Myrtle Beach International Airport moves closer to completion of parking lot projects

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - As the Myrtle Beach International Airport moves through Its peak season, the airport is continuing to work on improving its overall experience.

Last year, MYR started development on the ready return lot for rental cars as demand for rentals increased.

The development was divided into two phases.

Just three weeks ago, a portion of the first phase opened to service frequent flyers for rental cars after workers installed canopies to cover all the parking areas to project rentals.

“In addition to it being a customer improvement, it’s also an improvement for the employees that work there,” said MYR spokesperson Ryan Betcher. “They’re going to be able to get out of the sun, out of inclement weather. So it’s a benefit for those customers and employees.”

As of now, the completed portion of the first phase’s lot has already been useful for travelers. Whether it’s keeping them cool or providing convenient pit stops as they wait for their rentals.

Funding for the project comes via every rental car transaction to make the improvements possible.

Other add-ons, such as employee customer service booths under the center-long canopy, will also make the rental car experience like never before.

“We’ll hopefully be able to allow some of the customers to bypass the rental building to get their keys directly at those booths, hopefully streamlining the process,” said Betcher. “It’s also going to be in place to add an employee benefit where they’ll have air conditioner for breaks, storage, and having computer access, so it just drastically improves the employee experience as well,” said Betcher.

The customer booths are expected to be installed by next spring.

Other new improvements behind the scenes include the expansion of MYR’s fuel farm, which will allow a 30-foot-tall tank to bring in an additional 100,000 gallons of fuel for aircraft.

This will increase the overall total capacity of fuel to 360,000 gallons at the fuel farm.

“We’ve started working on the foundation, and then we’re doing some electrical work. We have not started the actual construction of the tank itself, but we’re expecting this fuel farm capacity project to be completed by December or January,” said Betcher.

Betcher added that the airport will wrap up completing the first phase of its project by the end of September.

Cars from the Phase 2 back parking lot will then shift to the completed Phase 1 area to begin installing canopies.

The booths and the second phase of the project are expected to be complete by next Memorial Day.

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