Salt Lake International Airport Development Thread

[Reeder113]

Originally Posted by Ironweed

Hi guys. Two quick, dumb questions here:

How are folks going to be transported to the North concourse?

Here's a video of the tunnel that will transport you to the North Concourse (skip to around 1:40):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHHU...ature=youtu.be

[ucsbgaucho]

https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics...alt-lake-city/

At groundbreaking, the first phase was expected to cost $1.8 billion. Other work was added for a second phase that is also underway and includes a long-planned second concourse. That, plus higher-than-expected labor and material costs, had raised the overall price tag to $3.6 billion. The extra additions now bring it up to $4.1 billion.

[Makid]

I do like that the Airport is already looking at future updates as well as runway extensions. I do think the runway extensions will be needed to attract more international flights.

[ucsbgaucho]

Originally Posted by Makid

I do like that the Airport is already looking at future updates as well as runway extensions. I do think the runway extensions will be needed to attract more international flights.

Agreed, it always seems like every govt infrastructure project only looks at current needs, and by the time it is actually completed, the current needs have already been exceeded. We see this with every freeway project (let's add ONE lane).

[Old&New]

Originally Posted by ucsbgaucho

Agreed, it always seems like every govt infrastructure project only looks at current needs, and by the time it is actually completed, the current needs have already been exceeded. We see this with every freeway project (let's add ONE lane).

What happens there is called Tripple Convergence. Doesn't matter how many lanes you add, there will always be traffic jams.

When there is traffic, three things happen:

1. People start traveling at different times of day
2. People start taking alternate routes
3. People start to take alternate modes of transportation

When you add lanes, those people who had changed their travel habits will go right back to using the freeway again, causing this triple convergence and congestion.

Additionally, during that short period of time when congestion has been alleviated, people are willing to move further and further out and commute in, accelerating suburban development, exacerbating the congestion further.

Widening freeways also further divides communities and pedestrian traffic.

You have to expand access for all three categories simultaneously.

[gakidave]

In the wake of the Delta-LATAM tie-up, DL is adding SLC-MIA. Starts July 28th.

Miami to Salt Lake City
9:45-12:51
Boeing 737-800


Salt Lake City to Miami
13:45-20:27
Boeing 737-800

[ajiuO]

hav e they released any sort of map of the new airport? I'm kind of curious where the tax station will be.

[delts145]

JetBlue founder unveils new, Utah-based ‘world’s nicest airline’

By Art Raymond, For the Deseret News - https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/2/...hwest-airlines

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Almost 20 years after disrupting the staid world of U.S. airline service with the launch of JetBlue, Utah native and serial air travel entrepreneur David Neeleman is back with another project.

And once again, he’s looking to shake things up.

On Friday, Neeleman announced the official name of his new carrier, Breeze Aviation, which will also be headquartered in Utah. The move completes a circle that brings Neeleman back to the place where he grew up and also made his first moves into the airline business.

While rumors of the new effort have been circulating for months under the “Moxy” moniker, the company locked down its brand and is moving forward with a timetable aiming to have planes in the air by the end of this year.

“Add a car, add a hotel, cancel a flight, make changes, it will all be there at your fingertips. Completely hassle-free flying.” — David Neeleman, air travel entrepreneur
Breeze will be the fifth carrier startup for a guy who’s built a reputation for being something of a market oracle when it comes to the airline industry. Neeleman’s previous endeavors include Utah-based Morris Air (acquired by Southwest in 1993), WestJet (currently the No. 2 Canadian carrier), JetBlue and Azul (currently No. 3 among Brazilian domestic carriers).

JetBlue founder and Utah-native David Neeleman unveiled the name of his new, Utah-based airline on Friday. Breeze Aviation will launch later this year with a new, high-tech platform and flights between currently underserved airports. Breeze Aviation

In an interview with the Deseret News, Neeleman said the impetus behind his continued interest in airline startups boils down to a penchant for recognizing opportunity, and acting on it.

“I never started an airline just to start an airline,” Neeleman said. “Right now, we see some pretty gaping holes in the industry.”

