Analysis: Airport rebuild delivers $2 impact for every dollar spent

Passengers take advantage of one of the waiting areas at the rebuilt Salt Lake City International
Airport. A new study spotlights the huge economic impact on the community delivered by
the reconstruction project. Photo by Bruce Damonte/HOK Design.

The redevelopment of Salt Lake City International Airport indicates the project is resulting in an economic benefit nearly twice the amount of the project budget.

The economic impact analysis from GSBS Consulting that was commissioned by the Salt Lake City Department of Airports shows an economic benefit of nearly $9.8 billion on a budget of $5.1 billion. Put another way, for every dollar spent, the economic benefit is $1.99.

“We’ve always known that building a state-of-the-art airport will have far-reaching benefits for our community, including more capacity and more flights to more destinations,” said Bill Wyatt, the department’s executive director. “This report shows the significant impact construction costs are contributing to our local economy along with the broad range of industries — from architectural and engineering-related services to concrete pipe manufacturing — that are benefiting.”

According to the analysis, the $9.8 billion in benefits are broken into three categories: more than $1.4 billion in payroll, a $2.6 billion contribution to GDP and $4.9 billion in output over the life of the project.

Among the direct benefits of the redevelopment are 2,370 jobs paying a total of $166 million annually and contributing $183.4 million annually to the GDP.

Among indirect benefits are 657 full-time jobs paying more than $42 million and adding more than $140 million in indirect output.

Available at www.slcairport.com/thenewslc, the report indicates that more than 1,000 jobs are supported in industries where direct and indirect workers buy goods and services locally, for a total annual induced output of $186.1 million. Both indirect and induced benefits are $186.1 million in total annual induced output.

Earlier studies by GSBS showed that in 2012-13, the terminal redevelopment program had a total economic impact of $3.02 billion and generated 1,993 jobs, based on total project spending at the time of $1.6 billion. In a 2017-18 study, the redevelopment had $3.6 billion in spending but resulted in a $5.5 billion total economic impact and 3,319 jobs.

Ground was broken on the redevelopment project in the summer of 2014. Phase 1 of the project opened in the fall of 2020, while Phase 2 opened in the fall of 2023. Phase 3 is scheduled to open this fall and Phase 4 by 2026, with a total of 94 aircraft gates. The work is being funded by user fees, primarily by airlines serving Salt Lake City, as well as savings, car rental fees, passenger facility charges and airport revenue bonds. No local tax dollars are being spent on the project.

Salt Lake International is the No. 21 busiest airport in the United States and the No. 70 busiest in the world. More than 300 flights depart daily to 90 nonstop destinations. The airport set a record in 2023 with 26,952,754 passengers, topping the total of 26,808,014 passengers in 2019. The 2023 total was boosted by a record number of international passengers: 1,323,294.

The airport was designed 50 years ago to serve 10 million passengers annually. The redeveloped airport is designed to accommodate 34 million passengers at full build-out.