John Glenn Columbus International Airport New Terminal

Columbus has been running passengers through a terminal that opened in 1958. The replacement is a 1-million-sq-ft midfield building west of the existing one, and at roughly $2 billion it’s the largest airport capital project in Ohio.

Project Scope

The new terminal takes capacity past 13 million annual passengers across a planned 36 gates, with new roadways, a consolidated parking structure and apron work in the same package. Hensel Phelps holds the CMaR contract with Columbus-based Elford, Inc. integrated into the delivery team rather than carried as a sub. Gensler leads design with Moody Nolan, HDR handles aviation planning and engineering, HEAPY covers MEP and energy modelling, and Banker Steel has the structural steel. Ground broke in November 2024, with opening set for late 2028 into early 2029.

The existing terminal stays live throughout and comes down after cutover. Building on a midfield site rather than around an operating building is the decision that makes this schedule work: crews get a clean site, and the disruption is concentrated into one changeover instead of spread across five years of phased demolition.

Why It Matters

Elford calls this the largest project in its history, and the structure of the award is the story. Airport authorities increasingly require a national CMaR to carry a local builder as an equal rather than a subcontractor, which keeps the trade relationships and the workforce pipeline in the region after the national firm demobilises. Columbus is a mid-size hub spending big-hub money on the bet that central Ohio’s growth holds.

Project Team & Details