While Breeze has not yet announced potential routes, Neeleman’s plan is to identify and leverage nonstop flights between currently underserved airports. Right now, most major carriers require passengers traveling to and from second-tier airports to connect with a regional hub, then travel on to their ultimate destination. Breeze, Neeleman said, is looking to fill in the connection gaps left by an increasingly hub-focused system.

And, he thinks it can be done in a way that scores a win-win for passengers.

“We can cut the fare in half and get them there faster,” Neeleman said. “And we’re going to do it in a completely new way.”

That new approach, according to Neeleman, will prioritize a customer-centric system focused on making all the ins and outs of air travel, well, a breeze. That will include taking a page from the success of marketplace titans like Uber and Amazon, with an app-based toolkit that will allow passengers to find tickets, change or update travel plans, and add other travel necessities like rental cars and/or accommodations without ever having to deal with a customer service network.

"The goal is to have our customers ... never having to speak with anybody, if they don’t want to,” Neeleman said. “Add a car, add a hotel, cancel a flight, make changes, it will all be there at your fingertips. Completely hassle-free flying.”

And Neeleman has a track record for bringing big innovations into the realm of air travel. During a presentation at the recent Silicon Slopes Tech Summit in Salt Lake City, Neeleman noted that while Southwest Airlines is credited by the Smithsonian Institute as pioneering e-ticketless travel, the technology was actually first launched by his debut airline, Morris Air, and became the property of Southwest after the acquisition deal. JetBlue — which pioneered free, in-flight live television programming — and Azul launched service in dozens of Brazilian cities that had previously gone without an airline connection.

Breeze has ordered 60 brand-new Airbus 220-300 aircraft, with deliveries beginning in April 2021, and has leased 30 Embraer 195 aircraft from Azul, which will be delivered starting May 2020. The company said the A220 is ideally suited for nonstop flights between mid-size markets that Breeze expects to serve while the E195s can cost-effectively connect smaller markets.

Neeleman’s latest startup has already earned support from state leaders, with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development announcing a post-performance tax rebate package for the company late last year. The package could earn Breeze as much as $1.1 million in tax rebates on plans to make over $3 million in capital investments and hire about 370 new employees. At this point, Neeleman said he does not anticipate Breeze will be providing service in or out of Salt Lake City International Airport, but other Utah airports may be in the running for new routes.

“Twenty years ago, we brought humanity back to the airline industry with JetBlue,” Neeleman said in a statement. “Today, we’re excited to introduce plans for ‘the world’s nicest airline.’”

.

[wrendog]

I would say there is a 95% chance Breeze will use PVU for flights from Wasatch Front and a 50% chance SGU gets flights as well.

[DCRes]

I flew from St George to SLC last week, which normally comes into the 'E' gates. When we landed they parked us far out on the tarmac and then we had to take a bus around the new airport and they dropped us off at the 'E' concourse. The tarmac there is all torn up now.

[i-215]

I wounder what trouble SLC Int'l is going to be in financially if Delta has to stop payments on the terminal project.

If you had told me 3 weeks ago all of this would happen, I wouldn't have believed it.

(Currently "stay at home" in CA)

[ruefenac]

Long time lurker but first time poster here.

With the current SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints flying several thousand missionaries from foreign countries back to the US, there have been several flights coming into SLC direct from foreign countries.

Delta has been using DAL8873, DAL8874 for some of these. I realize these are one-off flights, but interesting to see these flights and what the flight times are from the various departure cities.

One is scheduled to fly from Sydney Australia on Friday for a flight time of 13 hours 30 minutes (DAL8874), and both DAL8873 and DAL8874 are flying from Argentina on Saturday for a flight time of about 12 hours. There have also been some from Columbia, Guatemala, El Salvador, to name a few.

Undoubtedly these are chartered flights to bring LDS missionaries home.

[Wasatch Wasteland]

Remember back in like 2014 when SLC's airport renderings were much warmer and unique with lots of wood, stone, and natural materials? It would seem that Kansas City has successfully implemented that idea into their finalized design for their new airport well under construction due to open in 2 years. Check out these beautiful renderings. https://www.buildkci.com/images/updated-renderings/ Its a shame SLC couldn't have gotten something like this like originally was planned.

