AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Air travel to and from Amarillo has definitely gotten better over the last couple years and it took an even bigger step Monday.
For years, Rick Husband International Airport has been going through renovations to improve travel efficiency, and Monday, city officials cut the ribbon and let all of us in to see how those improvements look.
Before the ribbon cutting took place, hundreds of people gathered in the new greeting area.
They were more than ready to see the facelift the airport has been given.
The construction got started back in March, and today marked a milestone in modernizing what used to be out of date.
"This has been a long time in the works, it's been a strong effort. It was much needed and its going to be a huge improvement over what we had. There's going to be some bugs, it'll be a month or two before we get everything worked out and get the road out front all taken care of, but it's going to be a great facility," said Jim Simms,Amarillo City Commissioner.
Among other things, the airport combined concourses, renovated the terminal, and expanded the food and beverage services, and Pat Rhodes Director of Aviation, says the next time you go through security there, it'll be a whole lot smoother.
"We have a larger checkpoint so it won't be as crowded, they should be able to process people quicker in that respect, some of the improvements relating to efficiency of getting passengers in and out are not yet finished. The baggage handling system is still being, for the most part its in place, but its got a lot of testing to go through before we can activate it."
The project was made possible by $3,000,000 in federal stimulus money.
Judging by the publics reaction today, the changes seem to be a hit.
Something that perhaps would make even the airport's namesake proud and honored.
The upper driveway still has a little more work to do, but airport officials anticipate that will be done in the next few months.
Rhodes says one of their missions is to provide a good platform for air travel, and he says the renovations definitely do that.
