The first phase of Salt Lake City’s new $3.6 billion airport will debut next autumn, with views of the Wasatch Mountains from 45-foot-tall windows in the terminal, new dining and shopping choices, and convenient connections to public transportation.
The new South Concourse at SLC will open in September 2020, with the North Concourse slated for a 2024 opening.
Backers describe the airport as a complete rebuild of a half-century old facility that better reflects its setting in both Salt Lake City and the state of Utah. The new terminal will add four million square feet of new space to SLC.
Travellers will be able to use the Utah Transit Authority’s TRAX light rail system to get from the airport to downtown Salt Lake City thanks to a new rail station at the airport.
The existing SLC airport was designed to handle about half of the 25 million passengers who now transit the facility. The new terminal is designed to accommodate growing numbers of travellers; the airport set a new record with 25.5 million passengers in 2018, up 6 per cent from the previous year.
One million of those passengers were on international flights, a growing part of SLC’s business. The new terminal will have six international gates and a larger customs area than the facility it replaces. All 78 gates at the airport will be served by jet bridges, and parking capacity at the airport will double.