On February 17, 2026, the Rapid City Common Council approved $44.35 million in Vision Fund support for Rapid City Regional Airport as part of the local funding package for Project 2 of the terminal expansion.
Project 2 is an approximately $110 million concourse expansion that adds five new gates and the passenger space needed to operate them. Demand modeling shows more than 750 departing passengers per hour by 2030, and the airport has documented a passenger holdroom space deficit exceeding 9,000 square feet. Those constraints are evident when summer schedules stack arrivals, departures, and boarding queues into the same footprint.
Project 2 supports reliable air access for residents, protects visitor capacity for the Black Hills economy, and strengthens the terminal’s ability to handle the schedules the region is already generating and the service the airport is actively pursuing.
Thank you to Mayor Jason Salamun and the Rapid City Common Council for this commitment and for the unanimous vote supporting the project.
President Rod Pettigrew, Vice President Stephen Tamang, and Council Members Josh Biberdorf, Bill Evans, Lindsey Seachris, Kevin Maher, Greg Strommen, John Roberts, Lance Lehmann, and Callie Meyer.
