The plunge in commercial flying caused by Covid-19 is
enabling some U.S. airports to speed up renovation and development projects,
while for others, the dwindling revenue and altered demand forecasts are
causing reconsideration of projects that aren’t already under construction.
“We are certainly getting the inkling that those future
projects where groundbreaking hasn’t taken shape are going to slow down,” said
Chris Oswald, senior vice president of technical and regulatory affairs for the
trade group Airports Council International-North America. “A model to look at
is, has ground been broken, and is there significant structure that is arising?”
One airport poised to take particularly strong advantage of
the situation is Salt Lake City. The facility is in the midst of a $4.1 billion
project in which its three 1960s-era terminals will be replaced by a single
terminal. That terminal is slated to open Sept. 15, unaffected by the Covid-19
crisis, along with approximately half of the project’s 79 gates.
The remainder of the gates had been scheduled to open in
mid-2027, said airport director Bill Wyatt. But that was when traffic numbers
were expected to make it necessary to continue using gates in the existing
concourses B and C during construction.
“To do that meant a very elaborate process,” Wyatt said. “You
take a gate down. You add a gate.”
Instead, Salt Lake City can now tear down those 26 gates in
concourses B and C before building the new ones, accelerating the construction
process while also allowing for the demolition of those two concourses to be
done in conjunction with, rather than separate from, the demolition of the
three old airport terminals and its old parking garage.
Reshaping the project will save the airport an estimated
$300 million and move the estimated opening up to December 2024, Wyatt said.
The current lack of airport traffic is also causing Delta to
look into ramping up its $4 billion rebuild and consolidation of New York
LaGuardia terminals C and D, slated for completion in 2026.
The airline is examining financing vehicles that would
facilitate faster construction, CFO Paul Jacobson said during a recent
presentation, even as it slashes other capital expenditures.
Jacobson added that Delta is undertaking a similar review
for its $1.9 billion renovation of terminals 2 and 3 at LAX.
Conversely, the Covid-19 crisis could spell the death of
planned commuter train projects for LaGuardia and Newark Liberty Airport. In a
May 13 letter to members of the local congressional delegation, the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the metroplex airports,
said that if it doesn’t receive $3 billion in federal aid, drastic cuts to
infrastructure projects across the region are likely. In a separate statement,
the Port Authority said that the two AirTrain projects are among those on the
chopping block.
Other large airport operators are reconsidering projects
that aren’t yet under construction. For example, Miami Airport has paused
planning, design or procurement for 28 capital projects until the end of its
fiscal year on Sept. 30 due to budget and traffic-growth uncertainty. The
biggest of those is the new Concourse F project, budgeted for $470 million,
airport documents show.
Meanwhile, at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), the timeline is now
uncertain for a planned $3.5 billion project that is to include a sixth
terminal, called Terminal F, as well as upgrades to Terminal C.
“I am very confident that we are going to build the sixth
terminal,” said airport CEO Sean Donohue. “These terminals are 50-year
decisions. There is going to be a recovery. The future for DFW looks strong.
But we are in a period of incredible uncertainty, and it is just not prudent to
plow ahead with the design of Terminal F right now.”
DFW is planning the project in coordination with its hub
airline, American, Donohue said. The length of the delay beyond the planned
2026 completion timeline will be determined by how quickly American resumes its
previously slated DFW buildup. Donohue doesn’t expect a new schedule until next
year.
But like at other airports, the Covid-19 story for DFW’s
construction program isn’t all bleak. The airport is using the traffic plunge to
expedite reconstruction of one of its seven runways. Construction began six
months ahead of the original schedule and will be completed in about eight
months rather than the anticipated 10, saving millions, Donohue said.
DFW has also just reached agreement with American on a $200
million-plus, two-year teardown and replacement of four gates in Terminal C.
Construction will be eased because that gate capacity isn’t needed for now.
“These decisions we’ve made to keep projects moving, we’re
going to create 4,000 construction jobs by the end of this year with these
projects, and that’s important,” Donohue said.