From groundbreaking in 2017, to the opening of the first new gates, the expansion of the North Satellite at Sea-Tac airport is about halfway along.
Called NorthSTAR, the expansion will add another eight gates to a terminal dedicated to Alaska Airlines when fully finished in 2021. It will allow Alaska handle 70 percent of its flights out of just one terminal. Right now, it occupies much of three concourses.
The airport and its largest airline tenant have been grappling with growth for most of the decade. Since 2012, passenger growth at Sea-Tac has expanded by 40 percent. The single biggest year was 2015 when growth hit its one year peak of nearly 13 percent. It all made Sea-Tac the fastest growing major airport in the country year after year, putting the Northwest’s Largest airport into the top ten nationally at number nine.
Passenger growth has slowed down significantly, to eight percent in 2016, then to 2.6 percent in 2017. Still, 2.5 percent was the port’s baseline expectations for its 20-year plan before things really began to ramp up at 7.7 percent in 2014.
The expansion of the North Satellite focuses on new construction now. Once that's complete, the airport will upgrade the older existing north terminal opened in 1973, along with seismic upgrades.
NorthSTAR will include more restaurants and retail. It also features more light, a soaring roofline and a new 15,000-square-foot lounge for Alaska’s top travelers. The expansion promises to create the best views at the airport of Mt. Rainier, the Olympic Mountains, and the surrounding area.
The price tag includes $658 million from the Port of Seattle, plus another $41 million directly from Alaska. The money comes from airport leases, concessions, and other airport revenue, but not property taxes.
The port says the project is on schedule and on budget.
But expansion at Sea-Tac doesn’t end with NorthSTAR. Another $3 billion worth of projects are in the works, including a new baggage system. The airport is also building a new International Arrivals Facility, which includes a bridge from the South Satellite where international flights will arrive and connect them to the new arrivals hall on the east side of Concourse A.
The IAF, as it’s known has become controversial because of escalating cost projections, blamed on the rising cost of building materials and the expanding scope of the project, says airport Spokesman Perry Cooper. A final cost estimate is expected around the end of April.
