Salt Lake International Airport Development Thread

[DCRes]

Wow, seeing that aerial with the green, yellow, and red outlines really puts this into great perspective. Pretty amazing to see this large of a project coming together.

[seventwenty]

Originally Posted by DCRes

Wow, seeing that aerial with the green, yellow, and red outlines really puts this into great perspective. Pretty amazing to see this large of a project coming together.

Yeah nicely done. I know you all in the SLC threads have discussed how big the new terminal/check-in/baggage claim area will be, but can you give us out-of-towners a comparison to how the old terminal stacks up to the new one?

IIRC, the new terminal should be DTW sized, as new the SLC terminal is supposed to be more connection focused. What happens if you all become more O/D focused like DEN became? We're 60/40 O/D here, and we were supposed to be 40/60 connection back in the blueprint stage.

[Wasatch Wasteland]

Those photos are from Late September. The parking garage is starting work on the third level, the terminal’s concrete bottom floor/outline is completed, and the south concourse is structurally complete.

It still seems that they are moving at an exceptionally fast pace... at this rate the parking garage will be done by February (one level per month), the steel erection for the terminal should be done around the same time as well, MEP installation is well underway across the entire construction site, and they’ve already built the approaches for the elevated roadway and most of the supports. Only a few more moths to lay down the elevated roadway spans as well. Unless they plan on taking two and a half years to finish fitting out the interior, this phase of the project seems to be on track to finish in early 2019. Maybe even late 2018.

Keep in mind, only a year ago they were driving piles and moving dirt...

Perhaps they did this intentionally so they can say, “hey look! We may have been over budget but we finished a year ahead of schedule!”

[jubguy3]

Originally Posted by seventwenty

Yeah nicely done. I know you all in the SLC threads have discussed how big the new terminal/check-in/baggage claim area will be, but can you give us out-of-towners a comparison to how the old terminal stacks up to the new one?

IIRC, the new terminal should be DTW sized, as new the SLC terminal is supposed to be more connection focused. What happens if you all become more O/D focused like DEN became? We're 60/40 O/D here, and we were supposed to be 40/60 connection back in the blueprint stage.

Yeah, the new terminal will be 700k square feet. I'm not sure if that's the figure for the footprint or for all 3 floors. I honestly wish that they had made the terminal a lot larger than it is. But it is stacked, and if you look on the renderings page of the terminal reconstruction website, the map shows that the terminal is missing a "square" out of one section that can be expanded for baggage collection.

I'm wondering if the SLCDA made a misstep here. The SLC area is going to continue to grow rapidly. They can always disable gates immediately next to the concourse and extend the terminal on each side that way but I wonder if it would have been better to make it longer from north to south.

Are we going to end up with an ATL style sandwich if the existing terminal is the wrong size? Move the cargo operations and have the second terminal be accessible from I-15. I guess that defeats the entire purpose of the single terminal concept but I think they could get by with moving all other airlines over to the other side because Delta is responsible for around half of the O/D passengers, and a balance of delta and non-skyteam carriers makes sense. But its stupid because the SLCDA actually said that the airport is going to need to be expanded 5 years after it opens with the rest of the north concourse to meet demand. So why didn't they leave more space for the terminal?

[airhero]

Originally Posted by seventwenty

Yeah nicely done. I know you all in the SLC threads have discussed how big the new terminal/check-in/baggage claim area will be, but can you give us out-of-towners a comparison to how the old terminal stacks up to the new one?

IIRC, the new terminal should be DTW sized, as new the SLC terminal is supposed to be more connection focused. What happens if you all become more O/D focused like DEN became? We're 60/40 O/D here, and we were supposed to be 40/60 connection back in the blueprint stage.

Mostly the new airport will take three separate terminals and combine them into one. It does, however, sound as if expansions are being planned for, perhaps not too long after the new airport is finished.

Here are some stats. Although some are my personal estimates (check in counters in particular) I'm sure they are not far off:



So statistically, it doesn't look much different than the current airport, just three terminals being combined into one, tho these numbers don't tell the whole story. The terminal will certainly be bigger than the current combined terminals, in sq ft and especially in volume.

