After months of delays that saw San Francisco International Airport (SFO) slip to the bottom of on-time airport rankings, officials say a construction project finishing early will mean a return to travel running like clockwork at the formerly best-ranked airport in the country.
The airport’s 28 Left taxiway, which has been closed since Jan. 18, will reopen “no later than Friday, June 21,” according to a press release. The closure was slated for completion by July 1.
“Once this runway reopens, the only cause of delays would be weather-related, either locally or in other parts of the U.S.,” SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel told The Standard.
The airport anticipated delays ahead of the improvement project. Roughly one-third of flights were slated to face delays between 30 and 60 minutes, particularly during peak times.
In addition to occasional local and national weather-related delays, SFO came in last on a ranking of airports for delayed departures over recent Memorial Day weekends, based on a JW Surety Bonds analysis of on-time performance data from 406 airports in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report.
Yakel added that the summer travel season is well underway, with the airport expecting 15.5 million travelers between Memorial Day and Labor Day, representing about 86% of pre-pandemic summer travel levels.
The improvement project worked to realign two taxiways, “Delta” and “Tango,” to allow easier and safer exits after landing. After removing existing taxiways, construction crews reconstructed them as separate, non-intersecting taxiways.
The $60 million project, which is federally funded, was awarded to Golden Gate Constructors by the San Francisco International Airport Commission.
Crews paved 15 football fields’ worth of tarmac, built an underground jet fuel facility the size of a two-car garage, laid over 11 miles of electrical cabling, and used more than 700 gallons of paint for taxiway markings.