COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- A $4.7 million construction project is underway at the Colorado Springs Airport which will prepare it for new regulations.

The first project is working to expand the airport so it can house new baggage screening equipment.

Airport officials said the new equipment will be an automated screening system that will be more efficient for TSA workers and offer passengers a lot more privacy.

"There will be very few bags that will have to be required to be opened," Mark Earle, Director of Aviation at the Colorado Springs Airport, said.

The airport also has plans to expand its security area to make room for larger required security equipment, such as full body scanners.

Another part of the project will be to improve the security checkpoint area and make it easier for passengers to move through.

The projects are being done to meet mandated regulations, but Earle said it will allow room for them to grow in the future.

Over the past year the Colorado Springs Airport has seen fewer passengers than it did in 2010, but Earle said it's not because people don't want to fly from there.

"It's a lot quicker than driving the hour and 15 minutes to Denver and a lot less hassle to fly straight out of here," Mary Dorton, a passenger at the airport, said.

Cathy Stitt agreed that it's much easier than flying out of other large airports.

"You're in, you're out. You don't have to wait a long time. There isn't a whole bunch of terminals to pick from, it's just not busy like Denver," Stitt said.

Passengers said they don't mind shelling out a few extra bucks either for the convenience.

"You're buying time, a lot less headache," Mike Howard, a passenger, said. "This is more convenient. This is my town, my airport," he added.

Dorton agreed.

"By the time you do the driving, and then pay for the toll, as well as parking, it's worth the $60 to just fly five minutes from home," she said.

But despite happy travelers like them, numbers at the Colorado Springs Airport are down from last year, by as much as nearly six percent in June.

Airport officials said the airlines not the airports are to blame.

"It's not a matter of demand not being in the market, it's a matter of the airlines not providing capacity for the small to medium-sized airports," said Earle.

Earle said nationwide airlines have cut capacity at small to medium airports, like Colorado Springs, by 18 percent.

"They've done that by taking older aircraft out that are less fuel-efficient, and instead of replacing those with newer aircraft they just reduced the size of the system," he said.

Earle said airlines took a new approach to business after a fuel crisis which was followed by the recession.

By reducing the amount of flights from the airports more seats are being filled up on planes.

"At all small to medium-sized airports the airplanes are running full. Before they were running about 75 to 80 percent full, now they're running 85 to 90 percent full," Earle said.

He adds they would like to be able to offer more flights to passengers out of Colorado Springs, something they are working on with airline companies.

"We're hoping the trend will reverse itself, and we're in conversations right now with several carriers to effect that, but it's not a matter of demand not being in the market, it's a matter of the airlines not providing capacity for the small to medium-sized markets," Earle said.

The Colorado Springs Airport is actually doing better than most small to medium-sized airports. Earle said they are only down 12 percent, compared to the national average of 18.