I honestly don't think Salt Lake City will get HQ2. But it's fun to think about and it is a huge opportunity and we would be crazy not to make a push for it. If we go with our best offer possible, I think Salt Lake could at least be considered.
Also, the airport thing isn't as much of a disadvantage for Salt Lake as you guys are making it out to be. If Amazon has a corporate contract with Delta, I think a Delta hub makes a lot of sense for them. There are daily direct flights on Delta to every important city in the US. Numerous flights on multiple airlines to the most important cities. Not to mention the airport is currently investing 3 billion dollars on a full rebuild and when finished, there will be room for expansion. Everything looks bright on the airport front for SLC. But you're right that SLC is inferior to Denver and Atlanta when it comes to the airport. I don't think it will have much of an impact on Amazon choosing those cities over SLC.
This is what it says in the RFP about airports:
Proximity to International airport:
Within approx. 45 minutes
Travel time to an international airport with daily direct flights to Seattle, New York, San Francisco/Bay Area, and Washington, D.C. is also an important consideration.
That's it. Multiple airlines fly daily direct to all those cities. Delta alone has multiple daily direct flights to each of them. Beyond that, it almost seems as if they are more concerned with how far away the airport is from the site than anything. As has been mentioned, the airport is 8-10 minutes away, and there is hardly ever congestion along that route. That's attractive.
Last thing, so a person who somehow lives in both Seattle and Austin creates an account just so he can dog on SLC and agree with a guy who somehow lives in both San Diego and Honolulu. Does this happen on every thread? Because it's ridiculous.
Maybe we're just fun to mess with.