Salt Lake City’s Airport Undertaking Various Projects to Meet Growing Demand
UT – The time has come to update Salt Lake City International Airport’s master plan which was last adopted in 1998. The master plan is a document that helps illustrate the future of the airport, flight growth, employment changes, technology improvements and other elements that will dictate future needs. The new, proposed master plan was the result of three years of planning through a $4 million dollar grant from the FAA.
Some of the future growth is already happening at the airport. The first four gates of the Concourse A East project are scheduled to open in May 2023, while the remaining 18 gates are set to open by the end of 2023. The airport also recently celebrated the halfway point in constructing a new central terminal which is slated to open by the end of 2024. The tunnel is expected to cut the walking time for many travelers who need to use Concourse B, which also has the potential to grow by another 16 gates in the future. The tunnel will contain the keys to other projects, too. It will have the space for a future train or tram that will connect the two current concourses with a future third concourse sometime in the future.
Planners studied trends and interviewed the airline companies that use the airport to project three likely passenger activity scenarios by 2037. They found that the airport could reach 32.6 million passengers by the end of the decade.
Cargo airline service and corporate hangars are also expected to expand over the next 15 years, especially with the growth of the Utah Inland Port. The airport has had more requests for corporate hangars in the past year than all the previous 15 years combined. All of this means there will be a growing demand for a more “balanced” airfield to handle all the future planes arriving and departing. The projected gate expansions will result in 42 new jet bridges over the next seven years, nearly double the amount now. That will require more employees to handle the airport’s growth.
The document is ready to be adopted by the city, though it may have more adjustments before that happens. The timeline for it to be approved has yet to be established, as the council voted to continue the discussion for a future meeting. It will then be sent to the FAA for final approval.