PSP one step closer to getting upgrades
After four years of environmental impact studies, the Palm Springs International Airport is one step closer to some much needed improvements.
The Palm Springs Airport Commission unanimously approved results from an environmental impact study on making improvements to the airport on Tuesday.
The study looked at everything from noise pollution to the impact on local birds.
An upgrade to certain parts of the airport is necessary to deal with the large number of travelers coming through, including new flights with airlines like West Jet and Jet Blue.
“We are going to hit two million people this year in the airport which is tremendous, we have had three straight years of record setting growth,” said Bob Elsner, chairman of the Airport Commission.
One of the major remodels the commission is looking to do is to expand the rental car area.
“We rent over 200 thousand car rentals a year thanks to our tourists and seasonal residents, so now the car rental lot needs to be expanded by going vertical, slightly, to park more cars, so when customers land to attend a convention, come home, or just for recreation they can rent a vehicle conveniently,” said Tom Nolan, public information officer for Palm Springs International Airport.
Other improvements include remodeling ticket counters and lengthening baggage claim belt by 60 feet.
“The baggage claim area, as you may know, becomes congested in peak hours and at peak times, now we have to make some modest adjustments to the building to accommodate that growth,” said Nolan.
According to the planing commission, the terminal is considered a historical building, the commission won’t be change how the terminal looks from the curb and there shouldn’t be any changes on the tarmac or anywhere planes operate.
The recommendations are now going to be sent to the Palm Springs City Council. If they approve them, the airport commission will start looking for designers and architects for the remodels.
I could be years before we know the cost of the remodels or what they would look like.
WHAT IMPROVEMENTS WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE TO THE PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW OR TELL JOE GALLI ON FACEBOOK OR TWITTER.
