Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
ST. GEORGE — Formula One races in Las Vegas, the Super Bowl, a PGA Tour in southern Utah and other major events have led to a large influx of people using the St. George Regional Airport.
It's created a conundrum and planes are often forced to circle over Cedar City before landing, and takeoffs are delayed due to air traffic congestion.
The St. George airport has no air traffic control tower of its own, so flights into and out of St. George are transferred from air traffic control in Salt Lake City to air traffic control in Los Angeles.
"With a tower here, it would actually facilitate that happening much, much easier ... for the pilot — and safer," said Richard Stehmeier, director at the St. George Regional Airport.
But it would require $15-20 million from the Utah Legislature to fund a tower.
"Safety is a big, big issue. It just needs to happen. We are at a point where we need to have a tower," Stehmeier added.
On Thursday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Senate President Stuart Adams, various legislators and airport officials gathered at the Department of Public Safety's helicopter hangar at the St. George Regional Airport to voice their support for the funding request.
"You'll see backups on the runway because there's so much traffic coming and it can't move as smoothly because you don't have a tower operator that's just getting people in and out," Cox said. "You have to wait for LA to respond, and they've got lots of other things going on as well.
"There's so much more traffic coming in here now ... we often have conflicts," he said.
The governor said the congestion "could eventually lead to safety issues."
"We can solve that by having a tower here," he said.
Stehmeier said a tower could add to the number of destinations out of St. George, and could decrease the average cost of tickets.
SkyWest, the largest regional airline in the world, is also headquartered at the St. George airport.
Robert Simmons, CFO at SkyWest, said, "There's lots of demand for growth," and "we would love to expand our footprint in St. George, which would hugely benefit the state and southern Utah."
Stehmeier signaled that, without a tower, expansion for airlines at the St. George airport could be slowed, as could tourism in southern Utah.
"It's a huge need down here," Stehmeier told KSL.com. "We are growing so fast in the greater Washington area. It's incredible. With that growth comes growth at the airport, and so we really do need a tower."
The airport had its busiest year on record in 2021, with over 325,000 passengers coming or going, Stehmeier said. Last year, the airport saw almost 300,000 passengers again.
Safety is a big, big issue. It just needs to happen. We are at a point where we need to have a tower.
–Richard Stehmeier
The state of Utah already allotted $10 million dollars to the airport's expansion last year, Stehmeier said. That money is being used for four projects: completing the road to the airport in order to develop additional hangars; increasing the size of the secure area in the terminal since it has outgrown its maximum capacity of 273 people; creating a master plan to identify nearby land the airport plans to purchase; and completing a study and design involved in finding a place for a much-needed air traffic control tower.
A Federal Aviation Administration project is also underway, replacing the airport's terminal ramp because of failures in concrete due to blue clay. The replacement will also double the size of the ramp because airlines are bringing in bigger planes, which Stehmeier notes is a good thing for passengers, as it means more seats on many flights.
After the Federal Aviation Administration arrives in St. George in March to confirm the design, site and cost of the tower, Stehmeier says they'll have to secure funding for the tower.
Cox said the Federal Aviation Administration has agreed to staff the tower at no cost to Utah — if it's build in the next five years.
"We'll be working with the Legislature, with the state, with the county, with the FAA to get the money that we need to build that tower which will keep everyone safe and really allow for the growth that is expected to come," Cox said Thursday.
