Washington State University: Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport breaks ground on new terminal project

Prominent community members and supporters of the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport broke ground Wednesday on a terminal project designed to meet the travel demands of the region for years to come.

Airport officials project the new terminal — which will add essential new space for passengers and airport staff — to open in the winter of 2023. The new terminal will be nearly six times larger than the existing terminal and include more boarding gates and customer parking as well as enhanced amenities.

The new terminal project follows the completion in 2019 of a new runway that allowed larger aircraft to land on the Palouse in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration regulations.

Washington State University and the University of Idaho announced last year a combined $1 million pledge toward the airport terminal project. The commitment followed significant pledges of financial support from the cities of Moscow and Pullman.

The need to add a new terminal to the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport stems from increased travel demands observed prior to the pandemic. Between 2009 and 2019, the number of passengers traveling through PUW increased by 133%, from 30,128 to more than 70,000. Current projections call for 145,000 passengers to travel through the airport by 2030, increasing further to 197,000 by 2040.