Salt Lake City airport to obtain share of FAA’s $970M for family-friendly touring

SALT LAKE CITY — It’ll quickly be simpler for households to breeze by way of safety traces at Utah’s largest airport.

Salt Lake City International Airport is about to obtain $6.6 million from $970 million price of grants that the Federal Aviation Administration unveiled on Saturday to make journey extra “family-friendly” for Americans.

The airport will use the funds to broaden passenger Transportation Security Administration screening checkpoints, together with devoted household safety lanes.

Federal officers additionally doled out grants to 132 different airports throughout 44 further states for related initiatives or different parts, like new play constructions, family-friendly options in restrooms, new mom’s rooms, or rooms devoted for vacationers with sensory wants.

“This administration is focused on making travel happier and more convenient for American families,” mentioned U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in an announcement, as he introduced the funding. “The golden age of travel includes a family first agenda. We’re making airports inviting spaces for parents and children to relax and recharge prior to boarding.”

Salt Lake City International Airport already has 20 mother’s rooms, together with diaper altering tables at most of its males’s and ladies’s loos. The full buildout of the preliminary design of the brand new airport, set to be accomplished later this yr, includes three sensory rooms.

But Saturday’s announcement follows current efforts to enhance safety line effectivity for households. TSA opened new lanes for households final yr, as a part of its “Families on the Fly” program, which debuted in September.

Salt Lake City was one of many first 11 airports nationwide to check the function. TSA created two devoted lanes the place households might be screened collectively. The company additionally carried out “modified screening procedures” that cut back the chance of any pat-downs, searching for to make the entire course of simpler on households.

“I like it. … (There’s) less stress. It’s a lot more convenient,” mentioned Casey Weaver, of Weber County, as her household was amongst a number of the first to undergo one of many traces final yr.

It wasn’t instantly clear when the airport’s expanded checkpoints will probably be in service.

Funding for the growth — and all the opposite initiatives — comes from the airport terminal program from a invoice Congress handed in 2021, which allocated $5 billion over five years to offer grants that handle the “aging infrastructure of the nation’s airports.”

Duffy inspired airports to incorporate extra family-friendly assets final yr, as nicely.

“The FAA is moving quickly to get these investments out the door and into airports nationwide,” added FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford. “These projects will help create a more welcoming and accessible travel experience for families while demonstrating our commitment to improving America’s airports at record speed.”