Airport upgrades to tourism hot spot fueling lofty ambitions and economic expansion
St. George • An airport control tower looms large in St. George leaders’ lofty plans to welcome more visitors and businesses to the city and nearby towns, which collectively rank as one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the country.
With the blessing of the Federal Aviation Administration and a multimillion-dollar cash infusion from the Utah Legislature last year, city officials are joining state and federal dignitaries at St. George Regional Airport Monday to celebrate the start of construction on the 80-foot-tall tower.
“Like St. George Regional Airport itself, the airport traffic-control tower is built with the future in mind,” St. George Mayor Michele Randall said. “Increasing the safety and efficiency of our flight operations will be the tower’s core function.”
Prospects for the tower got a lift two years ago when the FAA accepted St. George into its Tower Contract Program. But it really got off the ground in 2025 when the Legislature set aside $15 million for the project.
Airport manager Dustin Warren said once construction on the tower is completed in about 16 months, and the equipment is installed and certified, flights at the airport can be handled locally rather than be subject to remote control by FAA staff out of Los Angeles International Airport.
Boosting safety, cementing status
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That will provide a major boost to public safety, he added, by better controlling the increasingly congested flow of private and commercial flights arriving and departing from St. George. Moreover, it will enable the city to lay claim to having the first Utah airport outside the Wasatch Front to have a control tower.
Warren said the tower, which will be owned by the city and operated by the FAA, will further cement the southern Utah hotspot’s status as a premier tourism and outdoor-recreation destination.
“We are a major recreation destination when it comes to rock climbing, mountain biking, golfing and our national parks,” said Warren, referring to nearby Snow Canyon, Black Desert Resort in Ivins and Bryce and Zion national parks. “We have a very large playground.”
That said, the area is not just for tourists.
Washington County’s population now tops 200,000 and is projected to more than double over the next 30 years. Passenger numbers have soared at the airport, which moved in 2011 from atop a mesa overlooking St. George to its present location 11 miles south of downtown.
The 318,532 commercial passengers who jammed the terminal last year made it the busiest ever, according to city officials. With just under five months left in 2025, the airport has already logged 240,776 passengers and is on pace to total 420,000 by year’s end.
“I’m very comfortable in saying that we will blow past the passenger record we set last year,” Warren said.
Currently, the airport is served by regional carrier SkyWest, which handles direct flights for American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines from St. George to Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, Phoenix and Salt Lake City.
Soaring ambitions, major expansion
But St. George officials would like to add even more. The control tower is a key component in the city’s airport expansion plans. Another major item on the to-do list is to nearly triple the size of the airport terminal, from 34,000 square feet to about 100,000 square feet. Warren said the project is currently in the design phase, and the city has yet to figure out how to fund it.
St. George’s airport has already undergone some major upgrades. Last year, the city used money allocated by state lawmakers to replace the observation deck on the terminal’s second floor with a bar and bistro. Operated by Tailwind Concessions, the eatery can seat up to 30 in the bistro and another 15 in the bar. In addition, state money was used to pave a 2,200-foot extension to Airport Parkway, the road that parallels the runway, according to Warren.
St. George Economic Development Director Chad Thomas said relocating the airport and the already completed upgrades to the facility have paid large dividends. For starters, it has resulted in a new Smith’s Food and Drug opening nearby, just off Interstate 15 and has paved the way for construction of a second Costco, just to name a few.
Thomas said the airport also helped lure an Amazon fulfillment center to St. George and the ARA Southwest Logistics Center in Washington City, the latter of which will feature 5 million square feet of industrial warehouse and distribution space to lure even more businesses and create good-paying jobs once it is completed in 15 years.
Without moving and upgrading the airport and infrastructure, he added, none of that would happen.
“The airport has really changed the trajectory of St. George, and it is one of the reasons we are going to see a lot of growth in the southern portion of our city,” Thomas said.
St. George’s airport is Utah’s third busiest, trailing only Salt Lake City International and Provo airports.
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