The new $250 million terminal at the airport will welcome its first travellers this morning after more than two years of construction.

Airport operations moved to the new building this morning before the first flight of the day – a Delta flight from New York scheduled to land at 11.50am.

Shazar Hack, the technical director of airport operators Skyport, said yesterday that workers were still busy with the cosmetic “final touches” of the project, but the airport was ready to spread its wings.

Mr Hack added: “We have done 19 trials to ensure this building is up to the requirements. All the systems have been tested.

“Once we switch over here, we are not going back to the existing terminal.”

Mr Hack said that restaurants in the check-in area and the departure lounge would be open for business.

He added that the empty shelves of the stores at the airport would all be stocked soon, if not on the first day.

He said: “We are working with the duty free and speciality retail. They just have to stock their shelving.

“The arrivals one will get a little more work, but hopefully we can get that sorted out before the first flight.”

Work on the new terminal building – a public-private partnership between the Bermuda Government, the Canadian Commercial Corporation and developer Aecon – started in March 2017.

Mr Hack said the old terminal still housed some staff, but the plan was to decommission the site unless a business case was made for its retention.