"Seattle-Tacoma Airport concourse project soars to $577 million"

Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Airport-project price tag soars to $577 million 
By J. Martin McOmber
The Seattle (WA) Times


The price of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's new Concourse A has
skyrocketed $202 million since construction of the terminal began two years
ago, making the airport's first major expansion in three decades more
expensive than Safeco Field. 

Port of Seattle commissioners yesterday agreed to spend $90 million more on
the project, the latest in a series of increases in the past year. The total
is now at $577 million, $60 million more than Safeco Field. The federal
government will pay a chunk of the increase, and airlines and passengers
will pay the rest. 

New federal security requirements account for more than half of the
increase. But other changes have added tens of millions of dollars to the
price tag, including the decision to move American Airlines to the terminal
and changes to the five-story office tower that will house airport
officials. 

The new terminal is part of an ambitious overhaul of Sea-Tac. The Port is
spending $3.5 billion to build a third runway, expand the main terminal,
update its subway system and improve roads, parking, technology and other
areas. 

It comes at a time when the airlines are pressuring the airport to rein in
costs as much as possible until the battered industry rebounds. 

"It has been a constant source of concern on their part, and ours as well,
but all these projects were mutually agreed upon in the mid-1990s," said
Michael Ehl, the Port's general manager for aeronautical business. "The
problem is it is coming on at the absolute worse time in their industry's
history." 

It is not just airlines footing the bill for the construction. Passengers
contribute with a $4.50 per-ticket charge. 

Officials hope that when Concourse A opens next summer, it will help prevent
the long lines that plagued the airport last month, when a crush of
travelers overwhelmed security checkpoints. The new building will be able to
handle 5 million more passengers a year. 
 
It also will dramatically alter the look and feel of the airport, which has
changed little since it was expanded in the late 1960s. The new terminal
will feature a glass-walled arrival area with views of Mount Rainier, moving
sidewalks, new restaurants and shops, and 14 gates, double the number of the
old terminal. 

But it is mostly the areas you don't see that have driven the cost skyward. 

Officials said yesterday that the new system that will allow screeners to
automatically check all luggage for explosives added about $117 million to
the project. The Transportation Security Administration is expected to
reimburse the airport for about three-fourths of that cost. 

The airport had to redesign the terminal after construction began to
accommodate the new system's serpentine conveyor belts and to beef up the
building to handle the additional weight of screening and security
equipment, said Dave Soike, director of the airport's capital-improvement
program. 

"The baggage system has affected everything else," he said. "It is like the
nerve center of the building." 

The decision to move American Airlines to the new terminal, instead of using
it for a number of smaller carriers, added about $35 million to the cost. 

The airport asked American to move to allow Sea-Tac's largest customer,
Alaska Airlines, to expand. That meant the Port had to cover the costs of
the move. 

"If they have a certain type of finish in their Admiral's clubs, we have to
match that," Ehl said. "And that's expensive." 

Other increases included $8 million to reconfigure computer rooms and other
technology in the five-story administrative building and $2 million to $4
million to improve the technology backbone needed for electronic check-in,
flight-information displays and other airline systems.

Costs of recent building projects

Sea-Tac Airport terminal: $577 million 
Safeco Field: $517 million 
U.S. Courthouse: $178 million 
Seattle Central Library: $159 million 
South King County Regional Justice Center: $108 million 
Seattle City Hall: $76.6 million

Attached Photo:

The new terminal at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport will have a
glass-walled arrival area with views of Mount Rainier, moving sidewalks, new
restaurants and shops, and 14 gates, double the number of the old terminal.

2001211296.jpg