More than two years after opening the $1.2 billion McNamara Terminal at Detroit Metro Airport, Northwest Airlines is expanding its capacity for handling passengers and smaller, regional jets.

Construction manager Walbridge-Aldinger and the building trades are in the process of expanding the “B” and “C” concourses that comprise the smaller of the two Midfield terminal buildings at Metro. The $92.5 million expansion will help Northwest Airlines to better compete in the growing market trend of using smaller regional jets to move passengers.

Portions of the very active B and C terminals currently in place will be dismantled and/or incorporated into the new terminal. Nine gates will be added to the existing eight gates at Concourse B, while 16 gates will be added to the existing 25 at Concourse C.

According to Walbridge-Aldinger Project Director Awad Prasad, constructing an airplane terminal between active airplane taxi ramps – with all the logistical challenges and security concerns in the post 9-11 era – is as complicated as it sounds.

“This building is probably twice as difficult as a normal building to construct,” Prasad said. “We cannot interfere with the public or airport operations. When planes are taxiing nearby sometimes you have to stop everything. There are certain things we can’t do when we would like. Material deliveries have to be scheduled carefully. And the workers can’t go off-site for lunch.”

Construction workers are assigned a parking area at the airport, and a bus takes them to work. Starting times are staggered to avoid a rush. Workers are given an ID badge to gain access to the site, but security personnel also require them to show their driver’s license.

Work began in December 2003, and about 150 construction workers are currently on the job. Peak manpower will eventually hit 200-250 workers. Concourse B is expected to be complete in February 2005; Concourse C, eight months later.

The massive, nearly mile-long “A” McNamara Terminal Concourse, completed in February 2002, is not physically part of this expansion project. The “B” and “C” terminals, which are end-to-end, run parallel to the “A” Concourse with a jet-way ramp running between them. A 900-foot tunnel with a moving sidewalk links the terminals for passengers.

Northwest, the nation’s fourth-largest air carrier which uses Metro as its primary hub, opted to go ahead with the expansion despite a still-sluggish airline industry.

“There’s definitely a trend among the U.S. airlines towards using the smaller regional jets,” said Metro Airport spokesman Mike Conway. “They can add routes without flying the bigger jets, which may be flying below capacity.”

Conway added: “It’s nice to see the hub carrier expanding operations. The new operations and the non-stops routes will be very beneficial to the business community.”

The McNamara terminals were designed and constructed with expansion in mind. “Knockouts” were installed at the ends the “B” and “C” terminals to facilitate lengthening those buildings. Jet fuel lines were put in place underground. Northwest originally planned on doing this work three years from now, but market demands prompted them to move up the construction schedule.

Despite having to start the project with foundation work in the dead of winter – and with all the distractions of being surrounded by the world’s 17-busiest airport – the job is slightly ahead of schedule.

“All along in this project, we’ve tried to plan so that we eliminate the major challenges that come our way,” said Walbridge-Aldinger Project Supt. John Moriarty. “We’ve been very fortunate to have proactive contractors and skilled tradespeople who know how to get the work done.”

Trades will also head North at Metro

Construction workers won’t be finished at Metro Airport when ongoing expansion work at the B and C Concourses is complete – not by a long shot.

Work is expected to start next spring on the $402 million North Terminal project, which will be the home of non-Northwest air carriers at Metro. The North Terminal will replace the aging and outmoded 44-year-old Smith Terminal, and put those other carriers’ facilities “on a level playing field” with Northwest’s McNamara Terminal, said Metro Airport spokesman Mike Conway.

Plans for the North Terminal call for 610,000 square feet of terminal space with 29 gates.

WORKING ON A JET FUEL LINE near the Metro Airport B & C Terminal expansion are Mark Shumaker and Steve Wallace of Pipe Fitters Local 636 and Intrastate.

THE B AND C TERMINALS AT Metro Airport in Romulus continue to operate around the work of the building trades during the expansion process. Harry Domke of Operating Engineers Local 324 moves dirt in the future location of an airplane gate.