The contract is part of a larger project that the board also voted to increase the overall budget for to $3.5 billion. The agency attributes the $1.45-billion bump above the previously approved $2.05 billion to a five-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation.

The vote “marks the next chapter in the effort to completely transform Newark Liberty International Airport into a world-class gateway worthy of our region,” Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole said in a statement. “As we work on a modern new airport in Newark that will include new or expanded airport facilities, a reliable on-airport mass transit system will ensure that passengers and airport workers can get to where they need to go on a new state-of-the-art AirTrain system.”  

The Tutor Perini/O&G joint-venture has worked on 11 large infrastructure projects nationwide, including for the Los Angeles Metro, the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Los Angeles International Airport and the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

The JV was also just announced as the apparent selected proposer for the Manhattan Jail Facility design-build project as part of the $15.6-billion Borough-Based Jail System program.

The AirTrain carried approximately 12 million passengers per year before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, AirTrain served nearly 5.5 million passengers.

The agency says the outdated existing system that opened in 1996 doesn’t support the airport’s recently opened larger Terminal A. In October, the airport announced plans to tear down and rebuild the facility's 51-year-old Terminal B as part of the airport's EWR Vision Plan. Design firms Arup and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill have been hired for that effort.  

The Port Authority says it has completed 80% of the project’s procurement process. In August, the agency picked Stantec to design the new maintenance and control facility and the pedestrian connectors, and to decommission the existing AirTrain. In December 2023, the Port Authority selected Doppelmayr for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the automated people mover system and its vehicles.

The agency says it expects to award smaller packages related to the construction of the AirTrain’s maintenance and control facility and the pedestrian connectors, and to decommission the current system.

“Our major airports are the front doors of this region for the rest of the world and ensuring easy, reliable public transit to and from the airport is critical,” Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said in a statement. “As we embark on the Newark vision plan, a new AirTrain is essential to both meeting increasing volumes at our airports and delivering a world-class passenger experience for Newark Liberty passengers.”