The Prince Rupert Airport Authority invited the public to look at the latest designs for the upgraded terminal building at an open house on Wednesday night, with manager Rick Reed and architect Ulrich Laska on hand to field questions.
Aside from significant changes to the outside of the terminal building, the designs show a much more open design that includes a baggage carousel where the library is and more space for people to move around.
"What we have today is the lounge room and the hold room. If you look toward the south, we will remove all of the walls that are there now to open it up ... we're taking all of the existing bathrooms out so that whole area will be open," said Reed, with Laska noting more seating will be installed and all benches will now include power outlets for electronic devices.
"All of the area where the bathrooms are now is open and we have plans for little kiosks that will display local art and things like that, but the whole area could be used for a restaurant or food services."
As well as an open space, there will be a lot more room for check-in with the current desks pushed back and a theme area to welcome people to the city.
"It's going to be a sense of place. When you arrive here, you are going to know you are in Prince Rupert. It is going to reflect our environment, our cultures and our community. While we are working on it, we welcome input from the community about it," said Reed.
For those passengers who have made their way through security, which is designed to be more efficient with a separate space for screening passengers and divesting luggage, the redesign of the terminal promises a lot more space and amenities than what people are used to.
"There will be two new washrooms in there, because we don't have any now, there will be various vending machines so you can get snacks, a play area for the kids and beautiful glass on three sides so you can really sit and enjoy the activity out there. We're also getting all-new, first class seating in the area," said Laska.
"The holding room has been more than doubled so we can handle at least two Q400 aircraft. We're getting up in the 200s in terms of capacity."
Work will continue throughout the summer, with Reed saying he is optimistic the renovations will be complete in September.
"We're practically finished our Phase 3 in the sense of all the grunt work being done, now we put the finishes on it with things like the drywall and paint. It's going to look very good," he said.
"When we talk to people they are generally positive about what we have here."