TULSA — Tulsa International Airport has that “international” designation despite the fact that international passengers have never been able to fly commercially to or from TIA.

This week, weather permitting, the airport will begin a project to build a U.S Customs facility and passenger gate which will make commercial international flights in and out of Tulsa a reality.

The current U.S. Customs and Border Patrol facility can only handle private or chartered flights of up to 20 people.

[Hear the KRMG In-Depth Report on the projects at Tulsa International Airport HERE]

The new facility is one of three major projects the airport has planned for 2024, including a new lounge with a number of amenities and a new air traffic control tower.

TIA is also coming off of a very successful year, according to TIA spokesman Andrew Pierini.

“We just now got our full year 2023 passenger numbers in here for TUL,” he told KRMG. “We had... an 8.8% increase year over year, and it was our largest passenger number in 15 years, since 2008. So we had just over 3.1 million passengers in and out of TUL last year, so (we’re) very excited about the passenger growth that we’ve seen, and we’re to forward to that continuing here into 2024.”

Part of the reason, no doubt, the growing number of direct flights now available from Tulsa to major airports around the country.

Pierini says they now have 22 direct flights, with more coming, and Tulsans have clearly taken advantage of them thus far.

“Tulsans are showing up, and flying, and filling up those new flights, so airlines are continuing to look into what would be the next best opportunity, while also providing additional frequency and passenger depth in current markets,” Pierini said.

Travelers will soon see an additional daily flight to New York LaGuardia, as well as daily flights to Orlando from TIA.

As for the new tower, some additional funding is still pending but plans are to begin the project in a couple of months, with an eye toward completion in 2026.