The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport’s Terminal 1 is undergoing its single largest interior renovation since it was built in 1962, Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) officials announced at a Thursday morning press conference.

Speaking at concourse F on a busy air travel morning, MAC CEO Brian Ryks said the $242 million project will renovate 378,000 square feet of concourse and gate spaces. In a first, Delta Air Lines is managing construction of the project, he noted. MAC has partnered with Delta on prior projects, but this is the first time the two have teamed up on “a project of this magnitude,” Ryks said. Delta remains the largest carrier at MSP Airport.

Delta is covering $60 million of the project’s costs, while MAC is picking up the remaining $182.5 million. Ryks said taxpayers won’t be on the hook for the project. “We operate the airport as a business, so the revenues that we generate here go back in to support capital work on the facility,” he said.

Much of the work is purely cosmetic, but MAC and Delta officials noted that it’s being carried out in parallel with increases in service. Jeannine Ashworth, Delta’s VP of operations at MSP, said that the airline is adding flights to Turks and Caicos Islands in spring and Dublin in May. “With these new destinations and the increased service, we’re going to have 40% more seats out of Minneapolis, which is why it’s so important that we have the gate concourse and gate hold modernization project,” she said.

The larger aim, she said, is to provide a more “consistent travel experience” for passengers.

Officially known as the “Airport Modernization Project,” or AMP, the renovation calls for updating about 75 of Delta’s gate hold rooms at the airport. The project is split into three phases: The first phase covers concourses D and F, and it began late last month, as evidenced by exposed ductwork on the ceiling on Thursday morning. Up next are renovations to concourse C in 2024. Concourses A, B, and G will be updated in the final phase in 2025.

MAC officials also noted the project calls for replacing carpet in passenger corridors in concourses A, C, D and G with terrazzo flooring. New carpet is planned for concourses B and F, meanwhile.

Other upgrades include: LED lighting in concourse walkways and gate areas, dynamic flight information screens along concourse walkways, and new wall finishes

All of the work is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

Ashworth said that Delta’s partnership with the MAC is “not unique at all” among U.S. airports. She pointed to the airline’s multiple investments at hubs in Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York as examples.

Ryks said that the project likely won’t have big impacts on air travel since much of the work will be carried out overnight.

To be sure, MAC has already been carrying out a number of modernization projects within recent years, as reported in TCB’s August/September 2022 cover story. In a news release, the commission pointed back to a $525 million operational improvement program in 2016 that expanded Terminal 1 by 30,000 square feet. In total, by the end of 2025, MAC will have invested over $1 billion in terminal improvements, Ryks said.