St. George Regional Airport (SGU) expansion

St. George is planning an airport terminal expansion estimated at $100 million. At first that sounds crazy, but then you take a look at what's happening around here and it makes a lot of sense. We're starting a series that's going to document the expansion of the airport, starting with this episode that covers everything that's happened so far. And then as things go, we'll cover every single step.

Last year, more than 431,000 passengers came through this airport. That's a 36% jump in a single year. Today, there are about 30 commercial flights a day coming in and out of St. George. That makes this the busiest commercial airport in the nation without its own control tower. Until now. I'm standing 85 feet in the air inside Southern Utah's first air traffic control tower, looking down at the airport that's trying to keep up.

And this isn't the first time St. George has outgrown its airport. For decades, flights left from a small airport on the bluff above town: one gate, a short runway, and crosswinds pilots still talk about. It's where SkyWest took off on its very first flight back in 1972. Up there, the city simply ran out of room.

So in 2011, it opened a brand-new airport right here where we're standing. It had one boarding gate and one spot to park a commercial plane, and it was built to handle about 12,000 passengers per month. It didn't take long to fill. A couple of years later, a second boarding gate was added. Then in 2019, a third one. Then came 2020, and the world discovered Southern Utah in a whole new way. Fast forward to 2024: they expanded the commercial ramp to make room for seven planes to park. And recently, they had to open up an emergency exit as a fourth boarding gate just to keep up.

Remember, this terminal was designed to handle 12,000 passengers per month. Today, it averages about 40,000 to 44,000 per month, three times what it was designed for. This airport is literally bursting at the seams.

Now, back to the air traffic control tower. Since this airport opened in 2011, flights here have been coordinated remotely by Los Angeles Center, an air traffic control facility in Palmdale, California. Once this tower is operational, controllers right here will manage the mix of commercial flights, private planes and student pilots.

The planned terminal expansion takes us from three permanent gates to seven, with more room for baggage, security and passengers. And here's the big one: it adds four jet bridges, so five of the seven gates will have them. Jet bridges are what allow this airport to handle bigger airplanes. Bigger airplanes mean more airline possibilities, which means more destinations, which I know a lot of you are wanting.

Now, how they're making it happen financially. The City of St. George has committed around $21 million. The state added $10 million. And Washington County has approved a $50 million bond for the expansion. Here's the part a lot of people miss: those bond payments come from tourism tax funds, not from Washington County taxpayers. The county has made this airport expansion its top economic priority. Beyond that, federal grants are expected to help close the rest.

And that changes the question. It's not about what $100 million can buy. It's what easier access to Southern Utah could mean for everything around this airport. Bigger planes and more airlines mean more ways for people to get here. A family flies in for Zion. They rent a car, stay at a hotel, eat at a local restaurant and catch a show at Tuacahn. A group comes for a golf weekend. A business traveler comes for a meeting. Grandparents come to see their grandkids. Different travelers, different reasons, and spending that reaches businesses across our entire region.

And for those of us who are from here, we've been longing for more options closer to home, so we have fewer drives to Vegas just to catch a flight. There's also simple supply and demand. Right now, a lot of people are competing for a limited number of seats. More gates, bigger airplanes and more airlines add supply, and more supply can help make prices more competitive. None of that is guaranteed, though. Routes and fares are still decided by the airlines, but this expansion gives them room to say yes.

That's the bigger idea. This investment reaches well beyond the runway. It could change how people get here, how we travel and how Southern Utah does business.

The tower is set to be up and running by mid-2027. The terminal is still in design, but making really good progress. And that's where this series comes in. We're going to tell this story every step of the way: the funding decisions, the first look at the new terminal, the day this tower goes live, the groundbreaking, and most importantly, the people and businesses this airport touches. We'll be back here for every chapter so you can watch St. George's airport grow one step at a time.