b'30 SLC GROUND SUPPORTfleet of new buses was not SLCs first choice;In keeping with the airports environmental policies, the newly however, renting or buying used school busesacquired vehicles run on compress natural gas. or charter buses wouldnt meet its needs.Next up was finding people to drive the buses; and candidates The minute we found out we were goingwith a Commercial Drivers License (CDL) were a hot commodity forward with the hardstand operation, ourduring the pandemic. parking manager started making calls, saysBefore 2020, Id pass a big billboard on my way home Director of Airport Operations Treber Andersen.advertising wages for bus drivers at $19 per hour, Wyatt recalls. We discovered that Denver Airport had closedTREBER ANDERSENBy the time we were finished with the hardstands, we were paying a remote lot, and those buses were not being used anymore.$24 or $25 an hour for CDL bus drivers.SLC purchased 17 40-foot ElDorado buses for $3.3 million,The airport consulted its parking provider to help establish and in-house crews removed rows of seats from the middle toshuttle service for hardstand operations. SP+ (now Metropolis) make room for more passengers and luggage. Mechanics weresupplemented its existing parking lot operation at SLC and comfortable making the modifications because the airport alreadybrought in additional managers to launch the new airside bus owned the same brand of buses. service. One key move was recruiting an employee with hardstand Hill International, which provides financialexperience at other airports to work with dispatchers, hire drivers services for the overall construction project,and provide associated training. credits the airport for finding a way to mitigateDriving those large buses all over the airfield is not an optimal the high expense. In terms of managing costs,thing for an airport, Wyatt says. We had someone in the control finding these buses was very helpful, saystower just to be sure the movement on that part of the airport was Charles Idehen, program controls manager at Hill.properly coordinated. CHARLES IDEHENMarch | April 2026AirportImprovement.com'