Myrtle Beach International Airport

It is the seemingly eternal debate in Myrtle Beach: What to do with the airport terminal.

On Thursday night, there was another meeting and plenty of options available for change in Myrtle Beach. Local leaders may look to Florida for some answers.

Since 1976, the terminal at Myrtle Beach International has been added onto several times and the debate over what to do about it has gone on for years.

On Thursday night, those talks resumed at what they call a "progress" meeting. All parties concerned, from the city to the county, got an update from contractor M. B. Kahn on how the passenger terminal may evolve.

"Our solution will probably be unique to Myrtle Beach, but we want to look at other places," said Edgar McGee with M.B. Kahn.

Officials will travel to Florida next month to check out the Orlando-Sanford airport which had a very similar situation. They had an older terminal that had been added onto several times and with code issues.


Myrtle Beach International Airport Director Bob Kemp said, "One of the good things about Myrtle Beach is that the demand is pretty strong here and that we think that will help us be able to stay as viable as possible."

In Florida, they built a new building adjacent to the old terminal.

McGee said, "They are reusing the existing building, and that's another reason we're going down there to take a look at what they did and how they did it."

McGee also said Myrtle Beach's terminal could be reused for restaurants and shopping while a new building could give it the capacity needed to stay competitive.

Doug Decker, a concerned citizen, has opposed the project before and says, unless the traffic picks up, we should work with what we have. "Any contention that we're going to build a new terminal here, I think it would have quite a bit of opposition up and down the road," Decker said.

There is also concern rising fuel prices may throw budgets out the window.

Kemp said, "Every airport in the country is being affected, and every airline in the country is being affected by fuel and energy costs. So, we're cautiously watching what's happening."

There will be a series of public meetings in the future. Officials want input from communities all over Horry County. The contractor, M.B. Kahn, will take those recommendations to Horry County Council in November.