Indy airport director teases new flight, shares updates on projects
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now2024 will be a record-breaking year for passenger traffic at Indianapolis International Airport, according to Executive Director Mario Rodriguez.
In March, the airport celebrated its busiest month of all time with 967,597 total passengers. May 2024 was the airport’s second-busiest month of all time.
“I can almost guarantee we’re going to be over 10 million this year. The numbers are trending that way. There’s nothing to stop us,” Rodriguez said during an interview on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick.
Rodriguez is celebrating his 10th year with the airport. The airport currently has 49 nonstop flights, and Rodriguez told Inside INdiana Business host Gerry Dick that No. 50 will be announced in October.
“It will be a nonstop that everybody will enjoy. Our excellent team…[is] progressing towards that nonstop to Europe,” Rodriguez said. “Stay tuned. Next month, everybody’s going to be delighted.”
Progress on a flight to Europe is one of several projects underway at the airport. Rodriguez says the airport’s new parking garage is done, and the IBJ reports there are also plans to spend nearly $47 million to add solar panels to a surface parking lot near the main terminal.
IND’s three-year, three-phase runway reconstruction project is expected to be done this year.
“Most people don’t see the magnitude of the runway. This will be an asset that will remain for the community for the next 40 to 50 years. We poured enough concrete out there to build a two lane road from the airport to Terre Haute,” Rodriguez said.
Pending board approval, the airport plans to build a “very high end” Westin hotel that will be attached directly to the terminal. Construction could start next year.
“If you go through [the pedestrian bridge] and you walk out onto the garage, you see those moving walkways. Those moving walkways eventually will lead to a hotel that will be attached to the garage,” Rodriguez told IBJ Media CEO Nate Feltman during the Indiana 250 Off the Record podcast. “It’ll have a rooftop bar. It’ll be really an elevated experience for our customers, and we’re going to own the hotel. We’ve got a management company to go through and manage it, and owning the hotel gives us the ability to control the customer service. That’s one of the reasons that we’re focused in on making sure that the hotel stays on our side.”
Earlier this month, J.D. Power gave IND the highest ranking among medium airports for a third consecutive year.
“Our team is the best team in the industry,” Rodriguez said. “We held customer service as one of our main pillars to make sure that the community understands that we really care about how they how they feel and what they do in the airport. That’s our seventh J.D. Power.”
As part of the study, the airport was also recognized as #1 in food, beverage and retail and #1 in terminal facilities. For 12 years straight, the airport has been named the Best Airport in North America by Airports Council International (ACI) World.
Airports across the state are also seeing soaring success.
The Gary/Chicago International Airport is getting a new airport traffic control tower. The $16.4 million project will replace the airport’s existing tower, which was built in 1972. Construction on a new $12 million hangar is also underway.
READ MORE: Gary Airport continues work to bring back commercial flights
Earlier this month, Evansville Regional Airport celebrated the return of a flight to Chicago on American Airlines. Work continues on a new, $7.5 million private aviation terminal. Evansville-based United Cos. subsidiary Tri-State Aero is doubling the size of the terminal to 10,000 square feet and dramatically upgrading amenities for corporate travelers.
Breeze Airways this year selected South Bend International Airport as its second Indiana airport and announced flights to Orlando and Fort Myers in Florida as well as Washington Dulles International Airport.
This summer, nonstop flights to Detroit returned to Fort Wayne International Airport. The airport now has 13 nonstop destinations on four airlines. Executive Director of Airports Scott Hinderman told Inside INdiana Business work on the $140 million Project Gateway will likely be done in August of 2025. The project is a complete expansion as well as a remodel of the terminal building.
2024 also saw the return of commercial flights at the Purdue University Airport. It currently offers daily round-trip flights from Greater Lafayette to Chicago. Construction is also underway on the nearly $12 million Amelia Earhart Terminal and is expected to be complete in August 2025.