Behind the scenes look at Idaho Falls Airport construction

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI)- Big things are happening at the Idaho Falls Regional Airport. On Thursday, the two newest flights took off, headed to Phoenix and Dallas Fort Worth.

IDA is also undergoing a $12 million construction project.

The airport is adding 38,000 square feet. The upgrades include things like new gates, more area for passengers, and a new restaurant, says IDA manager Rick Cloutier.

"Full-service kitchen, full-service beverage, full-service restaurant with capabilities to cook anything. And seating for about 50 people," Cloutier said.

That restaurant are will be on the upper level, which is getting a complete overhaul. American, Delta, and United will all have gates there.

Downstairs will also have three gates, doubling the amount of gates the airport currently has.

Cloutier has previously said the new flights will increase seats by 40%, and they anticipate seeing between 250,000 to 300,000 people pass through just this summer.

The TSA screening area also got an update.

"If you remember previously, we basically had one checkpoint lane. It was pretty inefficient," Cloutier said "This new expansion allows us to have three separate TSA checkpoint lanes. A dedicated TSA precheck lane."

Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper says the city couldn't be more excited for the changes at the airport.

"Many businesses, the pandemic shut down last year, was difficult or a challenge, and it was not great for the economy," Casper said "But what we see now coming out of that, is an airport that didn't sleep. In fact, they took advantage of that lull in travel and really doubled up on the construction efforts that were going on."