Duluth airport updates public on new air traffic control tower construction
Duluth International Airport’s $66 million tower replacement is now underway, aiming to fix a 1950s control tower the FAA says is the third-oldest in the country.
The view over Duluth International Airport is changing from the ground up. Airport officials said construction on a new air traffic control tower was already underway, a $66 million project meant to replace a 1950s-era tower that the Federal Aviation Administration says is the third-oldest in the country and no longer meets national standards.
The Duluth Airport Authority held an open house Tuesday evening at the airport, 4701 Grinden Drive, to brief community members, nearby residents and airport stakeholders on what comes next. The session included a short presentation at 6:15 p.m. and covered the construction schedule, traffic control and logistics, the site plan, contractor parking, general work hours and how the airport planned to avoid disruption. The authority said the tower project was expected to be completed in 2028.
For Duluth, the tower matters far beyond the people who work inside it. Airport leaders have framed the replacement as a safety and security upgrade for an airfield that handles commercial service, cargo, military activity and medical flights. The FAA said the new tower will be double the height of the current one, giving controllers better sight lines over the airport’s complex layout and helping them manage traffic, weather and emergency response more effectively.
The financing has also been built out in stages. On Nov. 17, 2025, the FAA said it had previously awarded $16.8 million from the Airport Terminal Program and was adding another $20 million, bringing the project’s anticipated total cost to $66 million. The agency said that extra money would let Duluth move ahead in a single construction phase instead of two, saving more than $5 million.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Tina Smith have both said the existing tower is a 70-year-old non-standard structure that has needed replacement for years. Their offices said the total federal investment secured by late 2025 reached $37 million, including nearly $6 million secured earlier in 2025 and $10 million in 2024. The tower package also includes design, site preparation and line-of-sight obstruction removal.
The timing comes as traffic at the airport continues to grow. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said Duluth handled more than 150,000 flights last year and saw increasing traffic throughout 2025. As of March 29, 2026, United Airlines was offering five daily nonstop flights to Chicago and Delta was offering six daily nonstop flights to Minneapolis/St. Paul, underscoring how much the airport matters to business travel, cargo reliability and the Northland economy.
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