A third-floor view looking down on the food court and new concourse under construction at Jacksonville International Airport.
Published on October 9, 2026 at 4:06 pm
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About 400 contractors are hustling to complete a new concourse expected to open in late January at Jacksonville International Airport.
Workers are putting final touches on the 165,000-square-foot Concourse B, with six new gates, multiple restaurants, traveler clubs and more.
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American Airlines will move into five of the new gates before a ribbon-cutting Jan. 27, airport officials said Friday. The airport will use the sixth gate for other flights as needed
“Our CEO wanted us to build into the future, which is why we are building these gates now instead of the concourses being so crowded that it is waiting for us to finish building the concourse,” said Davey Jones, vice president of engineering and facilities at the Jacksonville Aviation Authority. “You would rather be ahead of that.”
Existing concourses
The airport already has 20 gates on Concourses A and C. Construction on Concourse B began in spring 2024, with about 200 workers spending six days a week building the $340 million facility.
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The federal government is paying for the concourse through airline ticket taxes and Federal Aviation Administration trust funds.
Concourse B will consist of three levels. To help on busy travel days, the new concourse will have the ability to “ground-board” passenger, using the tarmac instead of a passenger boarding bridge.
“Three of those will have ground-loading capability,” Jones said. “In the past, when we had small airlines here, they had to monopolize a gate area. So what this does is allow us to go downstairs with bathrooms and gate podiums, just like up here, so you can load the aircraft by walking out to it.”
Workers were installing parts of the Jax Club and Delta Sky Club on the third floor, plus roofing and utilities elsewhere during a media tour Friday. Those clubs overlook the airport as well as the food court, with room for 160 people to sit at restaurants planned to include V Pizza, Willie Jewell’s barbecue, Chick-fil-A and Panda Express.
Adjacent to the first set of restrooms is a pet relief area, while a big childrens’ play area is nearby with big windows. More restaurants and restrooms are in the airline gate area, Jones said.
Most of the 1,280 electro-chromatic windows, which automatically dim in bright sun to keep passengers cool inside, have been installed as multiple huge air conditioning units are now being tested.
Airport officials said the concourse will have lots of public art, from terrazzo mosaic-tiled flooring in the “stem” — the concourse between the clubs and gates — to locally sourced artwork. That includes moving the existing Healing Palms artwork by artist Jim Draper in the airport courtyard to separate panels under the third-floor clubs.
More art will decorate the stem, including Florida landscapes viewable from the two third-floor clubs by Thom Buttner. And the stem will be lined with more works, called The Artwalk.
“What we really leaned in on this wing of the airport is a celebration of what makes Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia so special,” said Jennifer Cook, arts and community programs manager for the Airport Authority. “So we focused on botany, wildlife, what we do for fun, and how beautiful our sunsets and dawns are, obviously our water life.”
A third parking garage also should be done by Thanksgiving, airport officials say. The airport’s other parking garages and adjacent surface lots have been filling up fast in recent weeks. People who can’t find a close spot have filled the economy lot just east of the terminal.
“We can’t get enough parking soon enough, so it will be a welcome gift for travelers for the holiday season,” said Airport Authority spokesperson Greg Willis.
Passenger traffic is up so far this year, which could be one of the busiest in recent years, Willis said.
The garage will cost an estimated $100 million, with about 2,000 spaces. The rental car pickup and return area will be changed to reduce traffic near the terminal.
