By Fox23.com News Staff
TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa International Airport celebrated the completion of its new Federal Inspection Services facility on Thursday.
The new facility will now allow the airport to offer nonstop international commercial service for travelers.
“Today, we’re celebrating the opening of our new customs facility,” shared Tulsa International Airport CEO Alexis Higgins. “Not only will it welcome international travelers, but it’ll be another gate available for all airlines who offer service out of TUL.”
Higgins said the new customs facility is a huge step in the airport’s growth.
“We’ve had international customs service at the airport for a long time, but it’s only been serving general aviation airplanes and we know as a city that in order to really grow on a global scale we need to have a customs facility. We started this in 2016, issued our first design contract in 2019, the construction contract in 2023 and here we are today with the finished product. It’s a huge win for Tulsa and a huge win for the airport community.”
As the airport continues to expand, Higgins said she wants Tulsans to be aware of all the new services and flights that are being provided.
“I think number one is we just want to make sure our community has awareness to all of the flights that we have available from TUL. Oftentimes, people are familiar with their favorite carrier, so they don’t realize that there’s connectivity to LA or there’s connectivity to New York. This is just one step in our overall effort to get more service, but in order for us to do that, our existing service has to do well…We keep building. Every time we have an event like this, every time we get to talk about things happening at the airport and in the community, we’re generating awareness for future customers.”
Even after this new achievement, the airport already has future goals on the horizon.
“We want to certainly see Cancun do well and so we’re supporting everything for their pre-launch, but then the next big city on our list is San Francisco. We’ve been working to try to get San Francisco service now for many years, but we know that out of all the cities that Tulsans are traveling to that’s the opportunity for us to really focus on.”
To learn more about the new customs facility, click here.
