WHY IMPROVEMENTS ARE NEEDED
Without improvements:
- Terminals will likely become overcrowded;
- Baggage volumes may choke the system;
- Inadequate gates and airfield inefficiencies could cause flight delays;
- People likely will have to take a bus to their plane and use outdoor air stairs instead of jet ways;
- Curbside traffic jams will continue to increase;
- Maintenance costs will rise substantially;
- Attracting more domestic and international airline routes would become more difficult.
Use of Reliever Airports
The City of Phoenix owns and operates Phoenix Goodyear and Phoenix Deer Valley airports. Both are general aviation airports, which means that they provide services to private aircraft and are not designed or authorized to serve commercial passenger traffic.
Phoenix is also a member of the airport authority that operates Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport along with the cities of Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek and the Gila River Indian Community. Phoenix-Mesa is a reliever to Sky Harbor, but this does not minimize Sky Harbor’s need to accommodate future traffic through our terminals. There is an enormous cost advantage to airlines like Southwest and US Airways in keeping all of their operations in one place. Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport will become the equivalent of an Ontario or Burbank to LAX. It took a number of years for this growth and travel patterns to materialize in Southern California. As the East Valley continues to grow, Phoenix expects and counts on a significant growth in traffic at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway. Until that happens, Phoenix will continue meeting the needs of our customers.
