Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Salt Lake City International Airport is a major joint civil-military hub on the western edge of the city, serving as Delta Air Lines' principal Utah base and the busiest airport in the state. Its four hard-surfaced runways, full ILS coverage on three of them, and Class B controlled airspace make it a demanding but well-equipped destination for simulator pilots flying into the Wasatch Front. The field traces its origins to a 1911 aviation carnival on Basque Flats and has grown from a cinder strip into one of the busiest airline gateways in the western United States.
Salt Lake City International Airport (KSLC) sits about four miles west of Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, and functions as a joint civil-military field. It is the primary hub for Delta Air Lines and also supports Alpine Air Express and Corporate Air, making it by far the busiest airport in Utah. For a simulator pilot, the combination of long parallel runways, full instrument approach infrastructure, and Class B airspace around a major hub city offers a realistic high-density airline environment set against the backdrop of the Wasatch Range and the Great Salt Lake.
KSLC lies within Class B controlled airspace, reflecting its status as a major airline hub, and is located roughly four miles west of Downtown Salt Lake City. The airport sits in the Salt Lake Valley close to the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake, with the Wasatch Front mountains rising to the east. Smaller regional fields such as Provo Airport and Ogden-Hinckley Airport lie within the wider Salt Lake City metropolitan area but are considerably smaller than KSLC.
KSLC has four physical runways. The main parallel pair, 16L/34R and 16R/34L, are both roughly 12,000 feet long, hard-surfaced and lit, each equipped with an ILS. A third runway, 17/35, is also hard-surfaced, lit and ILS-equipped, with published lengths of 9,592 feet on the 17 threshold and 9,263 feet on the 35 threshold. A shorter crosswind runway, 14/32, is hard-surfaced and lit but without an ILS, measuring 5,364 feet from the 14 threshold and 4,882 feet from the 32 threshold.
KSLC is served by a full suite of ATC frequencies. Air-to-ground/departure is on 121.1 MHz, with approach and departure control on the same frequency band. ATIS broadcasts on 124.75 MHz. Clearance delivery and ground control operate on 121.9 MHz, with a separate frequency of 127.3 MHz listed for CLD. Tower operates on 118.3 MHz, and UNICOM is available on 122.95 MHz. An Air National Guard operations frequency is published at 30.3 MHz, and a Cedar City radio outlet is listed on 122.4 MHz. The field has a full ILS installation on runways 16L/34R, 16R/34L and 17/35.
The airport's origins date to 1911, when a site on Basque Flats in the Salt Lake Valley was chosen for an air field, taking its name from the Spanish-French sheep herders who had worked the land. That year the Great International Aviation Carnival brought aviation pioneers from the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company and a team representing the Wright Brothers to Salt Lake City, and Glenn H. Curtiss demonstrated his newly invented seaplane by taking off from the nearby Great Salt Lake in front of 20,000 spectators. The field was used mainly for training and aerobatics until 1920, when the United States Postal Service began air mail service and the city purchased land around Basque Flats to build a proper field, hangar and facilities, naming it Woodward Field after local aviator John P. Woodward. The first transcontinental air mail flight landed there on 8 September 1920. In 1925 Western Air Express became the first private company to carry US mail from the field, flying to Los Angeles via Las Vegas, and began carrying passengers on the same route the following year; the company later became Western Airlines, which built a major hub at Salt Lake City. Charles Lindbergh visited in 1927, drawing crowds to see the Spirit of St Louis. The airport gained a second runway and grew to over 400 acres in the following years, and was renamed Salt Lake City Municipal Airport in 1930. The first terminal and administration building was completed in 1933, by which time United Airlines was flying through the field on its New York to San Francisco route. During the Second World War the United States Army Air Forces established a base at the airport and a third runway was added. By 1957 the field was handling 42 weekday departures split between Western, United and Frontier, and United introduced the first jet service in September 1960 with its 720s. A new Terminal 1 was dedicated in 1960 after seven years of construction. The airport took its current name, Salt Lake City International Airport, in 1968 when Western Airlines was awarded a non-stop route to Calgary. After airline deregulation in 1978, Western elevated Salt Lake City to full hub status in 1982, and a second terminal built for Western followed, decorated with murals by artist LeConte Stewart. Western Airlines merged with Delta Air Lines in 1987, and Salt Lake City has remained a major Delta hub since. Further expansion followed, including a new parking garage in 1991 and a new runway together with an International Terminal and concourse for SkyWest Airlines in 1995.
KSLC continues to operate as a joint civil-military airport under the ownership of the City of Salt Lake City, administered by its municipal Department of Airports. It remains the principal hub for Delta Air Lines and is also used by Alpine Air Express and Corporate Air, with scheduled airline departures to cities across North America, South America, Asia and Europe. The presence of a dedicated Air National Guard operations frequency reflects the field's continuing military flying activity alongside its civil airline operations.