SE4:EP6 - Bill Wyatt: Gateway to Utah - The New SLC

The new Salt Lake City International airport provides the closest gateway in the world to such a diversity of skiing and riding. Opened in September 2020, the new SLC is one of the world’s most innovative and eco-friendly airports, providing a welcome mat for upwards of 30,000 passengers a day. Last Chair sat down with Executive Director Bill Wyatt to learn more about why SLC is turning heads with visitors from around the world.

Wyatt, who grew up in Oregon where he ran the Portland International Airport and the city’s maritime port, thought he was retiring in 2017. But a few days later, he took a recruiter’s call and landed in Salt Lake City. Taking over the construction project, he saw it to conclusion then shepherded the airport through the pandemic, ultimately saving two years and hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings through an ingenious plan that took advantage of low passenger counts in 2020.

Our Last Chair interview with Wyatt took place in the airport’s bustling Central Plaza, just inside security and in the midst of Utah restaurants such as Market Street Grill and Roosters. The affable Wyatt was quite at home, excitedly talking about the airport and the role it plays welcoming thousands of visitors each day.

Here’s a sample of Last Chair’s episode 6 with airport leader Bill Wyatt. Listen in to learn more in what was a fun conversation that showcases the welcoming atmosphere at the new SLC.

Bill, to start, give us a sense of perspective of the Salt Lake City Airport?

We're 20th largest in the country and that is largely because we're a Delta hub – 70% of their traffic connects through Salt Lake. Without being a connecting hub, we would probably have 45 or so nonstop flights. Today, I think we have about 95. During the pandemic, obviously not something any of us ever anticipated, Salt Lake was one of the fastest to return to service. And today I think we stand as the most recovered airport in the country in terms of airplane seats in the market. And that has a lot to do with why we're here talking. During the pandemic, there was a point at which people just said, ‘you know what, I'm getting out of my basement. I'm going to go somewhere.’ They weren't going to go to New York City. They weren't going to Disneyland. But they did come to Salt Lake because they could go skiing or they could go to the national parks or up into the desert. And we're continuing to see very strong volumes for all of that.

On that note, just how did the pandemic impact traffic at SLC?

I always look at how many people are going to arrive at the front door, because that's where you really have to pay attention. And a big day for us is 30,000 people. And that February (2020), I think we had two or three of those days. In late March (2020), I remember standing on the sky bridge to my office, which was above Terminal A, for 10 minutes and not seeing a single passenger. And we were at that point about five months from opening (the new airport). So it was obviously concerning. Tom Kelly: [00:09:19] We're going to talk a little bit more about the plan. And I know we'll dive back into some of the benefits that pandemic actually brought to your construction. But just to talk a little bit about the airport itself and maybe if you could elaborate on what your specific role is. I know that you oversee the whole thing, but what are some of the areas that are really big focal points for you in managing the Salt Lake City International Airport?

Going back in time, why did Salt Lake City decide to invest in a new airport?

The old airport was designed to handle about 10 million annual passengers and in its last full year of operation did just a little over 28. The old airport really couldn't handle much more. It certainly couldn't handle any more aircraft. It was old. It was not designed as a hub. I always hold up my hand when I talk about the old airport because that's what it looked like. You know, you had these five fingers or five concourses that were connected. And if there was a single aircraft movement in between any two of those fingers, everything else came to a stop. And so this airport is designed as a 21st century hub airport where no aircraft ever has to wait for another one to get out of its way, which has, by the way, enormous positive environmental benefits, because the old airport caused a lot of jet fuel to be burned unnecessarily because of that design feature.

On that point, how important was sustainability in the new airport plan?

The decision was made to go for gold LEED standard. The way that this was accomplished was a tremendous focus on energy efficiency. The little bag tugs that take the bags back and forth from the planes -- they're all electric now. They're not actually allowed to have internal combustion engines in the bag halls or underneath the building at all. Natural light harvesting – a tremendous amount of environmental automation that goes with the building we use today, less electricity in this building than we did in the old airport, which I think is a sign of the effort that was undertaken. Little things like free flowing dual taxi lanes in all directions means that planes are taxiing less on the ground and getting out of here quicker, which means a huge amount of carbon savings. So the day the new airport opened, I like to say, was probably the best day for air quality in this valley in a very, very long time.

What are the key milestones coming up over the next few years?

So the milestones that are in front of us, we recently completed one milestone, which is to allow for aircraft to taxi over the top of what we call the central tunnel. The next big milestone will occur in May when the first four gates on A Concourse East, which is currently under construction, open. The following November, all of the A concourse opens. And then the following fall, the central tunnel will open.  And it will significantly improve the customer experience. I am confident that we will begin construction of a 16 gate expansion (on Concourse B), something that was not really anticipated for several years, which will conclude in 2027. And that means in the space of seven years, Salt Lake will have gone from an airport that had 52 jet bridges to one with 94 jet bridges. And that growth is really a mirror reflection of what's been happening in the economy of this value, this valley to the ski industry, the tourism industry, just the tremendous growth that we all can see with our own eyes.

What are some unique elements for skiers?

The ski industry had a lot to do with various design elements of the airport. The bag belts where the agent puts your bag is a full foot wider than a conventional bag belt, and that is to accommodate oversized bags like skis, snowboards, golf clubs. When you are an arriving passenger, you go out into the bag hall to grab your bags and your ski bag is on a vertical carousel. So it's a lot easier to pick off. And I might say for those skiers who've had their four or five days of skiing and then are going home, we've we're making some adjustments here that I think are going to be tremendously well received. One, if you take a shuttle down from Park City, for example, and arrive at level one, which is the ground floor, you can get off there and go directly in and check in and then move through the checkpoint from level one itself. You don't have to go up three stories to do that. The other thing that Delta is going to do this season – I'm very excited for this – they're working with the resorts to allow customers to check their overs...