depending on how that process plays out, it will determine what the new terminal will look like, or even if it will get built at all.“Having a good bid will be key to whether we can have a new terminal or not,” he states.“But it’s very important to the airport as well as the community. We just don’t have the capabilities in our current terminal to house the passengers in a secure area; we’re very limited on space. So, the terminal is the big thing for the airport to grow, bringing in larger aircraft, charter flights, casino flights, and those sorts of things. It goes hand in hand with the growth of the community. And it’s overdue. If the bids come in correctly, and the funding is there, we would start building in the spring of 2025, and it should be completed by 2026.” GROWTH IN NORTH PLATTE IS IMMINENT Talk of growth in the North Platte area is not merely aspirational. Some real changes are coming. Sustainable Beef LLC, a local ranchers’ cooperative, recently broke ground on a $325 million beef processing facility near the airport, which is expected to begin operating later this year. When fully operational, the plant will process around 1,500 cattle a day (the majority of its product to be bought by Walmart), bring in more than $1 billion in economic activity, and support an estimated 875 jobs. Four miles from the airport, the Union Pacific Railroad operates Bailey Yard, the largest rail classification yard in the world, and another 300-acre rail park is proposed in nearby Hershey, NE. In addition, the Airport Authority has plans to develop a 200-acre business park, Platte Valley AirPark, adjacent to the airport with competitively priced business/industrial lots. Finally, the North Platte area is growing as a distribution hub. “We have FedEx and UPS flying in multiple times a day, and we’re looking forward to the possibility of Amazon and other expansions as the community grows,” says Gosnell. 97 AVIATION VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 04, ISSUE 03 NORTH PLATTE REGIONAL AIRPORT
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