Salt Lake City International Airport a ‘ghost town’ amid pandemic

Norm Scott, 83, and his wife, Sharon Scott, 79, wait during a layover at Salt Lake City International Airport on their way from Tucson, Ariz., to Ithaca, N.Y., on Thursday, April 30, 2020. Like airports all over the world, Salt Lake’s airport has seen air traffic plummet due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — Sharon and Norm Scott wore surgical masks and gloves as they sat next to each other in a near-empty terminal at Salt Lake City International Airport on Thursday.

The elderly couple had a layover in Salt Lake City on their way to their summer home in Ithaca, New York. At ages 79 and 83, the Scotts said they weren’t about to endure Arizona’s boiling temperatures at their winter home in Tucson.

Braving the new world of air travel amid the novel coronavirus pandemic was worth the gamble, they said, even though they were well aware people their age are high risk if they catch COVID-19.

“We’re old, old, old, old,” Sharon Scott said, laughing.

She said she and her husband are doing their best to protect themselves while also not allowing the virus to grind their lives to a standstill.

Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

In this composite image, Norm Scott, 83, left, and his wife, Sharon Scott, 79, sit together during a layover at the Salt Lake International Airport while traveling from Tucson, Ariz. to Ithaca, N.Y. on Thursday, April 30, 2020.

“I don’t mean to sound Pollyanna, but you can’t stop living,” Sharon Scott said. “I mean, with the virus, let’s be realistic. It could be another year — another year waiting for a vaccine or what have you.

“And when you get to be our age, you don’t have a year to throw away,” she said. “So we’re just doing the best we can.”

The Scotts were among the very few passengers waiting for flights in the Salt Lake airport, where the once-bustling walkways are now nearly empty and stretches of terminal seats vacant.

Bill Wyatt, executive director of the airport, recently described it as a “ghost town” in an interview with the Deseret News. With global travel at a near standstill and ticket sales way down, Salt Lake City International Airport got about $82.4 million in economic relief from the federal government.

Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

A Delta employee, who asked not to be named, walks through a nearly empty concourse in Terminal 1 at Salt Lake City International Airport on Thursday, April 30, 2020. Like airports all over the world, Salt Lake’s airport has seen air traffic plummet due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

So far, six employees who work on airport property have been confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19, according to airport spokeswoman Nancy Volmer: one TSA agent, one a construction worker, two employees who worked for a concessionaire, and two who worked for a business tenant. Most of those cases were reported early on when the pandemic first arrived, Volmer said.

“When at full strength, the airport was seeing 15,000 employees coming to work here daily” between airlines, concessions, TSA and other departments, Volmer said. “So we feel fortunate to have so few test positive.”

Cleaning and other precautions have ramped up in all areas to prevent spread of the virus, Volmer said.

Volmer, who wore a black mask as she showed the Deseret News around the unusually calm airport Thursday, said ever since the pandemic hit, the airport’s daily passenger count has dipped to around 2,000 or less a day — down from an average of 22,000 per day this time of year.

“We used to get excited to see 30,000 passengers, and now if you see more than 2,000, it’s like, ‘Wow things are picking up,’” Volmer said.

Flights at the airport have essentially been cut in half and are expected to drop to 63% fewer in May. In April last year, the airport saw 10,165 flights compared to this year’s 5,267, according to airport data. In May 2019, the airport had 10,473 flights but just 3,852 are scheduled this month.

Flocks of unused planes sat parked in the airfield, waiting until they’ll be needed again. Only time will tell when that will be.

Inside the airport, more retail storefronts were closed and caged off than there were open. About half the food courts and restaurants were open — but their dining areas remained virtually empty, some with chairs and tables stacked in corners. Dine-in is allowed in the airport, but only if patrons are seated far apart.

Most travelers seen at the airport Thursday wore a variety of types of face coverings, from N95 masks to bandanas. Others didn’t.

Most U.S. airlines — American, United, Delta, Southwest, Alaska, Frontier and Jet Blue — have announced they’ll be requiring passengers to wear face masks, with some airlines implementing their rules on Monday.

