On-schedule airport expansion price tag now exceeds $4 billion

By John Rogers 

The massive rebuild of the Salt Lake City International Airport just keeps getting bigger — and so does its cost. Officials have announced that the total budget for the project is now expected to eclipse $4 billion. The new budget was outlined at a recent meeting of the Airport Advisory Board. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}

When ground was broken in 2014, the price tag was estimated at $1.8 billion, but that was soon surpassed as airport and Salt Lake City officials announced that the project had been expanded to include a new north concourse in addition to the original new terminal and south concourse. By mid-2019, the cost estimates soared to $3.6 billion. 

Officials said that the latest cost projection — now nearly $4.1 billion — is mainly the result of additions to the facilities requested by the airlines that use the airport. The airlines, led by Delta, said they expect even more growth than last year’s estimates, thus the need for more space. Officials also said that part of the additional costs are associated with Utah’s booming construction industry, as well as increased materials costs — some coming from new steel tariffs.

The changes include a bigger Delta Air Lines Sky Club that will be 9,000 square feet larger, an expanded immigrations and customs receiving area and an isolated secure hallway for international passengers.

Officials, including Bill Wyatt, the airport’s executive director, said the additional costs will not be borne by Salt Lake City taxpayers but by the growth in passenger fees from the increased volume. The bulk of the airport’s expansion cost is covered by debt financing which will be repaid from operating income from the facility over a number of years. The Salt Lake City Council approved the increased budget late last year.

The current annual passenger load at Salt Lake City International Airport exceeds 26 million. The current 50-year-old structures were designed to handle about half that number, officials said. The Airport Advisory Board heard a report by Steve Domino, senior northwest mountain region aviation planner with RS&H, a national consulting firm involved with the reconstruction, that the annual passenger count will exceed 38 million within 20 years.

The first phase of the airport expansion is scheduled to open to the public on schedule on Sept. 20.{/mprestriction}