Lights come on this week in rebuilt Salt Lake International Airport

Travelers using Salt Lake City International Airport will face lots of changes starting the morning of Sept. 15 as the redeveloped section of the airport opens and the lights in sections of the original airport are switched off.

The first phase of the redevelopment opens that morning after six years of construction. The Salt Lake City Department of Airports said last week that the Sept. 15 changes include the closure the night before of terminals 1 and 2, the International Terminal and the parking garage.

In their place, a new parking garage, central terminal and the western end of Concourse A will open. Passengers planning to travel the morning of Sept. 15 will access the airport via a new roadway. An elevated roadway is available for passenger drop-off, while passenger pickup is at ground level. Passengers taking TRAX will take a shuttle from the end of the existing TRAX line to the new airport for approximately eight months while the new TRAX line is build out to the new terminal building.

Passengers who have trips planned when the transition to the new parking garage occurs are encouraged to park in the economy lot rather than in the original garage. Cars that are parked in the original garage the morning of Sept. 15 will be moved to the new garage and a parking attendant will be on-site to assist passengers in locating their vehicles. There will be no access to the original parking garage after midnight Sept. 14. During the remainder of 2020, the charge to park in the garage will be reduced to $20 daily.

Concourse A will be used by Delta Air Lines. The first flight out of that concourse will be Delta Flight 2020 to Atlanta, leaving at 6 a.m. The first flight to arrive is Delta’s Flight 3540 from Idaho Falls Regional Airport. Passengers departing and arriving will be greeted with a water salute and each will be given an airport coin to commemorate opening day.

People needing help navigating the changes can access a map on the airport’s phone app, available to download on Google or Apple. The airport encourages all passengers to allow extra time to find parking and access their gate, especially those flying out of the original airport, since the walk from the new terminal to the original airport will take longer.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, access to the airport is remains limited to ticketed passengers, employees or individuals doing business with the airport. Those picking up passengers should do so curbside or in the parking garage. The “park and wait” lot is also available to drivers waiting to pick up passengers.

More changes at the airport will take place Oct. 27. Concourses C, F and G of the original airport will remain until then. After that, the western end of Concourse B opens. Alaska, American, Frontier, JetBlue, Southwest and United will operate in Concourse B.

The second phase of the $4 billion expansion project will include building the eastern ends of both concourses and demolishing buildings no longer in use.

The project is expected to allow the airport to handle more than 34 million travelers each year, up from the current 26 million.

Details are at www.slcairport.com.