TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – The customs facility set to open at Tallahassee International Airport has been delayed.
Now, the International Processing Facility (IPF) is slated to be “substantially complete” in “early 2026.”
That’s according to David Pollard, the Director of Aviation at TLH.
The city originally said the facility would be ready for service in 2024 before changing the date to the end of Q3 2025, then to the end of 2025.
“The International Processing Facility will be substantially complete early 2026 and we will then be coordinating with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to install their necessary equipment, systems and furniture,” Pollard wrote in an email Tuesday night.
He added that the opening date for the facility is yet to be announced.
“It’s important to note that this facility is required to meet all U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Technical Design Standards and requirements,” Pollard wrote.
Two high-ranking city officials said they had not been briefed on a new completion date. At a city commission meeting in March, the airport’s deputy director said the facility was 80% complete.
The $28 million facility broke ground in May 2022 and is part of the city’s five-year plan to improve the airport’s infrastructure and allow it to accommodate international flights.
Pollard noted the actual opening of the facility won’t happen until finer details are worked out with CBP.
“The actual/projected opening date will be announced once we have full CBP acceptance and staffing established,” he wrote.
The facility, which received a $2 million grant earlier this year, will be a 40,000-square-foot addition to the airport. It will house a U.S. Customs and Border Protection-approved international Port of Entry and a Federal Inspection Services Facility.
More Tallahassee news:
Mayor John Dailey said in a previous report that he is optimistic about the airport’s potential.
“This is an exciting time for the City of Tallahassee as our airport embarks on a project that will serve as a global gateway and more closely connect us with markets around the world,” Dailey said. “Our community and our region will reap the economic benefits of this major investment to develop an International Processing Facility at the Tallahassee International Airport.”
In a March press release, Deputy Director Vanessa Spaulding noted the customs facility was one step towards establishing a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) in the Big Bend.
“The new FTZ will encourage international commerce, stimulate the economy, increase regional job opportunities and bolster the global market competitiveness of the Big Bend,” Spaulding said at the time. “The establishment of an FTZ is underway and anticipated to create more than 1,600 jobs and generate more than $300 million annually in economic impact.”
While TLH doesn’t have any international flights, the customs facility would put CBP on site, allowing international goods to flow right into Tallahassee.
In August, we reported air travel was down by 9% in Tallahassee as the city lost two airlines: JetBlue and Silver Airways.
Both had been in dire financial straits, and city officials stressed their departure had nothing to do with the city’s policies.
A joint city-county board agreed to spend $600,000 a year to incentivize/subsidize airlines to TLH. In effect, the airport would guarantee airlines a minimum revenue so that if they fell below that threshold, taxpayers would make up the difference.
But if the threshold was exceeded, taxpayers wouldn’t pay anything.
Another study found TLH is one of the most expensive major airports in the country.
Airport officials have embraced emerging technologies, including battery-powered planes. TLH could become one of the first airports in the country to offer those types of flights.
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