N649DL wrote:

Fargo wrote:

Pi7472000 wrote:

I would be surpriaed to see SLC grow like DEN. I was just there and it was a small city. Yes, it is growing and isolated, but compared to Denver it felt small. SLC seems to have great service for a city of its size. Maybe a few more frequencies would be nice, especially to the East.

The SLC CSA is over 2.6 million and growing, not huge, but not small potatoes either.

To clarify, I am not saying DL at SLC matches UA at DEN, as UA is over 500 flights and growing. However, I don't see why getting it to around 400 with more regional destination adds isn't feasible.

IDK, to me that's quite small for the amount of service DL serves from the hub. I used to live in DEN and I thought that was small as it's the #19 largest metro in the US and SLC is #47.

It's worth pointing out that the SLC metro area's boundaries exclude a lot of the actual population in the area. There are about 4 or 5 different MSAs within an hour's drive of the airport, so to really get a sense of the population size of Salt Lake you need to look at the CSAs. Salt Lake's CSA is actually the 23rd largest in the country, at 2.6m, and Denver's is 15th, at 3.6m, so the difference in size isn't as big as it seems when looking only at the MSAs.

Besides, as has been said before, airport traffic does not depend entirely on population size. There are plenty of even larger airports serving even smaller population centers around the world than SLC.

toltommy wrote:

oosnowrat wrote:

I think the hub will certainly grow. The airport advisory board has already said the redevelopment will meet the airport's needs for only five years after completion.

According to the link provided that five year timeline was with the North concourse not being fully built out as part of the initial build. SLC decided last year to fully build out that second concourse, giving 15 additional gates. It also appears the third concourse can be built, it's the fourth that would need the infrastructure moves. The link was very helpful.

I forget, is there a train in the tunnel between concourses?

I saw an article recently that said there is space built into the central tunnel for a train, but currently there are no plans for a train.

oosnowrat wrote:

toltommy wrote:

oosnowrat wrote:

I think the hub will certainly grow. The airport advisory board has already said the redevelopment will meet the airport's needs for only five years after completion.

According to the link provided that five year timeline was with the North concourse not being fully built out as part of the initial build. SLC decided last year to fully build out that second concourse, giving 15 additional gates. It also appears the third concourse can be built, it's the fourth that would need the infrastructure moves. The link was very helpful.

I forget, is there a train in the tunnel between concourses?

I saw an article recently that said there is space built into the central tunnel for a train, but currently there are no plans for a train.

Probably wouldn't be needed until a third concourse came about.

Do you have a link to that article?

Fargo wrote:

oosnowrat wrote:

toltommy wrote:

According to the link provided that five year timeline was with the North concourse not being fully built out as part of the initial build. SLC decided last year to fully build out that second concourse, giving 15 additional gates. It also appears the third concourse can be built, it's the fourth that would need the infrastructure moves. The link was very helpful.

I forget, is there a train in the tunnel between concourses?

I saw an article recently that said there is space built into the central tunnel for a train, but currently there are no plans for a train.

Probably wouldn't be needed until a third concourse came about.

Do you have a link to that article?

I do!

https://www.enr.com/articles/45030-slc- ... n-schedule

I would love to see the redesign prompt some other players to begin or return to service in SLC. Delta covers an impressive number of routes already, but I personally found their prices were never competitive for the routes I would fly at the time.

I used to fly Air Canada to YYZ fairly often, as it had the perfect time slot for Fridays after work, and it also happened to be the cheapest. With AC having ceased service so recently (2018), I would expect something big would need to change to bring them back. I'm hoping the redesigned terminals and the introduction of the A220 into their fleet will combine to make it worth consideration.

They (AC, DL, whomever) could add service to YEG, which is one of the few routes I do not see with coverage. YVR, YYC, and the aforementioned YYZ are all covered presently by DL and WS, but I would love to see AC make a push for any one of these. Might take 10 years, but I'm holding onto this dream!

Aside from these, some Caribbean destinations would be an interesting option.

Fargo wrote:

Once the new terminal opens at SLC, could we see DL expand SLC closer to 400 flights and add more destinations? There are still some regional destinations in the west that UA serves out of DEN that DL at SLC does not cover, and the frequencies on some of the routes are not as great as UA at DEN.

For example, I am looking to fly BNA-FLG this fall and DL is not even an option. And even if it were, DL sometimes only offers 1-2 frequencies on BNA-SLC while BNA-DEN on UA usually has at least 3, thus providing more connecting opportunities.

DL has a great asset at SLC, you'd think it would be bigger. Maybe it will be eventually?

Possibly. From a geographic standpoint they are in a better location than Denver, the local traffic just isn’t as strong. Denver is somewhat a one sided hub for regional service. Decent sized markets to the west, whole lot of tiny markets to the east. SLC is better situated between the west coast and Denver itself, with the somewhat larger Rocky Mountain markets to the north and ski resorts to the east. Increasing SLC service lets them cross the central states from both sides between MSP and SLC. SLC would make a very nice international jump point for DL with the airfield performance benefits of the A350/A330neo. Once the rebuild is done, it will be one heck of an efficient facility.

ADM94 wrote:

N649DL wrote:

Fargo wrote:

The SLC CSA is over 2.6 million and growing, not huge, but not small potatoes either.

To clarify, I am not saying DL at SLC matches UA at DEN, as UA is over 500 flights and growing. However, I don't see why getting it to around 400 with more regional destination adds isn't feasible.

IDK, to me that's quite small for the amount of service DL serves from the hub. I used to live in DEN and I thought that was small as it's the #19 largest metro in the US and SLC is #47.

It's worth pointing out that the SLC metro area's boundaries exclude a lot of the actual population in the area. There are about 4 or 5 different MSAs within an hour's drive of the airport, so to really get a sense of the population size of Salt Lake you need to look at the CSAs. Salt Lake's CSA is actually the 23rd largest in the country, at 2.6m, and Denver's is 15th, at 3.6m, so the difference in size isn't as big as it seems when looking only at the MSAs.

Besides, as has been said before, airport traffic does not depend entirely on population size. There are plenty of even larger airports serving even smaller population centers around the world than SLC.

Yeah that's definitely true. I was surprised to see SLC down so low at #47. Although DL has an insane hub captive audience at SLC in the 70-80% range whereas UAL only has 40-50% in DEN.

Recall for years there were rumors that UA's DEN hub was in jeopardy in favor of keeping IAH over it because they supposedly "Didn't Need It." DEN survived (likely because of tax breaks) but for years DEN and EWR were back and fourth in terms of number of daily flights. Now DEN has a significant lead over EWR, which is really impressive. It's getting to the point where DEN could be closer in size of daily flights to even IAH and ORD in the next few years.