Piedmont Triad airport seeks approval for up to $300 million in bonds for terminal renovation

Triad Business Journal | 08.24.2026

Piedmont Triad International’s Airport Authority is considering the issuance of up to $300 million of revenue bonds for a project to renovate the terminal and concourses.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the proposed bond issuance at its regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, Sept. 3, at 5:30 p.m. in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room of the Old County Courthouse. The board is expected to vote on whether to approve or deny the project and the issuance of bonds after the public hearing.

A notice of the hearing said that the issued bonds would not exceed $300 million. Funds raised by the bonds would be used along with other funding sources already secured by the Airport Authority.

Kevin Baker, executive director of the Piedmont Triad International Airport, said that federal tax laws require Guilford County commissioners to consent to the issuance of bonds. Whether the bonds are actually issued and the amount of bonds to be issued, up to $300 million, would then be decided by the Airport Authority, the governing body for the airport.

According to Baker, if the bonds are issued, they will be repaid from revenues generated by the airport, not from Guilford County.

“Neither the county nor the taxpayers of Guilford will be responsible for this debt. The Authority does not receive tax dollars from Guilford County and the money to repay the bonds is not included in Guilford County’s budget or the budget of any city or county,” Baker said.

In 2024, the Airport Authority contracted with design and construction firms for upgrading the terminal. One contract was with Lindsey Architecture of Greensboro for architectural and engineering services, while the other was a construction-manager-at-risk agreement with GSO Builders, a joint venture between Samet Corp. of Greensboro and Aero Bridgeworks, of Marietta, Georgia.

The terminal was built in 1982 and, while it’s gotten facelifts such as new carpets through the year and added gates, it isn’t designed as efficiently as it could be, Baker said at Triad Business Journal’s aviation panel two years ago.

The Authority has so far this year accepted at least $32 million in federal grants for the terminal modernization project.