SEA-TAC AIPORT, Wash -- Forecasts for passenger traffic through Sea-Tac International Airport are already coming up short. The betting was that 37 million people would get on and off of planes in 2014. That number, now closer to 13.5 million, is a 4.5% increase over last year's record. The expectation now is for 66 million in 2034.
Sea-Tac Managing Director Mark Reis says the Port of Seattle is not talking about a fourth runway. He says the three current runways are enough to handle growing numbers of planes. What this is about is gates and the ability to handle more passengers on more flights. For an airport hemmed in on the eastern terminal side by hotels, office buildings, neighborhoods and even a cemetery, the focus is on expanding inward, not outward. And there is room.
What are some of those ideas? One is adding nearly 35 more gates by dramatically lengthening the north satellite. Another idea is to the north set up a second terminal with a bridge over the airport freeway to three new concourses. On the south end, the A concourse could be doubled in length, or another south satellite added. Bumping out the front of the main terminal is also a consideration.
Reis says the space required will go from the current air traffic control tower to 188th Avenue to the south. Maintenance hangers would have to be moved, roads and traffic patterns altered.
"It's not going to be cheap," Reis added.
The Port of Seattle commission will soon be officially presented with the options. By this fall, Reis says he expects a plan to start coming together, then environmental reviews commence along with reviews by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Does the Puget Sound area need a second or relief airport? Reis says he doesn't think so, at least for 20 years. After that, the airport that's served Seattle and Tacoma since 1947 really starts running out of room.
