Salt Lake International Airport Development Thread

[delts145]

Originally Posted by wrendog

Seems like we should have seen full renderings of the new airport by now. Wonder what's up?

Hopefully Skyguy will chime in soon. He always seems to have a handle on the specifics, when it comes to the airport.

[Plaid Shirts]

Originally Posted by Old&New

Why smaller? I understood that Salt Lake City International Airport was already a very busy Airport, and it wouldn't make sense to not build a terminal large enough to accommodate future growth.

Because Delta has a say in the future of the SLC terminal. Even though they are "committed" to SLC, I really do not expect a lot more future growth from Delta in SLC. Delta has actually been downsizing SLC by small amount while Delta has been building up Seattle and LAX. Also you have to consider what is going on with Delta and Alaska Air right now and how that could hurt SLC in the future.

Detroit (DTW) is Delta's second largest hub, only behind Atlanta. So that obviously means DTW needs a larger terminal than SLC. SLC is Delta's 5th largest hub. Here is a comparison of the Delta hubs in DTW and SLC. DTW has a separate terminal for all other airlines other than Delta and Air France. Also you have to remember that the majority of the passengers going through SLC are connecting, not staying or leaving SLC (O&D passengers, is what they are called in the industry).

Delta flights only:

Daily departures:
DTW: 450
SLC: 243

Destinations served:
DTW: 132
SLC: 86

Gates (Delta only):
DTW: 121
SLC: 65

Average yearly passengers (all airlines):
DTW has 32 million passengers total
SLC has 19 million passengers total (declined since the previous year).

I believe 2006 was SLC's highest passenger count at around 23 million. Since then, ever year it has been declining in SLC. So actually SLC has been shrinking, not growing.

SLC obviously has a lot fewer passengers than DTW. With that, expect the SLC terminal to be a lot smaller than DTW. DTW also plays a bigger role and is more important to Delta than SLC is on a grand scale, regardless of what delts145 says.

I also hope the new terminal has a warm, welcoming feeling to it.

[wrendog]

Originally Posted by Old&New

Why smaller? I understood that Salt Lake City International Airport was already a very busy Airport, and it wouldn't make sense to not build a terminal large enough to accommodate future growth.

Smaller than DTW, for sure. Mcnamara has 121 gates, the new SLC terminal will have 75 (all with jetbridges, which is an increase of about 25 from what we have now). But remember, the future has plans for another island terminal (north terminal) when the need finally arises.

[Plaid Shirts]

Originally Posted by wrendog

Smaller than DTW, for sure. Mcnamara has 121 gates, the new SLC terminal will have 75 (all with jetbridges, which is an increase of about 25 from what we have now). But remember, the future has plans for another island terminal (north terminal) when the need finally arises.

That is true. But the north concourse is planned about 50-60 years after the main terminal is complete, which is planned to be done around 2026 I believe.

[wrendog]

Originally Posted by Plaid Shirts

That is true. But the north concourse is planned about 50-60 years after the main terminal is complete, which is planned to be done around 2026 I believe.

There is no planned date for the north terminal. It will happen when it is needed (which may be 20 years, 30 years, 50 years, we don't know)

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by StevenF

Projects, can you post that construction link to the first post?

Done

[Future Mayor]

Plaid Shirts, what year was your 19 million and 32 million data from?

The most recent data that ACI Airports Council International has is 2011. Which has SLC listed at 20 million, and Detroit at 32

[Plaid Shirts]

Originally Posted by Future Mayor

Plaid Shirts, what year was your 19 million and 32 million data from?

The most recent data that ACI Airports Council International has is 2011. Which has SLC listed at 20 million, and Detroit at 32

I got my info from the RITA|BTS|Transtats government website.
http://www.transtats.bts.gov/airport...=1&Airport=SLC

It was from 2013. Above is the link to the government website. SLC's passenger count (if you wanted an even more accurate round off) for 2013 was actually 18,932,000...I obviously just rounded to 19 million.

This is actually a fun website to mess around with. You can pull up any commercial airport's numbers in the United States, as well as in Utah. The Utah airports you can check out are SLC, St. George, Provo, Ogden, Cedar City, Vernal, and Moab.

[Future Mayor]

That really is an interesting website.

[Plaid Shirts]

Originally Posted by Future Mayor

That really is an interesting website.

Yep. One of my favorites.

[Zionide]

Salt Lake City airport again leads nation in on-time performance

[skyguy414]

I haven't visited in a few weeks. Sorry.

- The TRP (Terminal Development Project) is progressing. The trailers located out in the parking lot areas are indeed housing temporary offices for the project and more will come. A lot of stuff is going on behind the scenes right now. Stay tuned.

- There are "finalized" renderings of the new terminal, yes. I quote finalized because these are subject to minor tweaks here and there. There are regular meetings between the architecture firm, the airport, and tenants to discuss things that need to be changed or would like to be seen in the project. The previous renderings I posted earlier are for the most part, firm. More renderings will be released as the project continues.

- Keep in mind phase I of the new terminal includes just the south concourse and terminal building. The adjacent north satellite concourse will be built down the road and will add plenty more gates as phase II. Phase II will happen much sooner than you think. Square footage will however increase quite a bit, even just with phase I (because of multiple levels, etc.)

- The new terminal will feature gates that will accommodate a wide variety of aircraft. Where the current terminal has different sized gates for different sized aircraft, the new terminal will allow the gates to be more flexible in their use. So smaller regional jet type aircraft will be able to use the same gates large wide-body aircraft use and vice-versa (with a few exceptions). This results in fewer gates but higher utilization per gate, better efficiency, and lower costs. And again, the north concourse will be able to double the gates phase 1 includes.

