Flight information for departures at Southwest Florida International Airport on June 30, 2016. (Erica Brechtelsbauer/Staff)

Posted: June 30, 2016

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5-year-old Apollo Przystawik stands near a window at Southwest Florida International Airport to wave to the incoming planes on June 30, 2016. (Erica Brechtelsbauer/Staff)

By Laura Ruane, The News-Press

Southwest Florida International Airport wants to expand its 10-year-old passenger terminal to ease peak-hour and peak-season congestion at the terminal's three security checkpoints.

On Thursday, Lee County commissioners acting as the port authority board gave airport staff permission to negotiate with Atkins North America Inc. to design the expansion.

A conceptual diagram for the airport terminal expansion shows the concourses and aircraft gates left intact, while other external terminal walls are extended further into the airfield and landside — the area away from the airfield, such as in the front of the terminal.

Initial estimates put the total design and construction at between $40 million to $45 million, with passenger facility charge money the most likely funding source. Tapping that fund will require approval from RSW's airline partners.

This isn't a quick solution: The expansion will take three or more years to complete, according to airport officials.

In the interim, the airport's draft 2016-17 budget calls for spending $275,000 on an outside firm to manage the checkpoint lines.

Clogged checkpoints aren't confined to Southwest Florida. Exceedingly long lines — up to three-hour waits in some cases — were reported this spring at major airports across the country.

Unlike much of the nation, summer isn't a peak season here for commercial aviation. But the picture changes drastically in the peak-season months between Thanksgiving and Easter.

"This (expansion plan) is customer-driven," said Victoria Moreland, airport spokeswoman. "You can't ignore (crowded checkpoints) three to four months out of the year."

RSW is one of the highest "peaking" airports in the country. According to Lee County Port Authority:

Nearly 25 percent of all RSW takeoffs and landings occur in February and March. That is when lines of travelers awaiting security screening sometime stretch from concourse entrances all the way to the front of the terminal.

In March, the airport has 125 percent more takeoffs and landings than in September, its slowest month.

That's a striking difference from the international airports in Tampa and Orlando, where aircraft operations differ by less than 30 percent between peak-season and offseason.

Many airports across the country have expanded the space available for checkpoints, said Sari Koshetz, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration..

Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport is testing new security lanes designed to make passenger screening more efficient. The lanes have five stations for travelers to put belongings in bins for scrutiny. The bins have radio frequency identification tags that allow for quick retrieval after screening.

But having adequate space for checkpoints comes first, even before new technology and additional transportation security agents, said Bijan Vasigh, professor of economics and finance at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach.

"Delays cost airports and airlines billions of dollars," Vasigh said.

Airports "need to make sure the facility is top notch to attract airlines and to attract passengers."

In other business, commissioners gave their first OK to Lee County Port Authority's fiscal 2016-2017 budget that includes $119 million for international airport operations and a $2-a-day increase for using its parking garage. That budget isn't final until after public hearings in September.