REACHING NEW HEIGHTS – THE NEW SALT LAKE CITY AIRPORT
The first phase of the new Salt Lake City airport opened for passengers on September 15, 2020, which included a new parking garage, a central terminal, and two linear concourses, A and B.
For navigational purposes, Delta is located in concourse A and some in B. with all other airlines in B. Phase two is now underway, which includes a buildout of the east end of concourse A. The permanent central tunnel connecting concourse A and B is being built to accommodate a train in the future. Phase three will include a mini plaza, “The Node,” for concourse B with eight additional gates.
“We were going to keep a couple of the concourses in the old airport open and had built a bridge that connected the new terminal with the old concourses; we only operated that for six weeks between September 15 and the end of October,” said Nancy Volmer, Director of Communication & Marketing, Salt Lake City International Airport.
“Because of the pandemic, with our passenger numbers being lower than normal, we thought, ‘we don’t need this many gates’, so we decided that we would save money and time by closing out the old airport entirely and demolishing it.”Within eight months, the old airport was gone, including the parking garage, the terminals, and the concourses. Phase two will include more shops and restaurants and is anticipated to have some aspects completed by May 2023 and others completed later in 2024.
The new, larger facility is being built to accommodate 34 million passengers. Car rental is on-site, and large-scale art installations representing the beauty of Utah are located throughout.
“There are things we have learned since passengers starting arriving,” Volmer added. “Some additional signage needed to be added, some employee training needed to be done and a video was produced for passengers waiting in the security screening line to get a better idea of what to do past the first step.”
