"Sacramento airport on brink of major growth"

Sunday, August 24, 2003

Airport on brink of major growth
By Tony Bizjak
The Sacramento (CA) Bee


For decades, modest Sacramento International Airport has been an "easy-in,
easy-out," low-stress jetway out of town, quite unlike its bustling Bay Area
counterparts.

But a change is in the air.

Just five years after the airport doubled its capacity by opening Terminal
A, officials say the capital city's airport again is bursting at the seams.

To keep pace, county officials are planning the biggest remodeling and
expansion in the airport's 36-year history, starting with demolishing
antiquated Terminal B as early as 2006 to make room for a larger terminal
fronted by double-deck roadways and attached to a new parking garage and a
new hotel.

They also say they intend to lengthen a runway to handle nonstop flights to
the East Coast and Europe, and they're laying the groundwork to build a
third runway.

The overhaul, they say, is aimed at keeping up with tremendous growth in the
Sacramento region, creating a more efficient security system, and making
Sacramento more competitive with Bay Area airports for travelers from
Northern California in the coming decades.

"We want to be a world-class facility and this is our bite of the apple,
this is our chance to do it right," said G. Hardy Acree, director of the
county airport system. "We are competing for a lot of people who have a
choice of which airport to use."

Acree and other officials have toured other airports in recent weeks, taking
notes on the bustling shopping mall in the Portland, Ore., airport; the new
light-rail system at San Francisco International; and the upscale hotel and
elaborate artwork at Vancouver, British Columbia's teeming Pacific Rim air
hub.

The push for Sacramento International's expansion, ironically, comes just
two years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, sent much of the
American aviation industry into an economic tailspin, slowing expansion
plans at numerous airports, including San Francisco.

Sacramento, however, is one of the few airports where passenger numbers
bounced back quickly after the terror attacks and have continued to grow.

Together, Terminals A and B are designed to adequately serve 7.2 million
passengers a year. Last year, officials said, their passenger totals hit 8.5
million. The numbers are projected to reach 17 million by 2020.

"Come here any day at 6 a.m., you realize there is a problem before you get
out of your car when you see a line of people on the sidewalk," Assistant
Airport Director Rob Leonard said. "Go inside, you see another line. Go to
security, you're in another line. Our service is falling below acceptable
levels."

The question airport officials face, however, is whether the time is right
to launch major plans, given the aviation industry's uncertain future in one
of the biggest periods of change in its history, post-Sept. 11.

Stephen Van Beek of Airports Council International -- North America, in
Washington, D.C., agrees there is some risk for any airport in expanding now
but argues there is greater risk for Sacramento in not expanding.

"We are still in the midst of change since 9/11 and nobody knows what is on
the end of that," Van Beek said. "But Sacramento is about as stable as (an
airport) can be. And there is the risk that if you don't build, you will
have congestion and delays, and you risk not providing the service your
community needs."

Leonard estimated that a new terminal, a double-deck roadway at that
terminal, and a garage would cost $400 million or more. Costs have not yet
been estimated for other possible airport improvements, such as a runway
extension, a new runway and a new hotel.

The projects would be financed by airport department bonds, backed by
revenues from the $4.50-per-ticket facilities fee that passengers pay, as
well as airline, concession and parking revenues, and federal airport
grants, Leonard said.

The airport is run by a county department, but its budget is separate from
the ailing county general fund. That airport budget was in the black in
2002, according to an independent audit conducted by Macias, Gini & Co.

Leonard said airport officials feel they are operating "on borrowed time"
and need to move quickly. But they are first putting together a 20-year
master plan to guide airport growth, a process that will include community
meetings and public hearings this fall.

The master plan likely will call for a second airport entrance -- probably
from Elkhorn Boulevard -- because of congestion and the possibility of
temporary closures on Interstate 5.

It also means planning for a possible light-rail train line from downtown,
potentially coupled with a people-mover system.

One part of the plan has raised concerns for county Supervisor Illa Collin
and environmentalists. They want the new runway to be east of the airport,
not to the north or west, as is being considered.

They say a location on the east would be easiest to use and would have the
fewest environmental impacts.