As for expansion opportunity, Kevin Robins, interim airport director, made some revealing statements back in March, with most important statements in bold:

The massive $2.9 billion project to rebuild Salt Lake City International Airport may handle projected air traffic for as little as five years after completion — until 2025.

That information emerged Wednesday in an exchange at the Airport Advisory Board.

"Will it take care of us for 25 years?" state Sen. Karen Mayne, a board member, wanted to know about the reconstruction project's ability to handle growth.

"It could be five," said Kevin Robins, the interim airport director.

That surprisingly short projected shelf life is due to growing demand for more flights. Robins said that, with the additional gates and flights airlines are now seeking, the airport may need to build all of a planned second, northern concourse.

About 15 extra gates there have been penciled in, and officials may decide in a year or two whether to add them and "keep building. Those 15 gates are sort of a relief valve," said Terminal Redevelopment Project Director Mike Williams.

Robins said, "If we build the entire north concourse, that starts putting enough pressure on the baggage-handling system that we may have to look at actually expanding the terminal to accommodate the additional gates."

With an eye to the far-distant future, Mayne asked if the airport has enough land to build even more than the two now-planned, parallel concourses.

Robins said master plans include a third concourse eventually. The airport also has enough land "that if we needed to, we could add a fourth concourse. It would require us to move a lot of the north support facilities."

Robins said master plans are "trying to address, 'What is the future if we continue the growth we are experiencing now?' "

He added that the airport at present "continues to face the good problem of growing traffic and not enough rooms at the inn to be able to accommodate" it.

http://archive.sltrib.com/article.ph...20&itype=CMSID

So Robins mentions three interesting things regarding the future of the airport:

1. They could decide in the near future to build the entire north concourse instead of the current plan of building about 2/3 if it. That would add 15 more gates bringing the total to 93.

2. A terminal expansion could occur to support increased baggage handling. I have no idea how that would be done but it is obviously being looked at.

3. A third concourse is planned and a fourth is possible.

[seventwenty]

Thanks everyone.

[Sight-Seer]

A couple of photos I took Sunday (11/19/17).

[Sight-Seer]

I work just south of the airport and I like to occasionally swing by and check on the progress. Today I noticed they're already building the frames for the glass in the big north window.

[jubguy3]

November 29, 2017

• Continued work to enclose South Concourse-West with exterior sheathing installation
• Began interior framing of the Central Utility Plant; roofing to begin next week
• Completed concrete pour for south end of the parking garage

[jubguy3]

https://www.slcairport.com/assets/cm...p-of-crane.jpg (full size)

Looking north from top of crane


https://www.slcairport.com/assets/cm...nstruction.jpg (full size)

Terminal construction progress


https://www.slcairport.com/assets/cm...ov-27-2017.jpg (full size)

Sunrise before the storm on Nov 27

[RC14]

I love the picture form the top of the crane.
Thanks for sharing.

[jubguy3]

I'm too lazy to rehost this many photos. They will appear normally if you zoom out, sorry for the inconvenience

December 13, 2017

• Began baggage system hanger installation
• Continued work on enclosing the South Concourse-West, including first glass panel install
• Started vertical work on the west tunnel, which will tie the South Concourse-West to the North Concourse-West

Photo Update



South Concourse - West steel


South Concourse - West enclosure


Terminal plaza


West tunnel tie in (this is not the central tunnel that terminates in the plazas on each end, but a tunnel in the middle of SCW that will be the only initial tunnel as the initial NCW does not extend all the way to where it meets with the central tunnel)


Central utility plant

Here is a link to the Dec 13 2017 airport advisory board agendas & minutes (pdf):

https://www.slcairport.com/assets/pd...a13Dec2017.pdf

Interesting stuff located in the AAB Agendas. I wonder if it is possible to access the report mentioned on page 7 containing information on the largest unserved markets and top 20 international O/D markets? Does anyone want to make a request to the AAB with the email linked on the agendas page at AirportRecords@slc.gov ?

The report also says that China is the largest Asian market from SLC but plans are restricted by the existing bilateral agreement and its restrictions. Nothing was mentioned about the upcoming DL/KE joint venture.

[Old&New]

*

[gakidave]

Originally Posted by jubguy3

Interesting stuff located in the AAB Agendas. I wonder if it is possible to access the report mentioned on page 7 containing information on the largest unserved markets and top 20 international O/D markets? Does anyone want to make a request to the AAB with the email linked on the agendas page at AirportRecords@slc.gov ?