Although SLC's design is unique in some ways, its still awfully bland and typical of the majority of late 90's to early 2010's airport design in a lot of other ways.

.

[jubguy3]

Originally Posted by ruefenac

Long time lurker but first time poster here.

With the current SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints flying several thousand missionaries from foreign countries back to the US, there have been several flights coming into SLC direct from foreign countries.

Delta has been using DAL8873, DAL8874 for some of these. I realize these are one-off flights, but interesting to see these flights and what the flight times are from the various departure cities.

One is scheduled to fly from Sydney Australia on Friday for a flight time of 13 hours 30 minutes (DAL8874), and both DAL8873 and DAL8874 are flying from Argentina on Saturday for a flight time of about 12 hours. There have also been some from Columbia, Guatemala, El Salvador, to name a few.

Undoubtedly these are chartered flights to bring LDS missionaries home.

Adding to this, on March 25th an Ethiopian Airlines 777 landed in Salt Lake from Lomé, Togo which was the longest nonstop passenger flight to SLC at 7,131 miles and 14h 49m. Three days ago an EgyptAir 787 landed as well.

[ruefenac]

I have one more flight to add that caught my eye.

A LAN Peru airlines flight landed in SLC on Friday from Lima Peru, a Boeing 767, flight number LPE2548. Only an 8 hour flight, but still an unusual thing to see.

With the possibility of SLC hosting another Winter Olympics down the road, I wonder if we'd see these types of flights on a temporary basis during the Olympics. Granted the Winter Olympics doesn't draw near the number of people a Summer Olympics does, but interesting to see this type of air traffic in SLC.

On topic of the thread - I wonder if SLC had not started the expansion project when they did and instead were just in the planning phases now, how different would the expansion look, given the current impact in air travel. How long is it going to take to return to levels that would have justified the size and scope of the project? Only time will tell - but I do hope the impact isn't enough to delay the building of the east end of the concourses.

[billbillbillbill]

Article on the status of the Airport.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/04/07/salt-lake-city/

Found this to be interesting:

“There was some initial pushback from the airlines about just stopping the project, but it’s too late for that,” Wyatt said. “We have acquired debt, which we will need to begin paying on.”

Also, Wyatt said the existing airport is showing its age, and officials have spent little on maintenance and repairs as they planned to move into new facilities.

“The old airport really wants to die,” he said. “So it really doesn’t do us any good to stop the project.”

However, he said later phases may be delayed or changed. Phased demolition of current facilities might even be accelerated to save money, he said. Some of those gates were still to be used because of projected high flight demand, which may no longer be the case.

“We’re going to keep going until we can’t,” on the expansion, Wyatt said. “ I’m hopeful we can open on time.”

[ruefenac]

I'm curious if anyone knows what the passenger boarding bridge elevator is for. It was mentioned that the first one was installed at the beginning of April in the construction updates section of the airport website. And they have a picture of it there as well.

Maybe its mostly for transporting carry on luggage that gets checked at the gate and then put in the cargo hold of the aircraft is my guess (and maybe that answers the question)?

[Stenar]

Originally Posted by billbillbillbill

Article on the status of the Airport.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/04/07/salt-lake-city/

Found this to be interesting:

When I read that earlier, I was astounded that anyone could suggest they stop at this point. They're nearly finished. The last 5 months were basically scheduled for testing systems.

[jtrent77]

Originally Posted by Stenar

When I read that earlier, I was astounded that anyone could suggest they stop at this point. They're nearly finished. The last 5 months were basically scheduled for testing systems.

Do you mean nearly finished with only the first phase? Because the second phase (which destroys the old airport entirely and adds on the second half of the main concourse) isn't supposed to be completed until 2024/25

[Wasatch Wasteland]

If they were to put a hold on things, I’d imagine the most they would do would be to open what is currently almost finished (west ends of the concourses and new terminal) and demolish the old airport while putting a hold on constructing phase two.