Dive Brief:

• Construction has started on the first phase of the $2.1 billion South Terminal at Orlando International Airport, according to the Orlando Sentinel.   
• The first phase — an effort to relieve pressure on the existing North Terminal — will see the addition of 16 gates as a prelude to the 120 total gates planned for the project. Airport officials said the new terminal would make it impossible for the airport to handle 60 million to 80 million passengers a year, which they said will put it on par with Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta. Orlando's airport passenger capacity is 38 million, although it processes 44 million each year.
• The South Terminal construction marks the first time in 10 years that Orlando International Airport has added gate and terminal space. The project is expected to employ 2,200 construction workers at peak activity and is scheduled for completion in 2020. 

Dive Insight:

In June, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA) approved a $350 million increase to the terminal's price tag, citing inflation and rising labor and material costs brought by a robust local construction economy, a high-priced baggage system and other high-end technology necessary to complete the project. Airport officials said they would pay $149 million of the extra costs with the $70 million in user fees it collects each year.

The first phase of the project was to have gone to PCL Construction, but GOAA canceled the company's contract due to questions around its cost-savings strategies and its alleged attempt to shift too much risk back to the airport. At the time, GOAA said the joint venture between Kiewit and Turner Construction would work on the second phase, which will tackle runway and taxiway infrastructure, loading bridges, landscaping, lighting, concessions and security.

The Port Authority of New Jersey and New York took on the replacement of New York City's LaGuardia Airport Central Terminal B by handing over the design, financing, construction and operations to LaGuardia Gateway Partners (LGP), the private piece of a public-private partnership (P3) that, at $4 billion, dwarfs the Orlando South Terminal project.

Also at LaGuardia, Delta is building a $4 billion terminal. Delta will finance $3.4 billion of the 37-gate project and the Port Authority will pay for the rest. Taken together, the $8 billion of new terminals is the biggest airport construction undertaking since Denver International was completed in 1995.