Sky Harbor has bold vision for 2024, beyond
New amenities and major infrastructure projects planned
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport plans to follow its victory lap of 2023 with a series of new features and improvements in 2024 and the coming years.
The Phoenix airport saw record travel volumes in 2023, a smooth day after the Super Bowl (despite about 200,000 people flying), numerous new routes including more options for Canada and Mexico travel, expanded sustainability efforts and the debuts of six new restaurants in Terminal 4’s eighth concourse, with two more restaurants announced.
These efforts and more explain why the Wall Street Journal named Sky Harbor the nation’s best airport of 2023.
Chad Makovsky, Phoenix’s director of aviation services, isn’t resting on his laurels. He sees promise in 2024 and beyond as new amenities debut and major infrastructure projects begin construction. He knows it will take a lot of work to fulfill his vision for Sky Harbor’s future.
He’s also optimistic that Sky Harbor could receive another round of federal funding that would help with plans for a $500 million upgrade to Terminal 4.
Makovsky recently spoke with The Arizona Republic about how the customer experience at Sky Harbor is improving with upgrades, new restaurants and a new lounge in the works for 2024
and beyond. Here’s what he shared.
A $500 million refresh of Sky Harbor Terminal 4 is in the works
As passenger traffic rises to record levels, Makovsky thinks work will be needed to make sure Sky Harbor can keep up with a greater influx of users.
Terminal 4 opened in November 1990. That’s the same month “Home Alone” debuted in movie theaters.
Makovsky is planning a major refresh of Terminal 4 to ensure the people movers, escalators, elevators and baggage handling systems run efficiently.
The work is estimated to cost around $500 million.
Sky Harbor might get some funding help from the Airport Terminals Program, a grant program launched under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021.
It previously supported two other projects in Arizona airports: PhoenixMesa Gateway Airport’s terminal expansion with a permanent five-gate concourse replacing a temporary, portable four-gate facility; and Yuma International Airport’s replacement of a 20year-old flooring system with terrazzo floors.
Makovsky said he should hear from the federal government by February on whether Sky Harbor will receive funding for the Terminal 4 improvements.
A new taxiway will make it easier for planes to take off and land
Makovsky expects to see more construction crews from the window of his office at the Phoenix Aviation Department building on Buckeye Road, behind the 24th Street PHX Sky Train Station and a short drive from Sky Harbor Boulevard, the main thoroughfare that leads to the airport terminals.
Not far from where he sits, construction on Taxiway U, a 2,150-foot-long taxiway connecting the north and south airfields from the west side of the terminals, is set to begin in the first quarter of 2024. Airport taxiways are paths for planes to get to and from runways.
The new taxiway, supported by $194 million in federal funding over five years from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is “our next big piece of infrastructure” and will help improve efficiency in Sky Harbor’s airfields, Makovsky said.
Terminal 3 will get a new 6-gate concourse
Work is also scheduled to begin in 2024 on a new six-gate concourse in Terminal 3, a project that will also include a pedestrian bridge connecting Terminals 3 and 4. Makovsky expects the concourse will be finished in early 2027.
By that time, depending on how airlines are growing at Sky Harbor, he said the airport may need to add remote gates that are not part of the terminal infrastructure. Los Angeles and DallasFort Worth are among the U.S. airports that use remote gates.
“Think of it as like a ramp deployment where you get off of the stairs on an aircraft onto the ramp and then you load up onto a bus that will take you to the terminal,” Makovsky said, explaining what remote gates look like.
While he’s hopeful Sky Harbor won’t need to implement remote gates, he’s excited if the demand for more flights exists with it.
Planning may begin for a new Phoenix airport terminal (Terminal 5?)
Anticipating greater demand for flights out of Sky Harbor reinforces the need for infrastructure investments, Makovsky said.
That’s why he’s weighing whether to expedite the timetable for a new terminal on the west side of the airport.
When airport staff discussed the likelihood of a new terminal in 2019 as part of its master plan for the airport, they didn’t anticipate growing fast enough to consider building a new terminal before 2029 or 2030, Makovsky said.
But that could change based on recent growth at Sky Harbor.
“What we’re challenging our airline partners to think about is, where do they see their operation in eight to 10 years? Because it’s going to take us seven
or eight years to build something like that if we need to,” Makovsky said. “So we don’t know what that looks like yet, but we need to have that conversation with our airlines to make sure we’re ready to be able to accommodate their growth and the growth of our community.”