The report also says that China is the largest Asian market from SLC but plans are restricted by the existing bilateral agreement and its restrictions. Nothing was mentioned about the upcoming DL/KE joint venture.

Hi - long time lurker, first time poster! I have a copy of the report, and I was interested in this section myself. Some interesting tidbits:

- In the past five years, O&D traffic has increased 28%, but connecting traffic has only increased 5%.
- Pittsburgh is the largest domestic market without service (a bit over 60k passengers/year), followed by Columbus, Lihue, Cleveland and Buffalo.
- Europe makes up 26% of the international O&D from SLC. Asia is 20%, and Mexico is 19%.
- London is now the top O&D international market, with a 70% increase in passengers over the 2011 levels listed in the Brookings report.

Here are the top 20 international O&Ds, with the percentage increase from 2011:

London, UK 55,865 70.2%
Cancun, Mexico 50,756 13.2%
Toronto, Canada 41,310 62.1%
San Jose del Cabo, Mexico 36,476 101.4%
Vancouver, Canada 34,655 34.0%
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 34,313 79.4%
Mexico City. Mexico 26,748 -22.2%
Tokyo, Japan 24,724 23.4%
Paris, France 22,518 12.4%
Guadalajara, Mexico 20,464 49.5%
Montreal, Canada 19,899 54.1%
Calgary, Canada 18,982 21.0%
Shanghai, China 15,683 120.8%
Seoul, South Korea 15,568 1.7%
Amsterdam, Netherlands 15,134 92.1%
Beijing, China 14,709 78.2%
Frankfurt, Germany 13,778 21.3%
Lima, Peru 13,562 33.8%
Hong Kong, China 12,356 94.9%
Edmonton, Canada 11,403 105.8%

[jubguy3]

Originally Posted by gakidave

Hi - long time lurker, first time poster! I have a copy of the report, and I was interested in this section myself. Some interesting tidbits:

- In the past five years, O&D traffic has increased 28%, but connecting traffic has only increased 5%.
- Pittsburgh is the largest domestic market without service (a bit over 60k passengers/year), followed by Columbus, Lihue, Cleveland and Buffalo.
- Europe makes up 26% of the international O&D from SLC. Asia is 20%, and Mexico is 19%.
- London is now the top O&D international market, with a 70% increase in passengers over the 2011 levels listed in the Brookings report.

Here are the top 20 international O&Ds, with the percentage increase from 2011:

London, UK 55,865 70.2%
Cancun, Mexico 50,756 13.2%
Toronto, Canada 41,310 62.1%
San Jose del Cabo, Mexico 36,476 101.4%
Vancouver, Canada 34,655 34.0%
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 34,313 79.4%
Mexico City. Mexico 26,748 -22.2%
Tokyo, Japan 24,724 23.4%
Paris, France 22,518 12.4%
Guadalajara, Mexico 20,464 49.5%
Montreal, Canada 19,899 54.1%
Calgary, Canada 18,982 21.0%
Shanghai, China 15,683 120.8%
Seoul, South Korea 15,568 1.7%
Amsterdam, Netherlands 15,134 92.1%
Beijing, China 14,709 78.2%
Frankfurt, Germany 13,778 21.3%
Lima, Peru 13,562 33.8%
Hong Kong, China 12,356 94.9%
Edmonton, Canada 11,403 105.8%

Welcome, thanks for the info!

The stats for Seoul make me confident that if the Korean Air / Delta joint venture is approved, SLC will see service to Seoul. Amsterdam sees during the summer an A330-300 and a 787-9 on peak days (on both KLM and Delta). I think, if I remember correctly, AMS is about 90k pax / year? Its the busiest international flight from SLC. So a joint venture with KE would definitely validate service to Seoul, especially since traffic isn't also being spread across two joint venture cities. Not all traffic to Asia is going to go through Seoul but it is an obvious connecting choice for traffic from China and SE Asia. DL is slowly reducing its footprint into seattle and I can see them adopting the same market strategy as they have with TATL flights... small specialty markets go through DTW and ATL, and all hubs + other cities have a link to Amsterdam or Paris. With the impending transpacific JV, smaller markets like HK go through Seattle, Detroit, and to a lesser extent LAX, and most cities have a link to Seoul.

