadway opened.<\/p>\n The project also calls for several improvements to high-volume roadways that will increase lanes and add traffic signals and signage on Palm Street; upgrade streetlights and increase traffic signage for Pacific Highway intersections at West Laurel, Palm, Sassafras and Washington streets; and add lanes on Grape Street.<\/p>\n But what about public transit?<\/p>\n It was 2018, and plans to replace the cramped Terminal 1 were advancing rapidly, with construction expected to start in 2020. But all of a sudden, that forward momentum appeared to be in real jeopardy<\/a>. Government agencies across the county, from the city of San Diego to the Port of San Diego and Metropolitan Transit System were universal in their withering criticism.<\/p>\n The project\u2019s environmental consequences \u2014 most notably, increased traffic congestion \u2014 had largely been ignored, and planning for future transit to the airport was absent, they claimed.<\/p>\n Airport officials ultimately took the criticism to heart, and what ensued were a series of meetings with stakeholders to come up with a more precise strategy for delivering a direct transit connection to the airport, be it an elevated people mover or trolley extension or simply improved bus service.<\/p>\n The Airport Authority agreed to rewrite the already completed draft environmental impact report, which had the effect of delaying the project by about a year. The net effect, though, of the new analysis was a slightly smaller parking garage \u2014 2,000 spaces were removed \u2014 which in turn allowed the airport to set aside space between Terminals 1 and 2 for a future transit station.<\/p>\n On top of that, the Airport Authority secured an agreement from the airlines to contribute $350 million toward a future transit link<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the years since, transportation planners with the San Diego Association of Governments have spent considerable time researching and refining a transit strategy, although progress came in fits and starts as SANDAG underwent leadership changes.<\/p>\n During a recent update provided by SANDAG, Marissa Mangen, project manager for the airport transit connection project, said that the planning agency is in the final stages of whittling down multiple options and routes for an automated people mover or alternatively, a trolley extension. Once that is completed, an environmental review would follow.<\/p>\n![\"Baggage](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SUT-L-T1-PREVIEW-006.jpg\")
A baggage carousel at the new Terminal 1. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758478065_730_SUT-L-T1-PREVIEW-015.jpg\")
A seating area inside the new Terminal 1 at the San Diego International Airport. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SUT-L-AIRPORT-ROADWAY-007.jpg\")
The first lane of the new airport road (on the left) directs you to Terminal 2, while the second and third lanes lead to Terminal 1 at San Diego International Airport. The large electronic signs will display the airlines along with the terminals from which they are operating. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SUT-L-Airport-0821_029.jpg\")
A walkway and stairs and hanging lights between the parking towers at the Terminal 1 Parking Plaza in the San Diego International Airport.(Alejandro Tamayo \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n