Salt Lake City International Airport undergoes master planning on the heels of expansion

While Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) was undergoing a US$4bn airport redevelopment programme — its largest terminal and landside infrastructure improvement since opening — the Salt Lake City Department of Airports (SLCDA) chose to update the Airport’s Master Plan at the same time. The strategy enabled the Airport to have a new development plan in place as implementation of its prior implementation plan was completed, ensuring Airport facilities are ready for growing passenger, cargo and general aviation demand. Even with the addition of the new 78-gate terminal facility, SLC has land to add another concourse with more gates and could build additional runways to serve more airplane operations. However, the Airport is located in a valley surrounded by mountainous terrain that limits the capacity of the airspace. SLCDA worked with RS&H on the Master Plan to carefully evaluate the relationship between the airfield and airspace to identify a plan to maximise the Airport’s ability to meet future demand within the constraints of the Airport’s location. The SLC Master Plan analyses future demand to ensure facilities can efficiently meet the needs of the travelling public and airline operations. It prepares the airport to strategically build new facilities to meet demand in an affordable and sustainable manner so that SLC passengers face minimal delays in their air travel. In this paper, you will learn about how SLC officials and the RS&H team worked together to ask the right questions, research the intricacies of SLC’s airspace and developed a new master plan for the airport that carries on more than 20 years’ worth of planning.