Just for anyone curious, the load factors in 2016 on DL's flight to London hovered around 50%. I wonder why it is doing so poorly considering that London is the top O/D market and a market where they have a (smaller) partnership with Virgin Atlantic.


Thank you for this report! I put in a public information request but it hasn't been processed yet. I might submit it anyways because I was curious as to what else was contained in the rest of the report + information on the TRP.

[gakidave]

Originally Posted by jubguy3

Just for anyone curious, the load factors in 2016 on DL's flight to London hovered around 50%. I wonder why it is doing so poorly considering that London is the top O/D market and a market where they have a (smaller) partnership with Virgin Atlantic.

The London flight was notoriously seasonal - absolutely awful on the shoulder season, but reasonably strong during the summer. SLC-LHR load factors for 2016:

April 2016: 48%
May 2016: 63%
June 2016: 86%
July 2016: 76%
August 2016: 79%
September 2016: 75%
October 2016: 59%
November 2016 45%

SLC isn't the only hub like this - Seattle's load factors are in the 50s during the off-season, and Detroit's aren't much better. I'm guessing ours is seasonal due to a combination of being the most "hub captive" (lots of loyal Delta flyers who will take a connection to stay on DL) and having lower yield per mile than the other hubs. SLC-LHR is the longest DL route out of LHR (67 miles longer than SEA-LHR - and Seattle has 3x the O&D).

As for Seoul - when the JV is in effect, I think it's plausible, but not guaranteed. Back when we had the Tokyo flight, it was already going out weight-restricted. Tacking an extra 90 minutes of flying on that to get to Seoul isn't going to help.

[jubguy3]

Originally Posted by gakidave

The London flight was notoriously seasonal - absolutely awful on the shoulder season, but reasonably strong during the summer. SLC-LHR load factors for 2016:

April 2016: 48%
May 2016: 63%
June 2016: 86%
July 2016: 76%
August 2016: 79%
September 2016: 75%
October 2016: 59%
November 2016 45%

SLC isn't the only hub like this - Seattle's load factors are in the 50s during the off-season, and Detroit's aren't much better. I'm guessing ours is seasonal due to a combination of being the most "hub captive" (lots of loyal Delta flyers who will take a connection to stay on DL) and having lower yield per mile than the other hubs. SLC-LHR is the longest DL route out of LHR (67 miles longer than SEA-LHR - and Seattle has 3x the O&D).

As for Seoul - when the JV is in effect, I think it's plausible, but not guaranteed. Back when we had the Tokyo flight, it was already going out weight-restricted. Tacking an extra 90 minutes of flying on that to get to Seoul isn't going to help.

I wonder if using an A350 (too many seats, not very many of them) or one of KE's 787's (of which they only have 4, going up to 12, and they're probably too premium-heavy for SLC) would be a better option. I think both the 767 and A330 take payload hits out of SLC.

[jubguy3]

The new convenience store at the park and wait lot opened at the airport featuring a burger king, costa vida, and a beans & brews. it sorta looks like it was built 30 years ago.

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/...t-airport.html

[arkhitektor]

Originally Posted by jubguy3

The new convenience store at the park and wait lot opened at the airport featuring a burger king, costa vida, and a beans & brews. it sorta looks like it was built 30 years ago.

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/...t-airport.html

I picked my parents up at the airport last weekend, their flight was slightly delayed, so it was nice to have a place to wait other than sitting in my car. The convenience store was fine, nothing to write home about, but no complaints either. It will be nice for rental car drivers to have a place to fill-up before returning cars. The thing that seemed bonkers to me was the traffic pattern to get back to the road once you are leaving the park-n-wait area. Does anyone know if this is permanent? It's quite the trek to get back to Terminal Dr., so much so that many people were just parking on the shoulder at the side of the main access road and avoiding the park-n-wait altogether, even though the lot was less than half full:

[jubguy3]

January 3, 2018 (zoom out!)

• Began installing windows in South Concourse-West
• Completed Central Utility Plant masonry
• Poured concrete on Level 3 of the Parking Garage

South Concourse - West enclosure


West tunnel tie-in


Elevated roadway