Alaska Airlines underway on 'single largest construction project' in its history

By Marissa Nall – Reporter, Puget Sound Business Journal

Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) is underway on over a half-billion dollars’ worth of improvements at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport that will alter the way passengers check into their flights.

The project, dubbed SEA Gateway, is the single largest construction project in Alaska’s history, said Shane Jones, vice president of real estate and business development for Alaska.

It’s part of the SeaTac-based airline’s $2.5 billion technology overhaul of its five West Coast hubs and will involve doing away with check-in kiosks and automating the lobby experience for its customers.

Alaska Airlines is leading the SEA Gateway project as a tenant improvement with design and construction. The design-build team is HOK/Hensel-Phelps.

The Port of Seattle, which operates the airport, will partially reimburse Alaska. The estimated total budget is $546 million, though the final cost split is still under negotiation.

The upgrades will allow passengers to check in, print tags and drop off bags using tablets, with the aim of whisking them through the lobby and to security in five minutes or less.

The changes will free up gate agents to “get out from behind the counter and find people who need the most help and really engage with them,” Jones said at a media event on Thursday.

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Shane Jones is Alaska Airlines’ vice president of real estate and business developement. ANTHONY BOLANTE | PSBJ

Improvements will also entail adding 24,500 square feet of employee office and ticket counter space in unused areas on the promenade level between the skybridges and the ticketing and bag claim levels.

The moves allow Alaska to more effectively use the airport’s limited footprint, said Lance Lyttle, Sea-Tac Airport’s director.

The lobby overhauls also mark another milestone for the airline, Jones said: “We were the first to introduce kiosks in the industry and also the first to get rid of kiosks.”

Alaska first installed the technology in 2007.

New break rooms will be where Alaska employees — from customer service and ground crew members to pilots and corporate staff — can all share space.

“It’s a virtuous cycle,” Jones said. “If you treat employees well, the employees treat your customers well and customers will treat Alaska well and continue to come back. So, investing in our employees is just as important, if not more important, than investing in our airline, our guests.”

Construction walls have gone up and demolition is planned to commence this summer. Work on the promenade area is expected to be complete by the second quarter of 2024, providing additional ticketing capacity during future phases of the project, said Mike Francis, the airport’s construction lead.

The bulk of the improvements to the ticketing lobby is planned to get underway this year and wrap up in 2026.

At the opposite end of the main terminal, Sea-Tac is also gearing up for a $37 million project to move and expand its Checkpoint 1 area.

“We must provide the amenities and service our passengers know and love,” Lyttle said. “When we get there, it will be fantastic, but until then … we’re going to do everything in our power to mitigate the impact of construction.”

In the meantime, the airport is coordinating with the Transportation Safety Administration to add 20 new officers to help improve wait times to get through security. In the nearly two years since its launch, Sea-Tac’s Spot Saver app, which allows travelers to book a check-in time to go through security, has been adopted at nine airports nationwide as well as in Europe and Asia and is nearing its millionth user.

Seattle is both Alaska’s most important hub and its most space-limited, Jones said.

“We have to be very thoughtful and creative in terms of how we take advantage of the space we have available in terms of adding new technology and adding better processes,” he said. “It is very constrained, but it’s also critical to our system, so we’re going to continue to invest.”

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