The Herald Business Journal


YOUR COUNTY.	YOUR BUSINESS JOURNAL.

Published November 2001

Plans to expand roll on at Sea-Tac
Officials: Fallout from Sept. 11 attacks won't stop work on main terminal, runway addition

By John Wolcott
Herald Business Journal Editor

Snohomish County business travelers flying out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport will have to endure a few more years of construction disruption, but ultimately they will benefit from as much as $6 billion being spent on expansion and modernization efforts.

That’s the message from Gina Marie Lindsey, Managing Director of Aviation for the region’s largest airport.

Sea-Tac International economic profile

One of the region’s high-impact economic engines, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has generated impressive statistics that are expected to continue their dramatic growth over the next 10 to 15 years.

Opened in 1944, Sea-Tac’s annual passenger count first passed 1 million people in 1954. The airport began a $44 million expansion in 1968 that was designed to serve 25 million passengers by 2000. Last year, the airport served 28.4 million travelers, marking its 18th consecutive record year of increased passenger volume.
Now the 17th busiest passenger airport in the nation, Sea-Tac’s $6 billion expansion is expected to serve 60 million people annually by 2010 to 2015.
The 20th busiest cargo airport in the United States, Sea-Tac’s air freight shipments were up 2.6 percent last year over 1999, reaching 456,920 metric tons.
Airport revenues reached $6.89 billion in 1999, compared to $2.93 billion in 1993.
The airport employs 14,500 at the airport, generates 6,000 airport-related jobs outside of the airfield and supports 78,000 jobs in tourism that are tied indirectly to the facility.
Sea-Tac handles millions of travelers each year with far less space than other major U.S. air transportation centers, operating on 2,500 acres compared to 3,500 acres for Los Angeles International, 7,000 acres at Chicago’s O’Hare International, 10,200 acres at Washington’s Dulles airport, 17,500 acres at Dallas-Fort Worth and 33,900 acres at the new Denver International airport.

— John Wolcott

“Companies in Snohomish County, including Boeing, Fluke, Verizon and Goodrich Aerospace, depend on Sea-Tac for moving people and cargo. Regional tourism depends on the airport, too. And the airport is a major contributor to our local economy,” she told a gathering of the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce earlier this year.

“It’s an exciting time to be at Sea-Tac, an unprecedented opportunity to remake a transportation icon that is essential to the Northwest economy,” she said.

Although the airline industry and airports nationally have been severely impacted by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, construction is moving ahead on major segments of Sea-Tac’s expansion plan. Other elements are being delayed but not because of the terrorists.

“It would cost us more to stop work on several major projects and restart them later, including renovating the main terminal, rebuilding Concourse A (on the site of the former Northwest Airlines hangar at the south end of the airport), replacing the airport’s aging subway train system and the third runway addition,” airport spokesman Bob Parker said.

“But we did a peer review of the project even before Sept. 11. Experts from other airports with experience in large capital projects suggested we might be able to wring some more capacity out of the existing facility, thus we wouldn’t need (an additional North Satellite terminal) as soon as planned,” Parker said.

Airport spokeswoman Rachel Garson said in mid-October that a second terminal at the north end of the airport has been taken off the drawing board for now, along with plans for a parking garage and bus terminal east of the airport and a restroom renovation project.

Following the attacks, the airport has been operating at about 85 percent of normal capacity, forcing a cut in revenue projections for this year from $210 million to $170 million, she said.

“Although flights are down only 15 percent now, we won’t know until maybe early November how many people are actually flying in those planes,” Parker said. “The general consensus in the airline industry is that air traffic may not be down as much as we feared.”

The Air Transport Association’s chief economist, David Swierenga, said passengers are flying again “at a faster pace than we had anticipated.”

Nationwide, the ATA had predicted passenger loads still would be running 40 percent below normal levels for October, but traffic appears to be off only about 25 percent, he said.

It’s too early for anyone to have a clear idea of future airport needs and construction timetables. But for now, air travelers passing through Sea-Tac will still see major changes occurring during the next few years.

