Quote:
Originally Posted by SLC Projects
With all these added flights I wonder if they will need to add on to their airport anytime soon? More gates?
|
They won't need to add any gates. There are currently two gates. One has a jet bridge and the other is just a hard stand that uses a ramp to the plane when the jet bridge has a plane at its gate. On average a single gate at a U.S. Airport does about five to six flights a day. So the current two they have now will be perfect for the airport. With the current two gates they have, SGU could easily do 10-13 daily flights. The turn around times for the flights now are only about 30-45 minutes, so even now the planes are not on the ground long at all. And again, they are only at six daily flights during their peak of the season. During the slower months of the year, SGU only has about four or five flights a day, depending on the day of the week.
When it comes to expanding the passenger terminal, SGU was built so that expansion would be an easy add on, so to speak. There is plenty additional room to add one and maybe even two more airlines at the check-in counters, which are already built but not used. Right now only Delta and United have counters. They can also add a lot more seating in the passenger waiting area if needed. The planes that Delta and United fly in are only 50 seaters (CRJ-200). If they were to bring in either 65 or 76 seat airplanes (CRJ-600/700 or the Q400 in United's case) then they would probably add more seats. Also if one or two more airlines come in such as American/American Eagle or Alaska/Horizon Air then they would add more seats because flight arrivals and departures times would most likely overlap. If any expansion is going to happen then I expect the baggage carousel and claim area to be the area.
If American/American Eagle comes into SGU then I could see them adding a flight to either Los Angles or Phoenix....Dallas/Ft. Worth would be a long shot. If Alaska/Horizon Air adds a flight it would most likely be to Los Angeles on a 76 seat Q400 (turboprop). The problem with SGU is that most airlines are getting rid of their CRJ-200's and that is the only commercial plane that flies into the airport. So if airlines want to come into SGU or add more flights they are going to have to use a plane that seats about 65-76 passengers. I think SkyWest on behalf of Delta and United is going to fly to SGU on their own at risk with the CRJ-200. So those flights will be fine. It's more of an issue now with that particular plane getting taken out of service and if airlines think they can fill and make money on flights with slightly larger planes to SGU.