New Purdue airport terminal to be named after Amelia Earhart
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A new terminal at the Purdue University Airport will be named after the first female aviator to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean who was also a Purdue instructor and previously flew out of the airport.
The naming of the Amelia Earhart Terminal was confirmed by trustees Friday. Construction on the terminal will begin in June with planned completion in 2025.
The 10,000-square-foot terminal will include a waiting area, baggage claim, restrooms and ticketing and passenger screening. Airport hangar T-1 will be demolished to be replaced with a short-term parking lot.
The Purdue trustees approved construction of the new terminal last August.
Earhart has a strong connection to the university and airport having flown out of it in the 1930s. She also was an instructor and advisor in careers for women from 1935 to 1937. Purdue has the largest collection of Earhart-related papers, memorabilia and artifacts.
The announcement comes just under two months after the university said Southern Airways Express, a subsidiary of California-based Surf Air Mobility, agreed to begin commuter air service between the airport and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
The target start date falls in the early second quarter of 2024.