COVID-19 is the number one travel and tourism conversation in the United States with the epidemic destroying a little bit more every day of this for much vital industry.
The Mormon State Utah has refreshing news coming from its capital city Salt Lake City.
It’s something no other hub airport in the U.S. has pulled off in the current century.
After a span of six years of construction — preceded by about two decades of planning — the Salt Lake City International Airport is about to open its brand-new, $4.1 billion airport on Tuesday, starting with a massive new terminal and its first concourse.
Salt Lake City is a hub for Delta Airlines and is already planning nonstop flights to Asia and Europe from this new airport
By the end of the year, a second concourse will open, and the old airport will begin to be razed to make way for the east side of Concourse A to be built right over the top of it.
For the people of Utah and travelers from across the globe isn’t just a brand-new, shiny building to replace a more inefficient and aging facility. To airport officials here and nationally, it’s so much more.
Salt Lake City’s new airport means the portal from Utah to the rest of the world just got much bigger — and with so much more room to grow. It means the state has solidified its foothold in the global air travel industry — and therefore positioned itself well for future economic growth as a now much more appealing travel touchpoint, destination, and home base for businesses.
To state leaders, that’s a huge step for their ambitions to brand Utah as not just the “Crossroads of the West,” but the “Crossroads of the World.”
In February, Salt Lake City International Airport saw a record high of 30,000 passengers each weekend. But when the pandemic hit home in Utah and the rest of the U.S., that number death spiraled to barely 1,500.
Over the past several months, more travelers have begun trickling back to airplanes. On Aug. 31, nationwide air travel was up to 711,178 passengers, according to the TSA. But that’s still less than a third of the demand U.S. airports were seeing this time last year.
Worse than 9/11. Worse than the Great Recession.
WAT VUN DESEN ARTIKEL WEI HUELEN:
- By the end of the year, a second concourse will open, and the old airport will begin to be razed to make way for the east side of Concourse A to be built right over the top of it.
- It means the state has solidified its foothold in the global air travel industry — and therefore positioned itself well for future economic growth as a now much more appealing travel touchpoint, destination, and home base for businesses.
- To state leaders, that's a huge step for their ambitions to brand Utah as not just the “Crossroads of the West,” but the “Crossroads of the World.
