(ABC 6 News-) A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new terminal at the Mason City Municipal Airport is scheduled for Wednesday, July 24 at 11:00 AM.

According to the airport, the 23,000 square foot terminal building will replace the current terminal building, which was originally built in 1966 and scheduled to be demolished.

“The gate area in the current terminal building is only about 250 square feet,” said David Sims, manager at Mason City Municipal Airport. “That’s about the size of a large living room … it can only accommodate about 15 to 20 passengers at a time. Our current air service uses 50 passenger aircraft, so that creates quite a problem when we have to get that many passengers through security.” 

The new terminal will provide for more gate hold space for passengers, a larger more modern security checkpoint, and additional functional spaces for the airline, bus line, transportation security administration, and airport administration.

The total program cost for the project is estimated at $13 million, including an expanded aircraft parking apron and parking lot.

The majority of the project is being funded by federal grants from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).