By Andrew McIntosh  –  Reporter, Puget Sound Business Journal

Nov 27, 2019

Former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, who led a task force on Seattle-Tacoma International Airport expansion, says a proposal to build a $2.3 billion standalone terminal fails to address concerns raised by his group.

In a letter to the five-member Port of Seattle Commission and port Executive Director Stephen Metruck, Locke said the plan to build a terminal with 19 gates apart from existing facilities ignores “deficiencies of the current Sea-Tac.”

“It was startling. All the things we had been saying and talking about weren’t in there,” Locke told the Business Journal.

The Port of Seattle, which owns and operates Sea-Tac Airport, acknowledged Locke’s concerns and said a final decision on the project will be made after an environmental review and a public comment period.

Locke isn’t alone in his concerns over port’s Sustainable Airport Master Plan. Alaska Airlines, Sea-Tac’s largest airline tenant, recently opposed the terminal plan, saying it has “critical shortcomings.”

“We’ve been hammering away on this for well over a year now,” said Shane Jones, Alaska’s vice president of airport real estate and development. “The airport has not explained why they are proposing a separate standalone terminal.”

Locke, who has not discussed his concerns with the airline, said he’s been invited to meet with port commissioners and Metruck in December.

In the three-page letter dated Sept. 27, Locke notes that his group met multiple times between 2016 and 2018 and endorsed a series of measures to improve passenger experiences at Sea-Tac. Those measures ranged from ticketing, getting from one gate to another, waiting areas, accessing light rail, shopping and dining, baggage claim and picking up and dropping off passengers.

“Passengers consistently wanted concourses and waiting areas that are light, spacious and comfortable,” Locke said.