• Airports

  • Sacramento International Airport-They're doing it all wrong?

Sacramento International Airport serves the greater Sacramento area and most of Northern California, being that it is one of only two (the other being San Francisco) major airports in NorCal. The highly anticipated new Terminal B is almost complete and is scheduled to open in November of this year (several months ahead of schedule). While this new Terminal is exciting, it also means the demolition of current Terminal B. The current Terminal B has been around since, well, the airport opened. Terminal A is much newer and nicer. It is easy to see that the current Terminal B is old, but it's not entirely useless. And with this new Terminal, and the arrival of International flights to Mexico through Alaska Airlines and Aeromexico, big things could be ahead for the airport. Both British Airways and Air France have shown interest in the airport. And I think that SMF could be a great airport to use as a sort of "overflow" airport for the heavy air traffic at San Francisco. This is the plan that I believe would make sense:

-Temporarily move ALL current Terminal B airlines to the New Terminal B.

-Rebuild the current Terminal B adding more shops, extending concourse, and making it look less old.

-Move Frontier Airlines to Terminal A

-Move all Terminal B airlines to old Terminal B (excluding Alaska International Flights and AeroMexico)

-Move Hawaiian Airlines to New Terminal B

-Direct all International Flights to New Terminal B

I think Sacramento has the potential to be a great airport for those in the great area it serves who would like to fly Internationally. It could also be a great connecting city for those crossing the Pacific who would like to go to the East Coast or for those coming down from Alaska or Western Canada who would like to go to the Southern United States or Mexico. Possibly even use it as a connector for those departing to fly internationally. However, with these International flights, the airport will have to keep Terminal B for all of the domestic flights it currently has there, as they will not fit at Terminal A. So, the new Terminal B should really act as a Terminal C or International Terminal. What do you guys think?

MrTechCenter, Terminal B opened in 1967, prior to any passenger screening requirement and during a time in which arriving minutes before your flight was the norm, making ample gate hold areas and concessions largely unnecessary.

Terminal B is an obsolete, aging structure that is not designed to accomodate present air travel needs and the cost of rehabilitation to "make do" would be better invested in new, state-ot-the-art, efficient structure that will serve the region for generations. Such is being provided by Central Terminal B. This new terminal opens October 6, 2011, not November 2011 and provides ample room for future domestic and international growth at SMF and efficiently manages curb traffic with a two-level roadway and curbs on the east and west side of the terminal, alleviating a growing congestion problem.

A feature not mentioned - the Interim International Airrivals facility - is also insufficient in terms of service level for airlines and passengers alike. The new terminal provides integrated customs facilities served by two, dual-use gates. Aeromexico and Alaska airlines both presently have flights to Mexico and require customs facilities.

Demolition of the existing Terminal B structure will offer the area for ramp development, providing much needed RON spaces.

More information about this project can be found on www.sacairports.org and www.bigbuild.org.

2 months later

demolish the old terminal - it's really, really old and obsolete... where'd

you hear that anybody is interested in international service? We couldn't even support a 50 seat flight to Vancouver....