Portland Airport Expansion Flies High with Skanska

By Gail Kalinoski

Expansion of Portland International Airport

Skanska has been hired by the Port of Portland to expand and renovate Portland International Airport’s Concourse E, part of an overall $1.3 billion, five-year makeover of the Oregon facility.

The project calls for Skanksa to build a two-story, 820-foot extension of Concourse E, including adding six gates for a total expansion of 150,700 square feet, according to Skanksa. The work also includes airside site work, modifications to baggage handling systems and various renovations within the existing terminal.

Skanska will be paid $151 million for the project, which is aimed at increasing airport operations efficiency, prolonging the longevity of existing terminal facilities, increasing the seismic resiliency of the concourse and enhancing level of service for passengers.

Skanska, a multinational construction and development company based in Sweden, said the Portland airport contract will be included in its U.S. order bookings for the third quarter of 2017. Construction has started and is expected to be finished by 2020.

The Concourse E project is part of a major expansion and upgrade to the airport’s terminal that was built in 1956, according The Oregonian newspaper. The newspaper reported this summer that the overall terminal project, estimated at about $1.3 billion, would include $215 million for the Concourse E expansion; $67 million for a car wash and fuel station for rental cars; a $265 million addition to the garage, as well as some private development including a 7-Eleven gas station.

LaGuardia Airport project

Portland isn’t the only U.S. airport where Skanska is working on expansions. The company is part of the nation’s largest public-private partnership at New York’s LaGuardia Airport Central Terminal B, along with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. That $4 billion project includes a new 35-gate Terminal B, Central Hall, West Garage, related roadways and infrastructure. Skanska Infrastructure Development is part of LaGuardia Gateway Partners, a consortium of Vantage Airport Group and Meridiam that are project sponsors and co-investors. Skanska and Walsh Constructed formed the design-build joint venture with HOK and WSP|Parsons Brinckerhoff advising on design. The PANYNJ approved a 35-year lease in March 2016 and the final agreements and funding plan to start construction were finalized in June 2016. Construction at the Queens, N.Y., airport is expected to last through 2022.

Image courtesy of Skanska