Expanding John Wayne Airport to accommodate burgeoning air travel will cost about $135 million more than originally thought, The new, roughly $570 million price tag was blamed on high costs for energy and raw materials. It marks a more than 30 percent increase from the original estimate. Officials said the soaring budget wouldn't hurt plans for a bigger terminal, extra gates and two new parking structures.
"The good news is we're doing our homework early," airport spokeswoman Courtney Wiercioch said. Most of the added cost will be covered by better-than-expected revenues from airport restaurants, kiosks and parking structures.