ALPENA — As construction of the new terminal at Alpena County Regional Airport continues, there have been a few change orders made to the original designs, which has added a slight cost to the project.

According to airport consultant company RS&H spokesman Ryan Hall, change order for projects of this size are common and the money to cover the cost of them is included in the grant from the Federal Aviation Administration, which funded 90% of the $13 million project.

During Thursday’s airport committee meeting Hall walked the commissioners through several change orders that ranged from addition steels plates being needed for the structure, a larger door and insulation around piping in the walls. All told the amendments to the project cost $17,000.

Despite the small changes, overall the project is on schedule and targeted to be open before the end of the year. Hall said the brick facade work on the exterior is being done and the drywall on the inside is almost fully installed. Plumbing and electrical has been put in place and curb, gutter, parking lot and sidewalk work is beginning.

“We’re moving right along, once the block is completed and the glazing and windows are complete, it will be fully enclosed,” Hall said. “There has been a lot of progress made to the site work the last few weeks. We’re pleased with the progress and we are still on schedule.”

The progress of the terminal wasn’t the only good news the committee received. Airport Manager Steve Smigelski presented his monthly enplanement report to the commissioners and it shows that July was a good month in terms of the number of people flying air service SkyWest Airline in Alpena.

Smigelski said last month there were 1,394 paid passengers and it bumped the yearly total to 6,693. That surpasses the 5,937 enplanements for the same time span in 2018.

If the airport reaches 10,000 enplanements before the end of the year, it is eligible for $1 million in essential air service funding from FAA.

“If we keep this up we are going to be in great shape and end with a very good year,” Smigelski said.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.