When asked about a future terminal in a previous interview about Sky Harbor’s master plan, Makovsky couldn’t say whether a new terminal would be called Terminal 5, or if it would enter service under the name of one of the since-demolished first two terminals. (The existing terminals were never renumbered after Terminals 1 and 2 were closed, respectively, in 1991 and 2020.)
Will Phoenix get more international flights in 2024?
As demand grows for international travel, a major priority for Sky Harbor is attracting transatlantic and transpacific routes.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego traveled to Asia last summer in part to advocate for nonstop flights to and from Asia, stopping in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
While Makovsky couldn’t say when new long-haul international routes from Phoenix might arrive, he said conversations with airlines’ staff indicated “a real strong interest” for a new European route. Sky Harbor currently has three airlines serving two long-haul destinations: American Airlines and British Airways’ service to London and Condor Airlines’ seasonal service to Frankfurt, Germany.
A second city in Germany, a city in France and Amsterdam were floated as possible routes, he said.
“This is not based on us putting a pin on the map and saying we’d love to have a route there,” Makovsky said. “This is based on research and data that shows where our community is traveling to and who is coming to our community from these other locations.”
New air service doesn’t happen overnight, he said. It involves collaboration with airport staff, Phoenix economic development staff and destination marketing organizations like Visit Phoenix and the Arizona Office of Tourism to build a case for why an airline should establish a new route.
Sky Harbor has no Asian routes but its competitors do. Las Vegas has a flight to Seoul, San Diego has a flight to Tokyo and Los Angeles lists 10 nonstop routes to Asia. Alexandria Van Haren, Sky Harbor’s air service development manager, recently told The Republic that establishing nonstop Asian service in Phoenix is a “top priority.”
One selling point that officials in Phoenix are pushing is that passengers prize the convenience and peace of mind of nonstop flights, Makovsky said.
Right now, people who fly between Phoenix and Asia must connect at another airport, and air travel disruptions and long lines at customs can affect the connecting leg of the flight.
More flights from Phoenix to Canada and Mexico in 2024
Despite the focus on long-haul international flights, Sky Harbor also intends to build on its robust Canada and Mexico offerings.
On Feb. 15, American Airlines will launch flights between Phoenix and Tijuana, Mexico, a first for a U.S. airport.
The December opening of an international airport in Tulum, a buzzy resort town in Mexico’s Riviera Maya region on the Yucatan Peninsula south of Cancun, raised the possibility of whether it would one day be among the growing number of Mexican cities served by Sky Harbor.
Four U.S. airlines — Delta Air Lines via Atlanta; American Airlines via Dallas, Charlotte and Miami; United Airlines via Chicago, Houston, Newark and Los Angeles; and Spirit Airlines via Orlando and Fort Lauderdale — will begin flying to Tulum from the U.S. in March 2024.
Makovsky doesn’t rule out the possibility a Phoenix-Tulum route could be established soon, given the high number of Mexican cities with direct routes from Sky Harbor. But he couldn’t confirm or deny whether it’s likely because he couldn’t say with certainty that it’s come up in conversations between airlines and the airport’s air service development
staff.
New at Sky Harbor in 2024: Chase Sapphire Lounge, Guy Fieri restaurant
While some of Sky Harbor’s upcoming projects will take a while to complete, others will debut in 2024.
Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club is expected to open in March or April in Terminal 4’s Concourse 8 for Southwest Airlines flights.
“We’re moving an Airstream trailer into that site, and that’s going to be the unique feature of that lounge,” Makovsky said.
Later in 2024, Southwest passengers with flights on Concourse 8 will have more dining and shopping options to go with the new restaurants that debuted this fall. Guy Fieri’s Phoenix Kitchen + Bar, SanTan Spirit House, PGA Tour FanShop (which will have a simulator of TPC Scottsdale’s 16th hole) and Arizona Roadtrip are scheduled to arrive in the fall.
Makovsky doesn’t think it will take as long for the new restaurants and shops to open, compared with the 14-month gap between the debut of the eighth concourse and the opening of its first restaurant.
“Things are getting better from a construction perspective,” he said. “So we don’t think we’re going to have delays quite as long as we did in that first round.”