(The Center Square) – The Spokane International Airport laid out a $215.7 million budget for 2025 on Monday, roughly 16% more than budgeted for 2024, while maintaining a balanced outlook.
The request comes as Spokane County grapples with balancing its own budget for next year due to flatlining revenue. The Spokane International Airport, or SIA, is owned by the county and the city of Spokane, meaning its purse falls under both purviews.
However, unlike most other endeavors, the SIA is highly independent and governed by the Spokane Airport Board, which has representatives from both municipalities. This level of control has allowed it to operate sustainably without extra funding from either municipality.
“We are not requesting any funding from the county,” said Rob Schultz, SIA’s chief financial officer. “A key or pillar of airports is being financially self-sufficient.”
He said the bulk of the $215.7 million comes from system users, grants and other revenue streams rather than general fund tax dollars. About 70% of next year’s budget, or $148.7 million, is dedicated to capital expenses, with the remainder accounting for general operational costs.
Most of the capital expenses are attributable to SIA’s Concourse C expansion. The first phase, which wrapped up in May, provided three new gates, six ticketing counters, amenities and more.
The project adds 1,200 jobs to the local market and, by 2030, will see 6 million travelers flowing through SIA annually. Schultz said SIA anticipates around 4.4 million people coming through next year, roughly 11% more than in 2022 when the pandemic was winding down.
He said 2023 was a record year for traffic, but 2024 should beat that, and 2025 should follow suit.
“Probably one of the biggest changes in the budget that we haven’t had in quite a long time,” said Larry Krauter, SIA’s chief executive officer, “is the fact that we’ll be adding debt service.”
Last week, the airport held a bond sale and issued about $67 million in debt to provide more funding for the concourse expansion and other projects. A similar move was made in 2000 to build Concourse C initially, and SIA repaid the debt within a decade.
Schultz said SIA’s operating revenues are budgeted to increase by roughly 10% compared to 2024 thanks to concessions, parking and airline sales; however, operating expenses are slated to increase by 29.3%, but he said half of that is due to the $6.3 million in debt service for 2025.
All in all, SIA’s budget balances out between its revenues and expenditures without requesting any additional money from Spokane County. Commissioner Mary Kuney thanked the Spokane Airport Board and others at SIA for doing the work to remain sustainable.
“It’s a joint operation between the city and the county that own it, but we’re not funding it,” Kuney said. “You guys are doing everything you need to do yourselves to be self-sufficient.”
