2 days Ago By Trevin Christian Casinader
Construction work has been ongoing for nearly a year at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA). While travelers have been inconvenienced over the past year, one of the new projects will open just in time for the holiday rush, reducing wait times. New Alaska Airlines ticketing lobby One important project, a ticketing lobby for Alaska Airlines , has been completed and will be functional to help reduce wait times during the upcoming holiday rush.
The new ticketing lobby will be fitted with improved technology to help move passengers through quickly and efficiently. The lobby is also larger, helping to reduce congestion. Alan Olson, Port of Seattle program lead for a project with Alaska Airlines, said in a statement to King 5 News : "We have asked for the last two years, for everybody to grin and bear it, please pardon our construction.
And now we're finally able to give some of that space back and give them a look at what they've been patient for." The lobby also features automatic bag drop stations that will help passenger check into their flights in record time. Lea Kautzman, Alaska Airlines Managing Director for Seattle Station Guest Services, highlighted this feature, saying: "We're really excited to announce our automatic bag drop stations and they'll be on the window wall from the south to the north part of our lobby, it's going to be a great ease for guests to drop bags and get on to their checkpoints.
It's really for guest ease and experience to get them on their way sooner." Alaska Airlines has already benefited from the construction projects going on at SEA. Earlier this summer, a bridge-way area allowing ticketing and bag check-in helped improve transaction times.
Dealing with double the passengers Much of the infrastructure at SEA was built to accommodate 25 million passengers a year. However, the airport's passenger count has doubled since, and new improvements, including short—and long-term changes, are required to keep up with demand. Plenty of construction projects are still underway at SEA.
One of them is the expansion of Security Checkpoint 5, which has been limited for the past year due to construction. The construction is expected to take more than a year to complete. In the meantime, the airport will open a new checkpoint, Security Checkpoint 1, on the south end of the baggage claim level to help ease congestion.
As Simple Flying previously covered, the airport's ultimate goal is to be rated 5-star by Skytrax. To this end, the airport is working closely with Alaska Airlines to overhaul the North Main Terminal. Another major project is upgrading Concourse C, which is expanding vertically by adding four new levels.
Sea-Tac is one of the most densely packed airports in the world, which doesn’t leave much room for expansion activities. As a result, the airport authorities have had to get creative. The new levels will be packed with various features and amenities, including dining and shopping outlets for passengers to take advantage of.
A new Alaska Airlines lounge is also planned, in addition to an oneworld Alliance lounge. Fresh from joining the SkyTeam Alliance, Scandinavian Air Systems (SAS) is expanding its presence in the United States with direct flights to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) in Washington State. Flights will resume in May, 57 years after the inaugural flight between the two cities.
SAS is far from the only carrier growing its presence in the Pacific Northwest gateway. Three new routes to Tiapai have launched this year alone, with nonstop connections from Starlux, Eva Air, and Delta Air Lines (which also added connections from SEA to its megahub in Atlanta).The airport is poised to become even more significant should the Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines merger proceed as expected.
The arrival of Hawaiian’s wideboy aircraft will change the dynamic for the home carrier Alaska Airlines, which already offers a range of award redemption options on oneworld Alliance and partner carriers.Do you think Seattle is aiming to become the next major hub for international traffic.
