St. George Municipal Airport – New Utah Airport

A new airport has opened in Utah which is set to tap the market for the southern part of the state and also act as an alternative to Las Vegas McCarran International.

St. George Municipal Airport opened on 13 January 2010 to the south of the town of St. George – a place that has seen steady growth from a rural backwater to a modern, growing city. The airport has been planned for 20 years to replace the smaller field used until recently, and now the vision has become a reality with the start of flights Salt Lake City, and to Los Angeles in March 2010.

SkyWest Airlines is an early adopter to the airport, providing the daily flights to LAX and SLC using regional aircraft. It is hoped that flights to Chicago, Denver, Phoenix and San Francisco will also start in the near future, showing the confidence in the new airport and the demand already there. These flights operate on behalf of Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.

St. George Municipal has a single runway, 01/19, of 9,300ft/2,800m making it ample for all aircraft sizes, including cargo operations. It is anticipated that the runway will be extended in the near future to 11,500ft/3,500m.

It is hoped that, due to its relative proximity to Las Vegas (125 miles), eventually some carriers will choose to offer flights into St. George as an alternative to the busy and expensive McCarran International.

Unusually in the USA, St. George caters for spotters and those who want to wave off passengers by the provision of an observation deck atop the terminal building. This is great news if traffic levels increase.

The airport is keen to attract new carriers and passengers. You can visit its website at www.flysgu.com to learn more.

We’d like to know what it’s like for spotting – is the observation deck good enough to watch and photograph movements? Are security officers open to spotters hanging around?

Photo copyright (c) David Becker