FAA approves St. George Airport expansion, $15 million allocated for new control tower

ST. GEORGE, Utah (KUTV) — The St. George City Council met Thursday to discuss updates to the St. George Airport Expansion Plan, including a new control tower.

The FAA-approved master plan was designed to accomplish three goals — new routes, larger planes and lower air fares.

For travelers looking to leave the region, their current options are to take a flight with a layover, or drive to Las Vegas.

A big upgrade for the regional airport will be the new control tower.

Currently, all air traffic control goes through Los Angeles or Salt Lake City. This has made it difficult for the airport to bring in new flights and bigger planes.

The airport was granted $15 million from the state to complete the control tower project. When asked if the project was still on budget, City Communications Director David Cordero said, “It’s too early in the process to know, however, it is our goal to stay within the $15 million budget amount allocated.”

The first step in the building plan was to determine the location of the control tower. It will be placed on the west side of the airport, near South Banded Hills Drive.

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City officials said the design of the project beyond that is only 15% complete. But, they said they are still on track.

However, a completion date is still to be determined.

Additional work is being done on the terminal, which Cordero said is 30% designed. This includes a new terminal lounge inside the secure area.

The city was unable to say how the expansion will impact tourism, but said “this could mean more visitors or the same amount of visitors — perhaps more will choose to fly over driving.”

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