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Millions in federal funding to renovate Columbia airports

The FAA's Airport Improvement Program will give airports in 13 South Carolina cities a facelift.

Columbia, SC (WLTX) -- Changes are coming to airports in Columbia, thanks to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airport Improvement Program.

The yearly federal grant is giving airports in 13 South Carolina cities a facelift.

Jim Hamilton - L.B. Owens Airport will get $550,000. It will help improve airport drainage, install perimeter fencing, rehabilitate an access road, the airport apron and taxiway.

The Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE) will receive roughly $3.7 million.

Michael Gula, Executive Director of the Columbia Metropolitan Airport, says a while back, CAE went through a terminal renovation.

After years of wear and tear, Gula says equipment needs to be replaced. 

"[The grant money] will fund all escalators within the terminal, the concourse as well as the parking garage," said Gula. "We'll also be redoing the airline ticket counters as well as redoing the baggage claim carousels and the inline baggage system and outbound baggage."

Where you check in for a flight at CAE, you'll notice more space in the terminal.

"So the inline baggage system, when you come here today, you'll see the TSA screening pods," explained Gula. "You won't see that after this project. That will all go back behind the wall. Everything will be done behind the scenes. That will free up the area for passenger queuing."

2018 was a big year for CAE. Passenger numbers grew 11%, nearly tripling the national growth average of 4%.

2019 is even busier with more direct flights added to the list, including Miami come December.

"We're on track right now to be up over 18% for the year," said Gula. "The economy is growing. The community as a whole is growing. The airlines have added a lot of capacity. Just to give you a figure, in 2018, we had over 60,000 more seats in the market than we had in the previous year."

The more passengers an airport gets, the more grant money they receive from the FAA.

Last year, 1.2 million residents booked a flight through CAE.

"We really want to thank the community for utilizing this airport," said Gula. "The more this community utilizes our airport, the more growth opportunities we have and we can fund different things from out on the airfield to our terminal facilities to make sure we are your home airport."

Construction begins this fall and is set to be complete in two years.

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