In spite of several changes to the flight plan, the city’s efforts to build a new terminal for the Dowagiac Municipal Airport is about to make a smooth landing.

After six months of construction — and several years of planning — the new building is nearly complete, with only some small paintwork, furniture and décor installation and other minor tasks remaining on the checklist before opening. Airport Manager Oscar Azevedo is hoping the terminal will be officially open to the public beginning the first week of January, he said.

The new building will replace the current airport terminal, which, after 50 years of operation, is suffering from problems with its roofing and its heating and cooling system, Azevedo said.

Although the new structure is smaller, at 1,080 square feet, it offers many advantages over the previous terminal, with modern infrastructure and interior design.

“It will offer us better long-term benefits, providing cost savings in heating and cooling costs,” Azevedo said. “It will also serve as a better welcome center for our town.”

Used by pilots as space to plan out their flights as well as a place to relax after an extended travel or during poor weather conditions, the terminal building is often the first place visiting pilots stop after touching down, Azevedo said.

On top of the main lobby, which will have restrooms, a drinking fountain and a flat screen TV for monitoring weather conditions, the terminal has a small space for flight planning as well as an area for pilots to prepare meals. The building will also be hooked up to the city’s fiber optic internet network, providing high speed wireless web connectivity to visitors, Azevedo said.

“The internet is a crucial part of flight planning these days, since everyone uses their phones or iPads for charting,” he said.

Construction of the building cost around $600,000. However, the majority of the funding came through grant dollars from the Federal Aviation Administration and Michigan Department of Transportation, covering 95 percent of the cost using tax revenue from plane fuel sales.

In spite of some issues getting the project off the ground this year, after the first round of bidding ended with one contractor providing an estimate much greater than the city’s project costs, construction has proceeded smoothly since the ground breaking in July, Azevedo said.

While some the airport’s regulars may have initially grumbled at the prospect of a smaller terminal, now that construction is basically wrapped up they have all warmed up to the new structure, the airport manager said.

“They realize it is perfect for what we need here at the airport,” Azevedo said. “It is a beautiful building and it will serve us well for a long time.”