- While the number of Delta flights has indeed decreased over the last few years, the number of seats offered has stayed about the same or increased a little. This is because Delta is reintroducing larger aircraft to markets previously served with smaller regional jets. A destination which may have previously had five daily flights may now only have three but because of more seats per flight, there are the same or maybe even more seats total offered. This is happening nationwide. Delta is fully committed to the TRP program and has a very strong voice in the development process. Many of Delta's corporate team including the CEO were in SLC just a couple weeks ago.

-SLC is the preferred hub for many of Delta's frequent travelers to connect in. It is a reliable and efficient hub (#1 on-time airport in the country). SLC also has a very high percentage of Delta premium travelers living here and that results in higher yield on Delta's investment here compared to most cities.

-While Seattle has been a focus for Delta lately, this hasn't affected the SLC operation and still remains to be seen if it will work for Delta or not. They certainly do not have enough gates in Seattle to build a sizable operation there like SLC nor is there much more space (if any) available there. Delta is committed to SLC and has said in their own words SLC is their fastest growing hub market (seen the most demand growth lately) and they will respond in the coming years with more seats added to the SLC market. (See my previous post)

- Not just Delta is committed to this project, all the airlines of the airport are on board with the project and growth from other airlines continues.

- Numbers/stats (passengers, destinations, flights, new airlines, etc) will likely stay somewhat stagnant/increase only slightly for a while. The lack of space to lease to airlines and the overcrowding is a large reason for this. The demand in SLC is increasing. This can be seen with the growing percentage of origin/destination passengers vs. connecting passengers. Load factors (percentage of seats filled) are also higher than they have ever been. It will be very challenging over the next few years trying to accommodate the current and near-future demand. The airport is very crowded right now.

Thanks for the interest! Again, while it may seem like not much is happening right now, a lot is going on behind the scenes and as time goes on the airport will become more of a messy construction site. I will try to keep posting what I know.

[Plaid Shirts]

deleted

[SLC Projects]

Who cares what Seattle is doing. You always have to go out of your way to find other cities that one up us don't you?

[Plaid Shirts]

Originally Posted by SLC Projects

Who cares what Seattle is doing. You always have to go out of your way to find other cities that one up us don't you?

Nope. I am just pointing out the other side of the story. There are two sides to every story and I am pointing out that Seattle is actually taking passenger traffic away from Delta's SLC hub....regardless of what people believe or want to hear. Seattle is slowly becoming Delta's main western hub, and this has an impact on SLC.

Actually people in Utah should care what Delta is doing up in Seattle because obviously Delta has a major impact on the economy in SLC and Utah. If Delta decides to do a full hub in SEA, expect SLC to be extremely downsized, or even dehubbed, and financially hurt because of that. Like I said with the future bookings out of SEA, the SEA impact on SLC is already starting to happen.

[wrendog]

SLC is safer than you want to admit, plaid.

SLC will be just fine. Skyguy knows his stuff.

[justiny]

Originally Posted by Plaid Shirts

If Delta decides to do a full hub in SEA, expect SLC to be extremely downsized, or even dehubbed, and financially hurt because of that.

Based on the website you provided, Delta has a 46% share of SLC vs 10% share of Sea-Tac. I understand Sea-Tac is bigger, but not by much, and certainly not enough for Delta to "dehub" SLC.

SLC is the perfect hub and spoke airport with equal distribution to nearly every western city in the U.S... A big reason why Delta bought out Western Airlines in the late 80's. LAX and SLC were the two main hubs for Western at that time... Delta phased out LAX and built on SLC.

Why would Delta dismantle a major hub in SLC of over 27 years for a gamble in Seattle? I honestly don't understand your use of "scare" words like "extremely downsized", "dehubbed", and my favorite... "financially hurt".



SLC isn't Memphis. Delta isn't going anywhere.

[Plaid Shirts]

Originally Posted by wrendog

SLC is safer than you want to admit, plaid.

SLC will be just fine. Skyguy knows his stuff.

Yes, Skyguy does know his stuff. But his information is coming from one side of the topic.

Hahaha, um... actually it's not as safe as you think wrendog. Trust me, I work for Delta here in their SLC office. I am working close to the Delta buildup in SEA and I am also well informed with what Delta truly has in mind for SLC in the future. So I know exactly what is going on.

US Airways said Pittsburgh was safe...
American said St. Louis was safe...
Delta said Memphis was safe...
United said Cleveland was safe...
American said Nashville was safe...
American said San Jose was safe...

Those cities all got dehubbed even though the airlines said they were safe. Pittsburgh actually got approval and financial help from US Airways when they were a hub and when they were building their new airport terminal. Years later, US Airways pulled the plug on its Pittsburgh hub and now their terminal is pretty much a ghost town. Just saying.

Anytime an airline has to reaffirm people that a hub is safe from being dehubbed is never a good sign. Delta is saying SLC is safe and they are committed. I hope SLC is not dehubbed, but you just never know. The airline industry in constantly changing. What ever is going on and what ever happens between Delta and Alaska Airlines is going to have a major impact on SLC. That impact could be good or it could be bad. Hopefully it's a good thing.

[skyguy414]

So are you saying what the president of your company, the president of Delta, said to the airport board of directors (that SLC will see approximately an 8% growth in seat capacity over the next several years) that it was a lie?

[CofIKid]

My several sources that work at Delta, confirmed the build up of SEA, but also the expansion of Delta Services at SLC. That the intention is for Delta to better serve international flights having a west coast hub and some domestic market share that would be better served from SEA, and also be better able to compete against United and American.

SLC is a very profitable hub for Delta, and a natural hub to serve the mountain west, without much competition. Delta is expanding service by at least 8% over the next 3 years, and making the hub an all two class operation.