Eugene Airport is getting bigger.
Oregon lawmakers say they hope a $450 million expansion plan for the Eugene Airport known as ‘Lift Off EUG’ will transform the regional economy. In turn, Oregon State University President Jayathi Murthy said she’s hoping it will grow opportunities for OSU.
The airport invited public officials to view the construction site and learn more about their plans on July 7. Murthy, U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle, D-4 and representatives from other local and state offices attended.
The first phase of the plan is underway with the expansion of Concourse A, which promises to alleviate congestion and expand seating capacity, according to Eugene Airport Director Cathryn Stephens.
The second phase of the development plan focuses on expanding Concourse C. This will include eight new gates and a swing-gate concept capable of accommodating larger aircraft charters to support university athletics.
The expansion of Concourse C will allow for more nonstop flights to more and farther destinations, according to the Eugene Airport website. Potential new destinations include Boston, Atlanta, Orlando, Honolulu, Austin, Ontario, Kansas City and Nashville.
While the funding for Concourse C has not yet been identified, according to Stephens, the expansion is strongly supported by Oregon leaders such as Gov. Tina Kotek, Hoyle and U.S. senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley.
“The only way that Oregon’s economy can be strong is if we are strong across all the regions,” Hoyle said. “The people of this community deserve more. … The airport expansion is critical to having economic prosperity.”
According to Stephens, the full airport expansion is expected to generate a $2 billion increase in regional economic impact and is expected to create 13,000 new regional jobs.
The expansion is also expected to yield about $56 million more in state and local tax revenue and serves as an opportunity for economic improvement in the region, according to Oregon House District 13 Rep. Nancy Nathanson, who was a speaker at the event.
“The five counties in the Southern Willamette Valley – Lane, Linn, Benton, Lincoln and Douglas – are home to one in six Oregonians that generate around one in nine dollars of the state’s economy,” Nathanson said. “That’s what we call room for improvement.”
According to Stephens, the expansion will help keep the economic benefit of travel in the Eugene area rather than losing travelers to larger airports like the Portland International Airport.
Currently, almost one-third of regional travelers choose PDX over EUG, according to the Eugene Airport website.
The expansion is strongly supported by both Murthy and the University of Oregon’s president, Karl Scholz, another speaker at the event.
“Well, you know, ducks can fly, but beavers do need airplanes,” Murthy joked. “Just this last month we graduated a record 8,785 students, many of whom passed through these gates with friends and family and visitors, and therefore Eugene Airport is as much a connector of us as it is for U of O.”
According to Murthy, OSU athletics brings alumni, donors, fans and visiting teams through EUG, and the planned charter gate on Concourse C will strengthen OSU’s ability to support team charters and championship hosting.
Murthy and Scholz emphasized that EUG is part of the critical infrastructure needed to turn OSU and UO and their joint research capacity into powerful economic forces in the region.
“We have two major research universities here with strengths in areas like semiconductors, bioscience, robotics, mass timber, where companies benefit from being close to research and talent,” Scholz said. “We can help the Southern Willamette Valley attract investment, regain talent and create more opportunity for the people who live here.”
According to Murthy, a well-functioning, well-connected airport is essential to support OSU research, which generates $797.5 million of economic impact across the state.
“Eugene Airport is part of the reason why OSU has been so successful in recruiting, collaborating and competing for federal research dollars,” Murthy said. “For the first time, the Southern Willamette Valley has a coordinated university-anchored economic development strategy involving its two anchor research universities. Transportation infrastructure is key to that strategy, which is why we need a thriving Eugene Airport.”
