The new Salt Lake City International Airport.Salt Lake City International Airport
- Salt Lake City International Airport just debuted the first milestone of its reconstruction with a new terminal headhouse and concourse.
- Utah-inspired artwork lines the terminal with passengers walking through a red rock canyon to get to their gate.
- Delta Air Lines passengers are the first to use the new space with the airline also opening its largest SkyClub lounge to mark the occasion.
Salt Lake City International Airport is in the midst of a $4.1 billion reconstruction that will radically change the airport with a brand-new terminal and two new concourses. Six years following its 2014 groundbreaking, the airport just opened the first part of the new terminal to the public on September 15.
Delta Air Lines passengers were among the first to use the new facility - complete with a new SkyClub - as the carrier is the largest at the airport. With Delta accounting for around 70% of the airport's daily departures, it's no surprise that the new terminal layout resembles that of other Delta hubs in Detroit and Atlanta.
Two parallel east-west concourses aim to replace the airport's current pier layout where concourses radiate from a central terminal, allowing for more gates and less congestion in between concourses.
The pandemic has been kinder to Salt Lake City as Delta's gateway to the mountainous region where social distancing is more easily achieved. In October, Salt Lake City International will only see its year-on-year flying reduced by 15%, Travel Weekly reported, while other hubs elsewhere are seeing reductions of nearly 50%.
Take a closer look at the first phase of the new Salt Lake City International Airport.