Rapid City Regional Airport opens new ticket counters and inline baggage system

New counters open on the east side

Rapid City Regional Airport opened new airline ticket counters and an inline baggage system on the east side of its terminal on 28 October 2026, part of an $80 million terminal expansion. The counters replace saw-tooth desks with a linear belt that sends every checked bag to one central screening area, Dakota News Network reported. The expansion has been in planning for nearly a decade and is meant to support rising passenger numbers.

Airport staff gave media an early look at the new area, Newscenter 1 reported. Patrick Dame, the airport's executive director, said the old layout kept bag screening equipment behind the ticket counters, which could slow screening at the front when bags backed up. The new design moves the equipment into one room and sends bags from the front to the back on a linear belt, where workers pull them straight into carts nearby. Dame said the system allows "just a continuous process" and is "much safer" for baggage handlers.

What changes for travelers

Passengers should allow extra time, officials said, because traffic patterns and terminal access points keep shifting during construction. Megan Johnson, the airport's marketing and communications manager, said construction has not significantly affected passenger flow, though she expects that to change when the airport adds gates. The counters give current carriers more room to expand and leave space for new airlines, Dame said. The airport has outgrown its terminal: passenger boardings have more than doubled since it opened in the late 1980s, KOTA Territory News reported.

Cost and funding

KOTA Radio put the overall expansion at $80 million. Project One, the first phase, was estimated at $70 million in December 2025, when KOTA Territory News reported it had been underway since October 2023 and covered an overhaul of the TSA security checkpoint plus the ticket counter and baggage screening work. Project Two, the gate expansion, would cost $100 million to $125 million and was not expected to start for another two years, depending on funding.

The state Aeronautics Commission changed its funding formula on 21 September 2026, raising the ceiling for assistance on smaller airport projects and doing the same for South Dakota's largest airports, Rapid City and Sioux Falls, SDPB reported. The change came as both airports advocated for their own terminal expansions. Bob Huggins, the commission's chairman, said the formula is not fixed. "We can always change the formula again down the road," he said.

What happens next

The next step is to demolish the old ticket counter area and create a larger, more open ticket hall. Crews still need to tear out the old counters and rework that space, and Dame said that work should be finished next May, which is 2027. That matches the airport's December 2025 estimate that the ticket counter expansion would finish in 2027, when it also said the new TSA checkpoint would be operational in March 2026.

Phase Two will add five gates able to serve larger 150-seat aircraft and ease congestion in gate waiting areas, Dakota News Network reported. It would also increase seating, expand concessions and improve accessibility, including universally accessible restrooms, according to the December 2025 report. Work is planned around the TSA checkpoint to build offices for TSA and remodel the center section of the terminal, Newscenter 1 reported. Airport leaders said future improvements could include expanded parking and a possible parking garage.