Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport began a $326M expansion for Terminal 3, adding six gates to accommodate the constant growth in passenger traffic. The project is led by McCarthy Building Cos. and includes sustainable design features for passenger comfort and efficiency, with completion expected in 2027.
McCarthy Building Cos. photo
McCarthy Building Cos. also was the contractor for
In 2024, more than 52 million travelers passed through Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. It was the busiest year for the airport, which is Arizona's most powerful economic driver — generating an estimated $44.3 billion annually.
To stay ahead of the almost constant growth in passenger traffic and today's larger aircraft, the airport in April broke ground on a $326 million expansion that will add six gates to Terminal 3 and, the project's partners say, support Phoenix Sky Harbor as "America's Friendliest Airport."
"We're always looking at different and innovative ways to maintain construction but also maintaining all operations — and passenger experience is always the priority," said Brandon Moon, vice president of operations of McCarthy Building Cos., the contractor for the 173,000-sq.-ft. multilevel concourse.
Terminal 3 handles 25 percent of the airport's passenger traffic annually.
HOK rendering
"Everything that we look at we look at through the lens of, how is this going to affect operations?" Moon added. "How is this [construction] going to affect the passenger? — and let's make sure that we don't impact them."
The new North 2 Concourse is designed by HOK in collaboration with DFDG Architecture.
The project is pursuing a minimum of LEED Silver certification through the U.S. Green Building Council.
The concourse is part of an expedited development plan, said Roxann Favors, assistant aviation director for the Phoenix Airport systems and interim chief development officer.
The multi-level design includes:
• Passenger level with gate hold rooms, public restrooms and spaces for future retail or tenant build-outs;
• Upper mezzanine level with a lounge, back-of-house areas and an exterior terrace; and
• Apron level accommodating aircraft services and providing essential support spaces.
• A connector bridge will link the concourse to the existing Terminal 3 processor.
Then there's the view.
As a perk of the user experience, the lounge and terrace were designed with views of Camelback Mountain, a prominent landmark of the Phoenix metropolitan area, and downtown Phoenix, said Jonathan Meier, the lead project manager of HOK on this project.
Said Favors: "We have the natural beauty there. So why not take advantage of welcoming everybody to Phoenix through those views?"
Sky Harbor presented its 20-year long-range Comprehensive Asset Management Plan (CAMP) in 2019.
"In 2022, when we did an update to the CAMP, we realized that we needed to bring those gates on a lot quicker than our original master plan had called for within that five- to seven-year period of time," Favors said. "We needed to bring that forward. As our airport director would say, if we had these six gates today, our airline partners will fill them right now."
The expansion is expected to be completed in 2027. But the comprehensive plan also envisions a new terminal on the west side of the airport campus. The West Terminal will be built near where the former Terminals 1 and 2 once stood.
The West Terminal will be a more complex project, Favors said.
"This new N2 is the last footprint that we can build on to the existing Terminal 3 without some improvements to the roadways and the connection on to the West terminal. And it's also meeting the capacity of what the terminal buildings themselves from a ticket processing and back handling processing could handle.
"So that's why we've said that we now have turned our attention to the environment," she said. "There are processes to get completed for us to build the West Terminal. So, there's, of course, FAA environmental clearances that you have to go through before you put one shovel in the ground for a new building."
Preliminary work includes infrastructure and underground utility mapping.
McCarthy Building Cos. photo
"There's a taxiway to the north, a taxiway to the east, and then we've got a concourse to our west," said Thomas Assante, senior project director of McCarthy Building Cos. "And then also we've got the terminal, Sky Harbor Boulevard and the FAA tower to the south. You can imagine that there's a lot of utilities that run through underground."
Meier, of HOK, said the plans reflect 21st-century changes in airport design and management.
"I would say on the sustainability front and on the user experience front are two aspects of airport design that have really evolved in the last 20-25 years," he said.
In 2025, "user" includes those who work in the building as well as travelers.
"It's not just providing amenities like restaurants," Meier said. "And charging facilities for your phone. It's also, what do they feel when they walk through a space? What do they see? What do they not see? How do the staff feel when they work in that facility?"
Added Favors, "I would say that many airports in the United States over the last five-to-10 years have been looking at the same challenges as Sky Harbor.
"We have certain facilities that are aging that need to be modernized or redeveloped but also need to bring online new facilities to be able to do that.
"When you have thriving communities, you have thriving airports," she said, "and so you have to build."
Work at the airport has been a constant in recent years.
McCarthy Building Cos. photo
Started in May 2019, an eighth concourse (including eight new gates) was added to Terminal 4.
The $310 million construction project was completed in spring 2022. Also led by McCarthy Building Cos., the 275,000 sq.-ft. project included approximately 25,000 sq. ft. for retail, food and beverage concessions.
Terminal 4 is the largest at Sky Harbor. That concourse is located at the southwest corner of the terminal 1 and will house 92 gates to accommodate future increased passenger travel. CEG
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