Salt Lake City
A large network of airports means you can probably land minutes from your final destination
By Mark Huber - August 1, 2008
Salt Lake City, well known for its founding by Mormon pioneers in 1847 and as the home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, gained the nickname “Crossroads of the West” after the “Golden Spike” symbolically completed the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, just north of the Great Salt Lake. Today, Salt Lake City proper has a population of about 180,000, but the entire urban area–on the large, flat plain that was once the lakebed of the 20,000 square-mile Lake Bonneville–is one of the fastest-growing major metropolises in the U.S.
Boasting more than two million souls in the 80 miles between Ogden in the north and Provo in the south, the Wasatch Front area has one of the youngest populations, enjoys a diverse economy and is only minutes from some of the country’s finest outdoor recreation–and not just snow skiing. The region hosted the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, after all. Salt Lake City is a banking and high-tech hub–Unisys, Siebel, 3M and L-3 have huge campuses there. Aviation-related companies also are putting down roots. Williams International has a large jet engine plant in Ogden and Spectrum Aeronautical will build its business jets to the south in Spanish Fork.
Salt Lake’s diverse, albeit compact, topography has spawned a bountiful network of corporate-class airports that mostly are located along a 90-mile stretch of Interstate Highway 15, the basin’s main north-south ground artery. With the steep-sloped Wasatch Front as a barrier to the east, the Great Salt Lake and the Oquirrh Mountains (rich with copper and other minerals) inhibit growth to the west. Within this relatively narrow, 110-square-mile band, elevations range from 4,200 to more than 11,000 feet. Routing air traffic into, out of and through the area presents a myriad of challenges that sometimes mean instrument approaches aren’t available at certain airports.
Nevertheless, as Salt Lake grows, so does ground traffic on I-15 (and the east-west artery, I-80), and this has gone a long way toward making suburban airports more popular with business travelers.
Here’s a look at your options for arriving in Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City International
Fourteen airlines fly from Salt Lake City International, but Delta is the 800-pound gorilla with 628 daily scheduled flights (out of 800 total for the airport) between it and its commuter carriers. Overall, the airport processed 21.5 million passengers in 2006 and is the nation’s 22nd busiest, with 421,416 takeoffs and landings in 2006. The airlines accounted for about 75 percent of that amount. The airport is within 60 miles of 11 world-class ski resorts and adjacent to the Wingpointe Golf Course. It is also just a seven-minute drive into the heart of downtown Salt Lake City and there are ample hotels right next to the airport.
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