116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
The Eastern Iowa Airport opens expansion in time for spring break passenger surge
Four new gates, additional seating are fourth phase of decade-long expansion project
Mar. 10, 2025 8:17 pm, Updated: Mar. 11, 2025 7:35 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — The Eastern Iowa Airport has opened four new gates this month, just in time for an expected influx of travelers for spring break.
The new gates opened March 3, and are mostly being used by Delta Air Lines and United Airlines so far. They are part of the fourth phase of a decade-long expansion project that started at the airport in 2014 and is scheduled to be completed this fall.
When the expansion is finished, the airport will have a total of 13 gates — although the labeled gate numbers skip the number 13 in favor of having a gate 14.
“It’s been a decade of work. I’m very proud of the contractors that have done a great job, and the overall team, our design team, from architects to engineers. It is really a lot of long hours and great work done,” Airport Director Marty Lenss said. “There’s a lot that goes into keeping a terminal open and active and doing major construction at the same time. All of it’s gone pretty smooth, all things considered.”
The new gate areas include expanded seating with more electrical outlets for passengers to use to charge devices.
The expansion comes just in time for spring break, when the airport is expecting to see an increase in travelers. Saturday is expected to be the busiest day during the spring break travel period with an anticipated 3,000 passengers departing from Cedar Rapids that day.
In 2024, the airport beat its all-time high for total passengers, with 1.5 million people using the airport. Three new destinations were added by airlines that use the airport: Washington, D.C., Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
“We encourage passengers to come early for their flight so they can check out the new portion of the concourse,” Lenss said in a news release about the new expansion. “We’re proud of the progress that has been made and we believe every person who flies out, or comes into CID, will see a bright, modern terminal that serves as the premium gateway for all of Eastern Iowa.”
Other improvements are still to come before the expansion is complete, including a large outdoor patio with a Service Animal Relief Area that will open in May, and a sensory room for people overstimulated by travel that will be part of the last bit of construction.
The total cost of the four-phase project is estimated at about $121 million, most of which was paid for by the airport itself. About 32 percent of the funding came through various programs and grants from the Federal Aviation Administration, and about 25 percent was paid for by the state of Iowa. No local tax dollars were used to pay for the project, according to a news release from the airport.
The airport also has expanded in other ways in the past year, adding additional parking in both the long-term and short-term parking lots. After this expansion project is complete, Lenss said the airport will continue to look for opportunities to expand, possibly including adding a parking garage, as long as passenger numbers keep growing.
“The next phases that we’re looking at are all growth dependent. Growth continuing, we’ll start working on roadways into the terminal, the roadway across the front of the terminal. We’ll start to manage changes to lead us toward an overall parking structure that would occur probably sometime in the next eight- to 10-year window, but there are a lot of enabling projects ahead of that,” Lenss said.
Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com
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