Gerald R. Ford Airport unveils $135M phase of Terminal Enhancement Project to modernize check-in
Posted By: WZZM13 on January 29, 2026. For more information, please click here to read the source article.
Gerald R. Ford International Airport will roll out the first phase of its Terminal Enhancement Project to the public on Sept. 9, part of a broader effort to modernize ticketing and baggage handling.
The project is a component of Elevate, a capital improvement initiative the airport launched in 2018 to expand capacity and passenger flow through the terminal, said Casey Ries, the airport’s development officer.
“A series of very strategic, large-scale capital investments are turning the airport into what our region needs for the future,” Ries said. “The Terminal Enhancement Project component of Elevate is focused on ticketing and outbound baggage.”
Under the new system, travelers will receive a bag tag at one of several ticketing kiosks before heading to the bag-check area. There, an airline employee will check the traveler’s ID, scan the boarding pass and bag tag, and place the luggage into a compartment that sends it to the basement level.
Each checked item is placed in an individual tote that carries it through the system. Once in the basement, bags move through a consolidated baggage inspection system and undergo screening by the Transportation Security Administration. Bags that clear screening continue to an airline sorting area, where employees load them onto aircraft. Bags that don’t clear screening are pulled aside for a TSA worker to inspect.
The full process takes about six minutes, according to the airport.
Ries said Gerald R. Ford International is the first airport in the country to use this specific tote-based tracking system for checked luggage.
“Today we’re limited at about 600 bags per hour, and we near that peak during spring break and holiday rushes in the morning,” Ries said. “When the new system is fully operational, we’ll be nearly 1,000 bags per hour.”
Ries said the new system will not reduce staffing and is intended to help the airport keep pace with a growing region.
“The airport is like much of public infrastructure, where we need to be here to support whatever our community needs,” Ries said. “So our goal as the airport authority is to be ahead of that demand. We know demand for checked baggage and passenger operations is increasing, so we provide the infrastructure to stay ahead of the demand.”
United, American and Frontier will be the first airlines to use the new system. The airport plans to transition its remaining five airlines to the system over the next year.
The Elevate program carries a total price tag of more than $700 million, Ries said. The first phase of the Terminal Enhancement Project alone represents a $135 million investment, much of it funded through federal grants.
“Every grant dollar we capture offsets that cost from cost that could go into a local ticket,” Ries said.
Two Elevate projects have already been completed: the Concourse A expansion, which added eight gates and an update to consolidate and expand rental car operations, which opened earlier this month.
Three projects remain under the Elevate program, Ries said: relocating the airport’s air traffic control tower, a federally owned asset; building a federal inspection station where Customs and Border Protection will screen incoming international passengers; and constructing a new parking garage on the airport’s north side. Ries said construction on the tower is designed and ready to begin, and that the north garage cannot be built until the tower is relocated.
The Christman Company is serving as construction manager for the project. Corgan is the architect of record, VTC is the design team’s project manager, Fishbeck is handling project engineering and Beumer Group is the contractor for the baggage handling system.
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