Bemidji Regional Airport to Receive $261,000 Federal Grant to Expand Terminal

The Bemidji Regional Airport is set to receive some significant federal funding.

The $261,350 grant will be used to expand the passenger terminal, which will address current concerns regarding security checkpoints and congestion throughout the terminal.

“We were able to get some additional funding for security and other purposes because, you know, you can redo runways, you can do all that, but you’ve got to be able to have it so you can process a passengers in a safe way,” said Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. “So that’s what this grant is about. It’s very focused on the actual work that’s going on in the terminal as opposed to, say, runways and things like that.”

This funding is from the Airport Terminals Program, one of three aviation programs created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“We added funding for airports and especially made sure that it wasn’t just big airports, that it was also small airports, and Two Harbors got one of these grants and Bemidji got one of these grants, and then some other bigger ones, right, in the Twin Cities and in Duluth,” added Klobuchar. “And that’s because they were able to make the case that they’re doing good work and they’ve got strong local support. There were tons of applicants for these grants, but Bemidji keeps coming out on top because they’ve been able to show that they’re actually using the funding and in an expanding area with an exciting economy.

In 2022, the Bemidji Regional Airport received $95,000 from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to reconfigure and expand the security checkpoint.