Airport Experience® News - Post-Conference Issue 2026

LATEST BUZZ

UPGRADE SEA Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Prepares for Its Biggest Summer Yet

BY DAVID GORDON

eattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is in the final stretch of a multi-year, ambitious

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capital program. Upgrade SEA, a $5 billion initiative, has been remaking SEA from the roadway to the gate for years. This summer, the biggest pieces land. “SEA is back to pre-pandemic level growth,” says Perry Cooper, media relations manager at SEA. With an estimated 750,000 visitors expected during the five week World Cup window alone, the airport is racing to finish its two biggest remaining projects before the first match kicks off in June. The C Concourse Expansion and a full roadway overhaul are both on track to open in time, adding critical capacity and a vastly improved experience for the surge of travelers headed to Seattle this summer. The airport has continued operating at full capacity throughout the multi-year project. “It’s been a rolling capital project,” Cooper says. More than 120 individual projects have been running concurrently, among them restroom renovations, baggage optimization, an S Concourse evolution, a Concourse A lounge expansion and an automated parking guidance system. The C Concourse Expansion is the marquee opening this summer. “It’s a big difference from a customer service standpoint,” Cooper says. The project transforms a former office and concessions space tucked between C and D Concourses

Right: SEA’s C Concourse Expansion, set to be completed this summer, transforms a former office and concessions space tucked between C and D Concourses into a 226,530-square-foot facility across four new floors.

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AX NEWS APRIL/MAY 2026