Focusing on the regional ultimate spoke (Airport Analysis #7) - GEG
Exploring Spokane International Airport (GEG): The Inland Northwest's Crucial Regional Aviation Hub
I truly hope you've enjoyed our analyses thus far! Today we're going over a unique airport that barely qualifies as "international" but nonetheless is a crucial regional lynchpin in the domestic aviation nexus in the United States. This is the important semi-hub airport of Spokane International Airport (IATA code: GEG) and the airport was also my home airport for a few years before I left for college.
Located in west-central Spokane county, Washington state, 10.5 miles south of downtown Spokane, It is the primary airport serving the Inland Northwest, which consists of 30 counties and includes areas such as Spokane, the Tri-Cities, both in Eastern Washington, and Coeur d'Alene in North Idaho. The airport's code, GEG, is derived from its former name, Geiger Field, which honored US Army Air Corps Major Harold Geiger (1884-1927) and lends credence to the airport's historical roots as a military airfield.
Spokane International Airport Today
As of 2025's demographic and USDOT (US department of transportation) statistics, Spokane International Airport ranks as the 73rd-busiest airport in the United States in terms of passenger enplanements At 4,264,875 total passengers served in 2024, it is the second busiest airport in Washington, right behind Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (IATA code: SEA). GEG is served by seven airlines with non-stop service to more than 20 destinations in the continental US.
Excluding military airfields (such as the two main air force bases in the state), general aviation, and cargo airports, Spokane International Airport, standing at 6,140 acres, is the largest airport in all of Washington state in terms of owned land area.
Some Basic History
Some basic history of the airport follows as is our custom at Brooke In The Air Travel.
First known as Sunset Field before 1941, it was purchased from the county by the War Department and renamed Geiger Field (hence the IATA code: GEG) after Major Harold Geiger, an Army aviation pioneer who died in a crash in 1927.
During World War II, Geiger Field was a major training base by Second Air Force as a group training airfield for B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombardment units, with new aircraft being obtained from Boeing near Seattle. It was also used by Air Technical Service Command as an aircraft maintenance and supply depot.
This has not changed much as Fairchild Air Force Base, located close by, is also a transient base for the Second Air Force which still commands basic technical training for active duty units cycling through their command. Instead of B-17 bombers, they now train pilots and crews on KC-135 Stratotankers and KC-46 Pegasus aerial refueling aircraft. Boeing, to this day, still has its primary factory and headquarters in Renton near Seattle.
Geiger was closed in late 1945 and turned over to War Assets Administration (WAA), then transferred to Spokane County and developed into a commercial airport. The airport hosted USAF Air Defense Command interceptor units during the Cold War for air defense of Hanford Nuclear Reservation and Grand Coulee Dam. Built in 1942 as the Spokane Air Depot, Fairchild Air Force Base is four miles to the west.
A Quick Contextual Note on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation
A quick contextual note on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The Hanford Nuclear Reservation is a partially-shutdown nuclear storage site, and nuclear production complex operated by the United States federal government on the Columbia River in Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington. It has also been known as Site W. Established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, the site was home to the Hanford Engineer Works and B Reactor, the first full-scale plutonium production reactor in the world. Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the first atomic bomb, which was tested in the Trinity nuclear test, and in the so-called Fat Man plutonium bomb used in the bombing of Nagasaki. Together with Oakridge, Tennessee, and Los Alamos, New Mexico, Hanford helped form the backbone of then-nascent United States nuclear power production.
Becoming Spokane International Airport
Spokane International finally became Spokane's municipal airport in 1946, replacing Felts Field, and received its present name of Spokane International Airport in 1960, after the City of Spokane was allotted Spokane Geiger Field by the Surplus Property Act and Air Canada started service to Calgary making the "international" part of the airport true. In November 1972, the 4702d Defense Wing moved to the airfield. It was still used by the Air Force into the early 1960s, with the 84th Fighter Group operating Convair F-106 Delta Dart interceptors. The airport code is still GEG, for Geiger Field.
The current Concourse A and B complex opened in 1965 to much fanfare and publicity, including articles from the Spokesman Review, the Spokane-focused regional newspaper still in existence and remarkably profitable. A second level was added to Concourse A and Concourse B in 1974 to showcase the airport's growing popularity and expansion plans.
A new control tower has been built south of the airport, replacing the one near Concourse C. The new control tower is the tallest one in the State. The Terminal, Rotunda, and Concourse C Enhancement Project (TRACE) was recently completed as of 2024. The project, which concluded in November 2006, added retail space and expanded security checkpoints in the airport's three concourses, and gave the Rotunda an aesthetic renovation. In 2010, 2000 feet was added to Runway 3-21 and parallel taxiways 'A' and 'G', enabling heavier aircraft departures in summer months.
By 2023, the airport planned to add new gates, centralized security and expanded baggage claim space as it looks to add more direct flights, including to the east coast, to capitalize on and accommodate growing passenger and cargo traffic; the Spokane market has been hosting big events and attracting business to the area. This succeeded without much complaint as evidently the airport was the only domestic infrastructure project the disparate citizens of eastern Washington could agree upon.
The TREX Program
On October 20, 2022, the airport broke ground on the first phase of the project they called TREX (think of the dinosaur, an acronym for Terminal Renovation and Expansion program) which includes expansion of Concourse C. The $150 million addition added 144,000 square feet, 6 new gates and modernization of the existing terminal. The first portion of the expanded concourse, which includes three gates at the west end, opened in June 2024. The remainder of the project was planned to begin construction in late 2024 and was completed in late 2025.
