Nonstop international flights in five-year plan for Tulsa commercial travelers

One is a new air traffic control tower. The other is a proposed $27.5 million federal inspection services facility that an airport official said could be completed in late 2025 or early 2026.

“Basically, you are going to be able to fly from here to Mexico and back or Cozumel or out of the country and back without stopping in Dallas or driving to Dallas and then getting on a plane,” said Frank Relja, director of engineering and planning for the Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust (TAIT). “A federal inspections facility is basically an international terminal.

“We’ve never had an international flight because we didn’t have customs large enough to accommodate a commercial aircraft of that size.”

Tulsa International Airport (TUL) already has a small U.S. Customs and Border Protection office that can clear private/charter flights of 20 passengers or fewer, and the airport accommodates between 10 to 20 of those flights weekly, said Kim Kuehler, communications manager for TAIT. The airport also regularly handles international cargo flights, she said.

Currently, however, TUL offers no nonstop commercial flights to out-of-country venues.

“An airline is not going to come into TUL on an international flight if they don’t have a way to go through customs,” Relja said. “How many aircraft will this terminal have the first year? Well, we really don’t know. It’s one of those ‘build it and they will come’ things.”

As the new, 45,000-square-foot federal inspection facility gets closer to completion, the airport will begin pitching nonstop international route opportunities to major carriers, Andrew Pierini, TAIT’s vice president and chief commercial officer, wrote in an email.

“We would be looking at securing once- or twice-a-week service to some destinations in Mexico or the Caribbean,” Pierini said. “Our largest markets from Tulsa internationally (in order) are Cancun (Mexico), Cabo (Mexico), London, Puerto Vallarta (Mexico), Cozumel (Mexico), Montego Bay (Jamaica) and Punta Cana (Dominican Republic).”

The global terminal is among 19 projects totaling $100.4 million in TUL’s capital improvement plan for fiscal years 2024-28. That proposal includes runway, taxiway and apron rehabilitation, as well as electric vehicle charging stations for TUL vehicles.

“We are touching everything from fencing to pavement to building, going all the way down to sealing employee parking lots,” Relja said.

Another capital upgrade that is part of the existing five-year plan figures to be transformative, as well.

TUL representatives met Monday with designers and Federal Aviation Administration officials to discuss the proposed air traffic control tower and terminal radar approach control facility, Relja said. Among discussions was the project planning document, which outlines all the requirements the FAA has for a specific structure.

Total cost of the project is about $106 million, which includes roughly $26 million for new FAA equipment, Relja said. The new tower will have about a 15,000-square-foot base and rise to about 250 feet, roughly 100 feet taller than the existing tower, which was completed in 1961.

“Air traffic controllers have to be able to see all the pavement on the airfield,” Relja said. “The location and height of the tower that we currently have is limiting some of the area that can be constructed. By going up and moving the tower to the west, we are able to open up the areas that were not previously available for expansion of hangars and tenant areas.”

Leo A Daly, a global planning, architecture, engineering and interiors firm based in Omaha, Nebraska, is designing the project, for which bids will be solicited in late 2023.

“It’s going to open up property for building new structures, new hangars,” Relja said. “It’s going to open up property to be leased. It’s going to be a major improvement for TUL.”

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