Mobile Airport Work Update

The Mobile Airport Authority (MAA) overseeing the development of Mobile’s new international airport recently heard it is projected to open in early 2027 (now delayed from fall 2026) and is expected to come in on budget, AL.com reports. MAA also heard that an under-used, low-cost airlines terminal built at a cost of $8 million in 2019 will partially become a temporary rental-car hub for the new terminal. Costs, which rose since contracts were signed, are to remain around $381 million. Additionally, MAA approved a motion to fund design and construction needed to reconfigure part of the existing terminal for “quick-turnaround” rental car operations. Terminal One, as it was known at the time, opened in spring 2019 in a 50,000-ft² building that had partly served as an Airbus logistics center. Though dedicated to low-cost carriers, it also was intended to serve as proof-of-concept that the Brookley airfield could host commercial passenger service. MAA Chair Sandy Stimpson said the planned rental-car operations will not spell the end of Terminal One for low-cost carriers. Eventually, he said, other Brookley property will become available as leases expire, allowing the rental-car operations to be moved to another nearby spot.