Sea-Tac Airport will need expansion to meet the growing demands, a project that may cost $10 billion to achieve.
Different options for the expansion were presented to the public at an open house meeting Wednesday night, at Pier 69.
The options include ways to add more than 30 gates over the next 20 years to accommodate the growing number of aircraft coming through.
While different configurations show how those gates can be designed, there will also be a need to either expand the existing terminal or add a second one. Expansion of the existing terminal would be more expensive and would involve tearing down part of the adjacent parking garage.
A second terminal could be built in an area north of the cellphone lot that currently serves as a parking lot.
“We are just growing like a weed here,” said Perry Cooper, spokesperson for Sea-Tac International Airport. “To handle the size of the number of passengers that it does, we have one of the smallest footprints for that.”
There is already a $2 billion short-term project to expand the international terminal and develop a centralized baggage system that will eventually allow passengers to drop off checked bags without lining up for a ticket agent.
Since the airport is surrounded by developed land, there are limited choices for how to expand as time goes on.
Many believe even with expansion work, the Puget Sound region will need a second airport.
Nancy Sumner, who cleans the airport food court, said she has observed the place getting much busier, with more international passengers, over the years.
But she would prefer not to see the airport get bigger.
“They make it so big and you can’t find anything,” Sumner said.
Passengers going through long security lines have also complained of missing their flights.
Details of an improved security checkpoint system will come after the master plan for expansion has been developed.
But for the time being, Cooper said the Port of Seattle is working with the Transportation Security Administration to work on improving the experience.
He said they are considering private contractors to move passengers between lines, and to instruct them on rules, which would free up TSA agents to do actual checkpoint work.
This summer, Sea-Tac will again run buses to get people to and from planes, if there are no gates available. There may be 60 or 70 buses per month, which is an increase from last year.