It’s not all bad news, though. While the majority of airports use this “Street Plus” pricing model, 43% require their food and beverage tenants to charge the same prices at the airport as they do landside. The Pacific Northwest seems to be especially good in this regard. At PDX, street prices have been in effect since the mid-’80s, making them true pioneers in terms of US airport restaurant pricing. “For us, street pricing is the right thing to do,” says PDX airport spokesperson Kama Simonds. “Travelers are happy, they are eating good meals and purchasing quality products — all while paying a fair price.”

A Frontier Airlines gate still has an electronic sign operating that said its last flight to Austin was on time. Some drinks left by the final passengers there still sit in cup holders in chairs that have yet to be removed. Scaffolding is everywhere to allow crews to remove lights and other potentially harmful or salvageable material.

Demolition workers said their job was a bit eerie at first as music kept playing and escalators still moved — and it seemed a bit like an apocalypse had emptied the building of all people.

Williams said the airport is trying to recycle what it can.

“The contractor is recycling a whole lot of the material,” he said. “So, as they demolish the buildings, they sort out all of the rebar and all of the things that can be recycled. The concrete is mostly all crushed. So everything that can be reused is reused.”

With fewer people flying due to the pandemic, officials decided to demolish the entire former airport at once, which will save $300 million and two years of time, Williams said.

However, the expedited plans could also mean a crowded airport once the pandemic slows and people resume flying in large numbers.

“It made sense, but it was also a very difficult (decision) because you’re trying to plan for the future to make sure you can handle the flight capacity as the recovery happens, ’cause we are going to have less facilities in the near term,” Williams said.

“(We’re) really trying to figure out when the recovery happens. It looks like 2022 will probably be a little bit of a challenging year because we won’t have a lot of new facilities yet.”

However, he did say that the airport has the capacity to build out to accommodate more travelers, if necessary.

“Now, at any point in time, once we’re through with the pandemic and there is a vaccine and people are flying again, we have set things up so we can build to the future,” he said. “So we can add onto Concourse B at any time. We’ve got those plans ready.”

A 44-year-old man was arrested Wednesday after refusing to wear a face mask on a flight leaving Salt Lake City International Airport.

The man had boarded the late Delta plane at 10:40 p.m. He rushed past the gate agent, according to a probable cause statement for his arrest, and ran down the ramp to his seat.

The agent followed the man, asking him to put on a mask because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He refused.

The captain and flight attendants later asked, as well, but the man became “argumentative” and would not cover his face, the arresting documents say. The staff then called airport security to escort the man off the plane. He refused to move, as well.

All passengers — “several dozens,” according to the police statement — were instructed to leave the plane while officers talked to the man. He agreed to walk off once the aircraft was empty.