Airport officials counter that the county cannot renege on longtime
commitments to developers for a commercial project on the east side.

Acree, Leonard, Collin, County Executive Terry Schutten and other local
officials plan continued airport tours to Chicago, Baltimore and Tampa,
Fla., in the coming weeks as part of their planning process.

They say they already know one thing they need to do soon: Build a
replacement for Terminal B, which Acree calls obsolete.

Once a favorite among travelers, Terminal B now offers a poor first
impression of Sacramento, local business recruiter Barbara Hayes said. When
she greets out-of-town company executives there, she engages them quickly in
conversation, hoping they won't notice the surroundings.

"The airport is the gateway," she said. "It should be inviting."

That starts with more efficient check-in, airport officials say, where
passengers increasingly will use touch-screen terminals to get their
boarding passes to avoid check-in counter lines.

Officials also are exploring behind-the-scene systems that will get
checked-in luggage to jets more quickly.

Five-year-old Terminal A will need retrofitting and a probable expansion as
a result of the Sept. 11 attacks and subsequent federal security measures,
airport officials say.

Currently, the terminal doesn't have sufficient space to hold huge new
"explosive detection" devices, so they clutter the lobby as passengers stand
in lines that sometimes snake back to the baggage area, blocking people
there.

Before the Sept. 11 attacks, Sacramento officials say, up to 400 passengers
an hour could be processed through security. Now, that figure is 160.

Federal security rules may change further, said David Lind, president of
Corgan Associates, a Texas design firm. As a result, he told Sacramento
officials recently, "You have to be flexible and put more area in your
buildings than you'd ever think you'll need."

Vancouver officials told the visiting Sacramento contingent to be creative.
They went to Disneyland -- "the experts!" a Vancouver official said -- to
pick up tricks about line management.

In Vancouver, electronic signs pose quiz questions and offer tidbits of
airport trivia to keep passengers occupied. Other signs extol the cafes and
stores waiting beyond the security checkpoint.

Another problem post-9/11 at Sacramento's Terminal A: With the security area
now a Berlin Wall, only ticketed passengers can use the terminal's
restaurants and stores, because they were built on the other side of the
metal detectors.

Airport officials say they need more shops and restaurants on the "land
side" of security, to help pay for airport expansion.

"One of the trends in airport management is get as much non-aeronautical
revenues -- that means concessions and parking -- to keep the cost to air
carriers lower," Van Beek said. "Southwest, a low-cost carrier, wants a
low-cost airport."

Increased security has people coming to airports earlier since Sept. 11.
That has had a dramatic effect on amenity revenues, pushing food and retail
sales up as much as 30 percent at some airports, consultants say.

"It's the malling of airports," said Mary Maxwell, whose Portland airport is
at the head of the trend. Its central corridor is designed to look like an
old-fashioned Portland street, with Oregon-based shops and restaurants and a
clock tower in the middle. "We even have people drive here just to go to
some of our stores."

Similarly, San Francisco's new international terminal is stocked with local
Asian restaurants, giving it a unique local feel rather than what one
official there calls the "Every Airport, U.S.A." look.

That has Sacramento officials looking past their own restaurant chain
offerings, such as Cinnabon and Starbucks, and talking about making room for
a local restaurateur such as Randy Paragary.

Sacramento officials also say it's time for a full-service hotel at the
airport.

Though it is just feet from bustling terminal ticket counters, the stately
lobby of Vancouver's impressive Fairmont Hotel feels miles away.

"We can do this," Acree said, as he and Schutten looked over the hotel's
stylish bar and restaurant.

The task, Acree said, will be to make sure that the pieces continue to fit
as the airport expands in coming decades.

Attached Chart/Photo's:

Sacramento Int'l Airport, by the numbers.

Sacramento County Executive Terry Schutten, left, and Assistant Airport
Director Rob Leonard visit bustling San Francisco International Airport this
month while shopping for ideas for expanding Sacramento International to
handle the 17 million passengers expected by 2020.

Lindsey Mummert, left, and Laura Garber wait in line recently to check their
luggage at Sacramento International Airport. Officials studying improvements
say more efficient check-in is needed.

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