So far, new food-service facilities have been finished in the South Satellite terminal, and new vendors are operating, all part of a $375 million expansion. Shuttles, limousines and taxis have moved from commercial vehicle holding areas at the north and south ends of the main terminal to a new Ground Transportation Center on the third floor of the airport’s parking garage, which hotel shuttle vans have used for many years.

Full-size buses, including tour buses and public transit vehicles, will continue to operate at the airport’s baggage claim drive-through area. Valet parking services are now on the fourth floor of the garage.

New restrooms and heated waiting areas recently were finished in the garage, amenities not previously available there. With 13,000 parking stalls following a recent expansion, Sea-Tac’s circular towers qualify as North America’s largest single-structure parking facility.

For more information about Sea-Tac, airlines operating from the airfield, construction progress or security issues, visit the Port of Seattle's Web site, www.portseattle.org.

One of the airport’s most important projects, the $773 million third runway, is also moving ahead, with some of the financing coming from the Port of Seattle’s Oct. 3 sale of $508 million in revenue bonds.

“The (8,500-foot-long) runway isn’t about bringing more aircraft to Sea-Tac. It’s about meeting current demand and solving our current delay problem,” Lindsey said. “Passengers have the right to arrive at the time that appears in published airline schedules ... (for) business meetings, flight connections and ... important family events.”

In the Central Terminal, the former heart of the airport, the Carvery Restaurant is closed, replaced by The Construction Zone lounge and eatery north of the Concourse B security checkpoint, and Fresh Express has moved to a new spot south of the checkpoint. Also, Starbucks and the Gift & News shop have moved east of the area previously occupied by the Maki sculpture.

The new $92 million Central Terminal is due to open in 2004, with 14 boarding gates instead of the previous seven. The remodeling also will open up the terminal visually, providing panoramic views of the airfield, Mount Rainier and airline traffic. A 210-foot-long, 60-foot-high curved glass wall will face the runway.

A new Pacific Marketplace in the expanded Central Terminal will feature restaurants, a food court and triple the number of retail shops available in the old terminal area.

“I get asked about how we’re planning for space for larger models of the Airbus or Boeing’s big Sonic Cruiser. You never know if they’re going to materialize, but we have to plan for them, so we’re spacing the boarding gates to accommodate the largest planes we know are planned today,” Lindsey said.

In the North Satellite, a new Laptop Lane opened in July, replacing the one in the main terminal after construction work forced its move. Like its predecessor, the new facility offers computers, photocopiers, fax machines, telephones and other needs for business and other travelers.

Two new airline boarding gates have been added, one on Concourse C for American Airlines and another on Concourse D for Alaska Airlines. Plus, a new security checkpoint opened this summer behind the United Airlines ticket counter for access to the D and N concourses.

New glass doors and walls have been installed in the South Satellite and North Satellite transit stations, offering views of the tunnel interior. It’s all part of the multiyear program for eventually replacing the train system with an above-ground “people mover” transportation link to the satellite terminals.

“Sea-Tac’s (subway) train has run millions of miles since it opened in 1972. It’s one of the oldest in the country, so old that we often can’t get replacement parts for maintenance,” Lindsey said.

Until the airport transformation and expansion is completed, employees and volunteers will be stationed throughout the terminals to help direct travelers through the unfamiliar territory, helped by large signs and other visual guides.

“The general construction chaos isn’t the greatest environment that we’d all like to have,” Lindsey said, “but we have to put up with that to get the additional capacity we need. We’re trying not to have Sea-Tac look like a generic airport; we want it to definitely have a Northwest feel to it, so you know you’re in Seattle when you step off the plane.”

One of the most startling visual changes for Sea-Tac visitors is the 269-foot-tall FAA-funded control tower that rises above the northern vehicle entrance to the airport. Scaffolding still hangs on the outside of the tower, which will be completed and outfitted with FAA equipment by 2004.

When the $19.6 million tower opens, it will provide improved viewing of the airfield by air traffic controllers, replacing the present tower that was built more than 50 years ago and remodeled in the early 1970s.

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