Except for family clusters, travelers kept a wide berth from each other, whether they were waiting for Transportation Security Administration screening or sitting in terminals.

TSA lines were minimal. Baggage checking staff waiting long periods between customers. Lobbies, hallways and terminals were strangely quiet, except for gentle music playing over the speakers between voice recordings from Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Gov. Gary Herbert’s office assuring travelers airport officials were making their best effort to ensure safety amid the pandemic.

When checking boarding passes and IDs, a TSA agent asked passengers to slide their masks briefly down off their face so he could compare faces against IDs.

Arriving passengers, who are required to complete a self-declaration within three hours of touching Salt Lake soil, were handed papers by a masked and gloved employee, instructing them to visit coronavirus.utah.gov to fill out the form with information on their travels.

In some terminals, more staff equipped with cleaning carts were present than passengers. The floors sparkled. Tabletops were spotless. High-touch surfaces like escalator handrails were being wiped down frequently.

“Vacant. Empty. Quiet. Very Clean,” Sharon Scott said. “The restrooms are sparkling.”

The Scotts said they hadn’t traveled since November, before the pandemic changed the world. Their first trip was somewhat nerve-wracking, but to some degree, Norm Scott said it felt somewhat safer because of all the cleaning.

Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

Siblings Robert Olson, of Farmington, and Carole Larson, of Logan, walk through Terminal 1 at Salt Lake City International Airport as they travel to Dallas on Thursday, April 30, 2020. Like airports all over the world, Salt Lake’s airport has seen air traffic plummet due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the brother-and-sister duo, Robert Olson, of Farmington, and Carole Larson, of Logan, who wore masks as they hauled their luggage getting ready to hop on a plane to Dallas to help Larson’s son move, they didn’t know what to expect once they boarded.

But already, Larson was struck by how quiet the airport was.

“It’s empty,” she said through her mask, laughing. “The security line was great.”

“It’s weird,” Olson said. “We’re a little nervous about it.”

For Michael Springs, a utility consultant, and his wife Mama Goose, a children’s book author, it wasn’t their first rodeo. They, too, wore masks, on their journey back to Houston.

Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

Michael Springs and his wife, Mama Goose, her legal name, walk through Salt Lake City International Airport as they travel home to Houston on Thursday, April 30, 2020. Like airports all over the world, Salt Lake’s airport has seen air traffic plummet due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Springs said he travels frequently for work, and he recalled having practically entire airplanes to himself in March. Now, Springs said airports are beginning to get slightly more busy. Still, Springs said he and his wife have enjoyed having entire rows of seats to themselves on the plane.

Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

Children’s book author Mama Goose, her legal name, poses for a photo while traveling with her husband, Michael Springs, back to Houston at Salt Lake City International Airport on Thursday, April 30, 2020. Like airports all over the world, Salt Lake’s airport has seen air traffic plummet due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Springs said he’s learned airlines flying smaller planes tend to pack passengers slightly closer together, so he tries to book airlines flying larger planes. For the most part, however, Springs said airlines have been doing a good job social distancing passengers.

But if anyone coughs on a plane, Springs said passengers are instantly on high alert. He predicted masks in airports and airplanes will become the new normal.

“I have a feeling that it’s going to be a permanent paradigm shift,” he said, “that the mask might be something you have with you 100% of the time.”

The pandemic came at a crucial time for the Salt Lake airport. Thousands of construction workers have been tasked with completing its generational, $4.1 billion redevelopment by Sept. 15 — a deadline that is still on track to be met, Volmer said.

COVID-19 has created a new challenge for construction workers, but the work continues. They’re required to stand at least 6 feet apart when they line up to don personal protective equipment before they enter the construction site. Anyone entering must have their temperature checked, Volmer said, and are required to wear a mask.

After a construction worker in the new north concourse tested positive, Volmer said the site shut down completely to be totally cleaned, then was reopened.

Volmer said crews are taking extra precautions, not just for safety, but also to prevent any delays so the new airport’s first phase can open to the public in September as scheduled.

Of course, no one expected a pandemic to complicate matters just ahead of the new airport’s opening, Volmer said.

“Who knows what else could come up,” she said.

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