Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) is looking to develop its air cargo business through investments in infrastructure and technology as it seeks to establish itself as an air cargo gateway and an alternative hub for the U.S. West Coast, particularly to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Ben Hart, executive director of the Utah Inland Port Authority (UIPA) told Asia Cargo News that the Covid-19 pandemic and recent supply chain disruptions, rail issues and strikes prompted a rethink of the state’s reliance on other airports for its logistics needs.

He also highlighted the importance of air cargo when the demand for quick, reliable deliveries surged along with the recent e-commerce boom.

“For us, 92% of our air cargo leaves our state, leaves Utah, on a truck to go to LAX or to San Francisco or Denver or even to Miami,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of the recent TIACA Air Cargo Forum. “So, when we talk about logistics independence, we want to be able to ship as much from our airport as we can instead of having to send our air cargo to other places around the country just to have it fly out of a plane from their airport.”

Currently, SLC handles “somewhere between one and two million [tonnes]” of cargo per year, but the target is to eventually grow into one of the Top 10 cargo airports in the U.S. and serve as an alternative to other hubs in the entire Intermountain West to the West Coast.

“I think that’s a very realistic goal for us, especially with how much we have leaving the state. But we also don't have a great cargo airport in the Intermountain West,” Hart said, referring to the region centred around parts of six states: Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

“Not only that, but we feel like we could be a gateway to move away from people from LAX. For companies that don’t want to have to fly into L.A. because of the congestion, Salt Lake is a really good alternative,” he told Asia Cargo News.

SLC is one of the largest airports in the U.S. by land size, boasting 9,000 acres, providing ample room for expansion. This land advantage, combined with the airport’s location in the Intermountain West, is seen to position Salt Lake City as a key logistics hub for both domestic and international cargo.

Hart said SLC could be a cheaper and quicker option for companies looking to move air cargo, given its good drive radius.

“We think we can make it cheaper, and it’s not hard to do that when you’re having to truck things to L.A. or San Francisco. That only adds cost. We think we can do it cheaper and quicker because you don’t have to worry about the trucking time, but then you don’t have to worry about the congestion at the L.A. airports as well,” he told Asia Cargo News.

“If you're waiting at the gate for two to three hours, you can be a long ways in two to three hours. You’re not going to have that wait time at Salt Lake City. So we feel like if we can do it cheaper, quicker, we can make a really good argument to bring more volume through Salt Lake,” Hart added.

“We’re in an 11-hour – a one-day – drive time to L.A., so we can reach the L.A. market, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, most of the West Coast markets we can meet within a day’s drive. Certainly the Intermountain West to Denver, Boise, Montana, New Mexico.”

“We’re hearing the wait times for trucks at L.A. is significantly longer, even seven, eight hours at times. And when you don’t have to go through that, you don’t run into driver’s times, having to time out and things like that, we feel like we can be a really good alternative to California,” Hart said.

Multi-million dollar investments are underway to support these logistics growth plans over the next 20 years, including the development of on-airport facilities and specialized equipment (e.g., cold chain, cargo handling) to attract diverse cargo services and support off-airport facility needs.

Hart said it would also include facility renovations and apron construction.

“Depending upon the needs, I could see [investments] anywhere from US$50 million to US$200 million over the next, I would say, 10 to 20 years,” Hart said.

“We have key objectives and deliverables along the way. We did a US$2 million grant for loading equipment. That should be done within another month or within the next several weeks and then when we start to look into 2025, I think we would like to see major investments into dedicated cargo apron space,” he added.

“And then we would with the RFP that the airport’s put out, we would really like an open third-party cargo handler that can provide services to everybody who wants to use the airport,” Hart further said. “We hope that we can do all of those and at least have contracts signed within the next 12 months.”

SLC is looking to expand its Asia connection with sights set on services to and from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tokyo, among others. This will follow a new Delta passenger service to Seoul launching in May 2025, with the goal for a dedicated freighter service from Asia eventually.

“We want to start to use that [Seoul service] to open up the more Asian shipping routes,” Hart told Asia Cargo News. “And so, we’re looking at Hong Kong, Taipei, the China airports. We’re excited about opportunities with all of Asia.”

“Asia is a critical market. And we’ve been passenger-driven for a long time. We want to be very cargo-driven to Europe, but we also want to be very cargo-driven to Asia,” he added.

Salt Lake City is also looking at exploring the logistics benefits of advanced air mobility (e.g., drone delivery) and investing in infrastructure to support AAM research, manufacturing, and deployment in Utah.

Aside from air cargo development optimization, it is also looking at rail system upgrades for better connectivity and efficiency, and the establishment of rail parks and logistics centres to attract rail-dependent industries.

By Charlee C. Delavin

Asia Cargo News | Miami