Alaska airport completes $500M terminal overhaul

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Nov. 2--After more than 10 years of plotting, moving, destroying and rebuilding, the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport on Sunday unveiled the capstone of its more than half-billion-dollar makeover: A $200 million overhaul of concourses A and B.

The final two-year project brings polish, art and panache to a section of airport that was once a "dark and dreary place," according to an airport official. It will open up more food and shopping options and reduce crowding by moving the security checkpoint away from the top of the escalators at the main lobby, airport officials say.

The 350,000-square-foot makeover came on the heels of a $301.3 million overhaul at Concourse C and marks the end of 11 years of renovation, Airport Manager John Parrott said.

"We've got some little pieces and parts around that will probably be worked on until next spring, but this is the last big part in our construction," Parrott said. "After this, we should be just setting and running for a while."

Beginning today, passengers will start filtering through a new, six-lane security checkpoint where the food court was until a few years ago. This checkpoint lies to the left of the current entrance for Concourse C. The existing security site eventually will be dismantled, though the passenger exit between the two concourses at the top of the escalators will remain.

Behind security, concourses B and C are now connected for foot traffic, meaning passengers can go between them to shop and eat while waiting for flights without having to submit to another round of screening.

Some flights will begin operating out of B Concourse today, and airlines including Delta, Continental and US Airways, which have been based in the North Terminal since construction closed Concourse B in October 2007, should be finished moving back to the South Terminal by Nov. 15, Parrott said.