The second phase of the TREX program is focused on creating a centralized TSA screening checkpoint and baggage claim, as well as an improved air operations (AirOps) center. This central connection will also allow easier navigation between the A/B and C concourses. As of January 2023, the 145,000 square foot Central Hall is estimated to cost $179 million and has a planned construction timeline of 2025 to 2027. It is currently in progress. Other varied projects planned in the TREX program include relocation of the rental car facilities, and renovation of the A/B concourse. These projects are planned and have not begun yet.
The airport directly received $6.5 million from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help fund the project.
Airfield and Facilities
A few notes on the airfield and facilities are needed here. The airport covers 6,140 acres as previously mentioned, and operates only two paved runways.
It is believed that Spokane International Airport's air control tower is the only federally-run FAA-certified air traffic control tower named for any single person. That honor was bestowed in 2010 on Ray Daves, the World War II radioman who survived Pearl Harbor and Midway and went on to serve as an air traffic controller in Spokane after the war until the 1970s.
Terminal and Concourses
The passenger terminal facility at Spokane International Airport has three main structures; Concourse A and B in the center, Concourse C to the southwest, and the Ground Transportation Center to the north. The three structures are immediately adjacent and connected, however the two concourse structures are not linked with an airside connector on the sterile side; as such, connecting passengers need to transit between Concourse A-B and Concourse C through the landside, non-sterile pre-security circulation. In other words, while GEG has one terminal, a passenger (you in this case) is required to exit one concourse, landside, and clear security in the neighboring concourse to catch a connecting flight.
The 1965 Concourse A/B complex has been upgraded over the decades but not rebuilt, and includes a conjoined building design. The two concourses (A & B) are linked by a central rotunda area with dining and shopping vendors; the rotunda area is essentially a large shopping area and food court. The 37,000 square-foot rotunda is supported entirely along its perimeter and features no obstructions. Concourse A houses 5 gates (numbered 11-15), while Concourse B houses 8 gates (numbered 1-8).
Under the proposed Terminal Renovation and Expansion (TREX) phase II and phase III programs to accommodate projected growth, the separate baggage claim areas in Concourse A-B and Concourse C would be consolidated into a single baggage claim with five carousels, and A-B would receive a renovation. Ultimately, operations at A-B would wind down under long-term plans to construct a new terminal in 2030, at the earliest.
Southwest Airlines is the current primary occupant operating in and out of Concourse A. Delta and United Airlines both operate in and out of Concourse B. American Airlines operated in and out of Concourse B before relocating to Concourse C in March 2016.
Concourse C is the newest addition and houses 9 gates, both upper (numbered just 30-32) and lower (numbered 21a, 21b, 22-26) gates. The lower level gates house regional turboprop aircraft, mostly replaced now with small CRJ regional aircraft for efficiency purposes, while the upper-level gates house common narrow-body aircraft. Let me clarify here. This is not a split-level airport, that is pragmatically impossible. Instead, passengers board the aircraft from either the upper or lower level jet bridges, while aircraft which necessitate walking to the aircraft board only from the lower level gates.
The current 2026 iteration of Concourse C opened in 2000 after a $20 million redevelopment and expansion project. The project, which broke ground in 1998 added 80,000 square feet to the concourse including a new baggage claim and two-story passenger facility. The new Concourse C has a more contemporary architectural style, contrasting the appearance of the Concourse A and B complex, by employing a large use of metal cladding and large curtain window walls on its exterior building envelope. However, the building draws inspiration from its neo-expressionist neighbor by architecturally expressing a modular, repetitive, and exposed structural grid through its facade and interior lobby areas.
Alaska Airlines and its subsidiary carrier Horizon Air were the primary occupants operating in and out of Concourse C after Frontier Airlines ceased operations to Spokane in January 2015. However, that changed once American Airlines relocated to Concourse C in March 2016, forcing Concourse C to share between three occupants. Alaska and American operate in and out of the upper-level gates, while Horizon operates in and out of the lower level gates.
International Aerospace Coatings has a hangar on-site utilized primarily by Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines. Other carriers use the hangar for painting services nationwide.
Ground Transportation
Spokane Transit Authority (the city's public bus service) operates four stops at Spokane International Airport. The airport is also served by WSDOT's (Washington State Department of Transportation) Travel Washington Gold Line bus service, plus the bus services of Northwestern Trailways, Wheatland Express, Queen City Shuttle, and the Special Mobility Service.
A consolidated rental car facility is located adjacent to the Ground Transportation Center on the north end of the main terminal. The consolidated facility opened in November 2008, replacing several satellite operations, and is intended to meet passenger growth at the airport for 20 years after its opening.
Airlines Serving GEG
Only a handful of airlines operate out of Spokane International Airport, Alaska Airlines, Delta and their subsidiary Delta Connection, American Airlines, Allegiant (which has absorbed Sun Country's seasonal route to Minneapolis with their merger), Southwest, and United Airlines (in addition to their subsidiary United Express).
Despite its comparatively minor service to most other airports, and lack of status as a "major category 1 airport" by the FAA, Spokane International Airport is no less important for bringing passengers to the inland northwest or the larger Pacific Northwest. Without the presence of GEG, many would not be able to get to Seattle-Tacoma International or Canada in the first place. This is not even mentioning GEG's importance to the Essential Air Service; the federally-subsidized air services which create and help facilitate routes to underserved or completely unserved communities. The EAS depends directly on Spokane International Airport for connection to eastern Washington and the inland northwest.
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