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Salt Lake City's airport redevelopment reaches final gates after 12 years

Salt Lake City's airport redevelopment reaches final gates after 12 years

Built World Salt Lake City, UT local

The $5.1 billion program was celebrated October 24, and its last seven gates opened October 27.

October 27th, 2026: Final seven gates open, completing the program

Overview

Updated Oct 28

Salt Lake City International Airport marked the end of its 12-year, $5.1 billion rebuild on October 24. Its final seven gates opened October 27, bringing the airport to 94 gates and 101 concessions.

The last piece, Concourse B east, adds about 132,000 square feet, six concessions and seven gates. Five gates go to United Airlines and two are for common use. Airport Executive Director Bill Wyatt said the airport now turns to daily operations, recruiting new airlines and capital projects put off during construction.

Why it matters

The rebuilt airport lifts Delta's western hub from a 60-year-old terminal to a 94-gate complex built for 35 million passengers a year.

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Key Indicators

$5.1B
Total program cost
Four phases of construction from 2014 to 2026.
94
Aircraft gates
Final gate count after the October 27 handover, plus four hardstand positions.
25,000
Craft workers
Nearly 25,000 craft workers over the program, working more than 18 million craft hours.
101
Total concessions
Six new concessions open with the final gates on October 27.

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People Involved

Bill Wyatt
Bill Wyatt
Executive director, Salt Lake City Department of Airports
Spoke at the October 24, 2026 celebration. The final seven gates opened October 27, and he says the airport now turns to regular operations.
RM
Robert Millar
Aviation project director, HNTB
Directed airfield phasing for the lead design firm
BC
Brent Christiansen
Superintendent, Holder Construction and Big D Construction joint venture
Managed heavy crane operations near live taxiways
 Kurt Bestor
Kurt Bestor
Composer
Wrote the airport theme "Lux Altior"
 Gordon Huether
Gordon Huether
Artist
Made large-scale art for The New SLC; a Concourse B-east piece was planned as of October 2026
 Erin Mendenhall
Erin Mendenhall
Mayor of Salt Lake City
Spoke at the October 24, 2026 celebration marking the end of airport construction

Organizations Involved

Salt Lake City Department of Airports
Salt Lake City Department of Airports
Municipal agency
Held the completion celebration on October 24, 2026. The final seven gates opened October 27.

The city agency that owns Salt Lake City International Airport and managed the entire redevelopment.
HNTB Corporation
HNTB Corporation
Engineering and design firm
Lead design firm for the redevelopment

Served as aviation design lead, coordinating airfield phasing, crane safety and fuel infrastructure tie-ins.
HD
Holder Construction and Big D Construction (HDJV)
Construction joint venture
Construction manager-at-risk for central terminal, Concourse A and infrastructure

Built the central terminal, Concourse A, parking garages, roadways, tunnels, utilities and airfield paving.
HOK (Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum)
HOK (Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum)
Architecture firm
Terminal architect

Designed the terminal alongside HNTB's civil engineering work.
AC
Austin Commercial and Okland
Construction joint venture
Built Concourse B under a $545 million contract

Constructed Concourse B facilities under a construction manager-at-risk contract.

Timeline

July 2014 October 2026

12 events Latest: October 27th, 2026 · 2 weeks ago Showing 8 of 12
Tap a bar to jump to that date

  1. Final seven gates open, completing the program

    Latest Milestone

    The last seven gates on Concourse B east open, bringing the airport to 94 gates and ending the $5.1 billion program.

  2. KSL asks what comes next for the airport

    Report

    KSL reported that the 12-year project is over and asked what the airport does next.

  3. Airport celebrates the end of construction

    Milestone

    The airport marked the program's completion with the premiere of Kurt Bestor's "Lux Altior" and the unveiling of "Crossroads to the World," an installation of laser-cut acrylic airplanes.

  4. Engineering News-Record reports program completion

    Report

    Engineering News-Record reports the redevelopment reaching completion, with the final seven gates handing over October 27.

  5. Four more Concourse B gates open

    Milestone

    Four gates opened in July 2026, per the airport. The airport's release gives no day.

