PORTSMOUTH -- The Pease Development Authority's board of directors approved spending as much as $920,000 more on its project to expand and upgrade the terminal at Portsmouth International Airport at Pease.

The board initially committed to the $19 million project in August 2018, but it recently agreed to spend up to $920,000 more to deal with increased costs, PDA Executive Director David Mullen said Tuesday, and to set up a contingency fund.

"When completed this will take the airport to the next level," Mullen said. "This will give us the ability to handle multiple aircraft in a reasonable way with multiple gates and jet bridges."

Construction is scheduled to begin at the end of the month and is expected to take 18 months, Mullen said.

He also believes the expansion and upgrade will make it easier for the PDA to attract a second airline to fly out of Portsmouth. Right now, low-cost carrier Allegiant Airlines, which flies to multiple destinations in Florida, along with Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, is the only airline to fly out of Pease.

"We've been talking to a number of airlines, there's nothing hot right at the moment, but they're showing interest because of Allegiant's success," Mullen said. "Allegiant has done really well."

PDA Engineering Manager Maria Stowell previously said the project is needed to maintain "an up-to-date air terminal."

The two-story expansion includes 12,000 square feet of additional first floor area needed for passenger-check in, screening facilities and a new concourse area, Stowell said. The project will also include 12,000 square feet of lower level area for baggage handling and offices, along with a new 2,100-square-foot facility for baggage screening, Stowell said.

The improvements will also include an escalator to the lower level and a new passenger boarding bridge, Stowell said.

The additional monies needed for the project include about $445,000 in new costs and a contingency fund for as much as $475,000 Stowell said.

The additional costs include about $150,017 the PDA will have to spend on the new passenger boarding bridge because the project had to be rebid when the monies were not awarded in time for the initial bidding process, Stowell said.

The project now also will include about $59,000 for the purchase of an explosive detection system, Stowell said. Currently, checked baggage at the airport is inspected through a manual process, but the new equipment will allow for "much quicker automated inspections," she said.

Mullen added the new equipment "will really decrease" the amount of time it takes to conduct the inspections.

The PDA board also OK'd spending an additional roughly $221,000 to install "dynamic or electrochromic glass" in the terminal, Stowell said. Terminals are typically built with glass curtain walls to provide runway views, Stowell said, but the walls can allow "unpleasant heat" to come in and drive up energy costs.

Using the electrochromic glass system, "the glass can be tinted by passing low voltage charges across a film surface applied to the glass," Stowell said.

"The charges change the window tinting from light to more opaque during different times of the day and as seasons change," she said. "This appears to be a more sustainable and a more aesthetically pleasing solution."

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