Major Airports Expect to Complete Significant Upgrades in 2007

Travelers should see plenty of improvements as major airports open new terminals, concourses and rental car facilities.

Some significant airport projects slated for completion this year:

*Miami. In March, Miami International will complete its $914 million South Terminal. Under construction since 2001, the terminal will house the newly built Concourse J, which will have 15 gates. It will also be the new home for Concourse H, a 14-gate facility that has been around for decades but has been recently renovated. Concourse H continued to operate during construction.

More than 20 airlines will occupy the terminal. They include United and its partners in the Star Alliance, as well as Delta and its partners in the SkyTeam Alliance. In all, the terminal will have 1.5 million square feet of new space, including extended curbs, a new federal inspection facility, concession areas and a bus station for cruise ship lines.

*Las Vegas. After construction delays, Las Vegas McCarran will open its new car rental facility in the first quarter of 2007, says spokesman Chris Jones. The $123 million facility will be one of the largest car rental garages in the country. Forty shuttle buses will transport car renters between the facility and the airport. Customers will have to pay a $3-a-day fee on each rental to help pay for it.

*Los Angeles. In May, LAX will open new airline lounges at the Tom Bradley International Terminal. In a project that began last year, the airport demolished the existing 16 airline lounges to consolidate them into four new lounges.

The new lounges, at 47,000 square feet combined, will be 72% larger than the space used for the closed lounges.

The three major airline marketing alliances -- OneWorld, Star Alliance and SkyTeam -- will have one each, while the fourth will be for customers of the airlines that don't belong to any of the three alliances.

*Atlanta. Delta, the largest tenant in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, is scheduled to complete the makeover of its lobby by summer. The $26 million project calls for knocking down walls and back offices to create more open space. It will make the 50,000-square-foot lobby more open and "more intuitive" for getting around, says Betsy Talton, a Delta spokeswoman. Delta occupies nearly all the south side of the main terminal.

Once completed, the lobby will have 18 more check-in kiosks for a total of 98, and the number of check-in stations will nearly double to 112 from the current 60. As part of an earlier phase, Delta added last year one Crown Room Club, its elite member lounge, for a total of seven at the airport.

*Toronto. Toronto Pearson will open its new $519 million concourse in Terminal 1 on Jan. 30. Its 25 gates will be used for flights to the USA and other international destinations.

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