  6. Remaining Phase 3 gates and first Phase 4 gates open

    Milestone

    Five remaining Phase 3 gates and five Phase 4 gates open, adding ten gates total.

  7. Phase 3 opens Central Tunnel and Concourse B plaza

    Milestone

    The Central Tunnel connecting both concourses and a Concourse B plaza open with five gates.

  8. Phase 2 finishes; 1960s terminal demolished

    Milestone

    Seventeen more gates open and demolition of the six-decade-old original airport begins.

  9. Phase 2 adds five gates

    Milestone

    Five gates open on Concourse A east as the second phase advances.

  10. Concourse B opens first gates

    Milestone

    Phase 1 completes as Concourse B opens its first gates.

  11. Phase 1 opens central terminal

    Milestone

    The new central terminal and Concourse A west gates open to passengers.

  12. Groundbreaking for The New SLC redevelopment

    Milestone

    The airport breaks ground on a four-phase redevelopment to replace the 1960s terminal.

Scenarios

1

SLC breaks ground on Concourse C

Unlikely Resolves by End of 2029

Discussed by: Salt Lake City Department of Airports officials, including Bill Wyatt

Airport officials say they monitor traffic metrics that would trigger a third concourse to handle growth beyond the new airport's capacity. Wyatt has said a Concourse C would be complicated to build because a large hangar and major underground utilities currently sit where it would go, and both would need relocating first. He said not to expect a new building anytime soon.

2

SLC annual passenger count tops 35 million

Possible Resolves by Jan 31, 2028

Discussed by: Airport planners who sized the new terminal for future growth

The airport served roughly 26 million passengers a year before the rebuild and was designed to handle 35 million. Traffic grew steadily through the phased openings, and the wider terminal, more gates and expanded baggage handling remove the capacity ceiling the old facility imposed. If growth continues, annual enplanement figures will cross the 35 million mark within a few years.

3

Delta launches new intercontinental routes from SLC

Possible Resolves by End of 2028

Discussed by: Airport and airline officials who prioritized widebody-capable international gates

The new terminal includes international-capable gates that can handle widebody aircraft, and the redevelopment kept these gates operational throughout construction. Delta Air Lines operates its western hub from Salt Lake City, and the added long-haul gate capacity removes a constraint on new international service. A new nonstop intercontinental route announcement would signal the hub is expanding beyond its historic domestic focus.

Historical Context

2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

February 1995

Denver International Airport (1995)

Denver's new airport, the last major US hub built before SLC, opened February 28, 1995. It arrived 16 months behind schedule after the automated baggage system failed, and costs ran about $2 billion over estimate. The opening-day struggles made it a cautionary tale for airport megaprojects.

Then

Denver took years to win back passenger confidence, and the baggage system was eventually replaced with a conventional one.

Now

DIA became a template for how not to open a hub airport, and shaped the phased, keep-the-old-terminal-running approach SLC adopted.

Why this matters now

SLC's strategy of building the new airport around the operating one is the direct opposite of DIA's single-day relocation. The redevelopment kept gates, fuel lines and taxiways live for a decade rather than accepting one massive disruption.

1960s-2023

Original Salt Lake City terminal (1960s)

Salt Lake City's previous airport terminal was built in the 1960s, intended for roughly half the travelers it eventually served. By the 2020s it handled more than 26 million passengers a year from a facility designed for a much smaller traffic base, and in 2023 demolition began as part of the redevelopment.

Then

The new terminal absorbed traffic through phased openings between 2020 and 2026, avoiding a capacity cliff.

Now

The 94-gate complex and seismic-resistant design replace a structure built on a former lakebed with no room to expand.

Why this matters now

The new airport's capacity target of 35 million passengers a year is a direct answer to the old terminal's squeeze, where a facility built for half its traffic had run out of room.

Sources

(14)
+8
Engineering News-Record Salt Lake City International Airport KSL.com Aviation Week Deseret News KUTV TownLift Salt Lake City International Airport Engineering News-Record Salt Lake City International Airport KSL.com Salt Lake City International Airport Salt Lake City International Airport KSL.com