New designs for a replacement airport terminal which could cost between $300 million and $400 million have been unveiled.

Released to The Royal Gazette, the proposed designs by the company HNBP, incorporate wave movement and exude light. The design also ensures the building would be environmentally 'green'.

Aaron Adderley, L.F. Wade International Airport operations manager, said: "We wanted a design that captured the uniqueness of Bermuda i.e. the ocean. We also wanted to ensure it was an iconic building so you immediately associated it with Bermuda.

"We wanted it to be light and airy, providing a positive experience for passengers."

The images were created almost two years ago after an exhaustive study into the Island's air traffic needs found that Bermuda needed a new terminal.

Mr. Adderley said the current facility, which in some areas dates back to the 1940s, had reached its functional end.

He said: "The reason it was so important to undertake the review process is that the existing facility has a useful life that has expired.

"The other fact is this facility is very susceptible to storm surge. Yes, obviously we need a new facility and one that will meet the new aviation regulations coming forward.

"We decided it would be best to build the new facility on a brown-field site and not on the current facility.

"This is so we can move from the old facility to the new facility without disruptions."

Research began in 2006 by the HNBP group and two years later, the results and designs for a new terminal were in, however, Premier and Minister of Tourism and Transport Ewart Brown, stressed that the new terminal project was not imminent. He said that during the current difficult economic times, capital projects like the new King Edward VII Memorial took precedence.

However he added: "Our airport terminal is old and we are dealing with an outdated infrastructure that is bound to cause problems soon."

Mr. Adderley, who is tasked with running the current facility and ensuring the project is ready to go, estimated the cost of the new terminal could range between $300 and $400 million. He said that financing a new airport terminal would be easier than other capital projects.

"The existing facility has exceeded it's life expectancy so we really are on borrowed time. The Island as a whole had capital needs and first we need a new hospital.

"It's our responsibility to ensure that when Government wants to move forward with it we have all the ducks in a row," added Mr. Adderley.

"The airport has a number of revenue streams. This makes it very attractive to investors, but we haven't got to the point of putting it out to tender because there's still a lot more to do before we get to that point.

"We have already received calls, however, from airport developers around the world. They wanted to call us and express an interest in funding the project."

The new terminal would be built north of the existing building at the western-most end of the fence-line. It would also include a ferry terminal for both the public ferry and any hotels that decided to transport their guests from the airport.

Mr. Adderley estimated it could take between three and four years between development, breaking ground to moving.

While the financing is debated and decision to move forward is on hold, Mr. Adderley said the airport was working towards improving its product, which includes taking control of Bermuda's airspace, which is almost entirely run by the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) in New York.

Mr. Adderley said: "It's very important to invest in that and to get us to a point where we can take responsibility for our own air traffic. At the moment air traffic is sort of being controlled by the FAA, but there's no reason we cannot put ourselves in that position.

"That's a great opportunity for us to look at. That's means there will be more airport operation-related jobs for Bermudians."

Other upgrades that need to be put in place include lights down the middle of the runway to help land planes in fog and continued investment in satellite technology for landing planes rather than radar technology.

The old facility could be turned into a number of various projects, but Mr. Adderley says all of that is still up in the air. "We don't want to have to tell an investor it has to be A, B, C because we want to be flexible."

* See page 17 for Robyn Skinner's regular travel feature 'Rock Fever' and a day in the life of Aaron Adderley.