Toes in the sand, cold drinks at the ready, and not a care in the world. Vacations are supposed to be relaxing. But they don’t always start that way. You scramble to find airport parking, you endure slow and irritating waits in security lines, and in general, you feel rushed and jostled.
The problems aren’t new. But Darren James, director of MidAmerica Airport in Belleville, Illinois, feels like his airport has a solution for leisure travelers. The pitch is straightforward: park directly in front of the terminal, easily navigate the small, modern facility, and find your gate within a few minutes of arriving at the airport.
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“It’s hassle free,” James says. “When it comes to what travelers can gain from this location, I would offer that it’s a much less stressful experience than they would have at any large airport. You’re able to get in and out.”
Travelers appear to be responding.
The airport served a record 40,000 monthly passengers in March—a 47 percent spike in traffic from the same month in 2024—and is on pace for a record-breaking year as the summer unfolds and the airport leans further into the leisure travel market. The momentum could carry into 2026 and beyond.
James is at the helm during a period of major expansion at MidAmerica, where construction continues on a new, 25,277-square-foot general aviation facility designed to include space for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The department’s presence paves the way for MidAmerica to soon offer international commercial flight options for travelers in the region.
Work on the terminal began last summer, and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The federal inspection station is expected to be finished by the end of 2026. Holland Construction Services is the general contractor for both phases.
“This expansion project marks a significant milestone in our plans to continue to grow the number of passengers flying out of MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, while simultaneously working to increase the number of destinations and flights available for travelers in the future,” Mark Kern, St. Clair County board chairman, said in a statement. “It is providing good-paying jobs for the community and economic benefits for St. Clair County, as we work to help meet the demand for expanded international commercial air service for underserved areas throughout the Metro East and the broader St. Louis region.”
MidAmerica currently operates with a waiver from CBP that allows it to receive international flights of 20 or fewer passengers, but the new facility will allow the airport to process significantly larger pools of international travelers. At the moment, Allegiant is the only carrier providing commercial service at MidAmerica, though the airport will look to expand airline offerings in the coming years.
“Our top target will be flights to and from Mexico,” James says. “Cancun will obviously be a destination we would look at. We’ll also look at other beach destinations, like the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean. Those would be areas that we would target, and we would look to have discussions with airlines that serve those places.”
Today the airport, which shares space with the adjacent Scott Air Force Base, offers year-round and seasonal nonstop flights to Destin/Ft. Walton Beach, Florida; Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; Ft. Myers/Punta Gorda, Florida; Jacksonville, Florida; Sarasota/Bradenton, Florida; Orlando/Sanford, Florida; Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida; Gulf Shores, Alabama; Knoxville, Tennessee; Las Vegas, Nevada; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Savannah, Georgia.
There is a demand for those destinations. Flights to Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport are the most popular, with 47,000 passengers traveling there from MidAmerica from April 2024 to March 2025. During that same period, 31,000 took outbound flights to Punta Gorda, and 23,000 flew to St. Petersburg.
For the year, James expects an airport-record 20 percent increase in traffic from 2024, when MidAmerica served more than 303,000 passengers—which was itself a 4 percent spike from 2023. Things are on track to put MidAmerica in position for its best year yet.
“That’s the expectation,” James says. “But what will play out through August will determine whether or not it will truly be a record year.”
The start of the airport’s growth can be traced back to the $34 million terminal expansion that was completed in 2023. That project doubled the size of the existing terminal to 42,000 square feet. The facility’s footprint obviously still pales in comparison to the more than 1.4 million-square-feet of terminal space offered at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, but MidAmerica is focused more on niche travel than your everyday general commercial aviation.
“We’re a non-hub, primary airport,” James says. “If you look at Lambert, that’s a medium-hub airport. The numbers will never compare to [Lambert’s] operation. But we’re seeing significant numbers.”
