Sacramento County’s Department of Airports is overseeing several major changes.
For the past several months Sacramento International Airport has been opening new concessions in both terminals, many of which are local establishments.
Construction is also nearing completion on a new parking garage near Terminal B, which is part of the airport’s $1.4 billion SMForward modernization program — with more projects coming down the jetway. The airport has also put out a survey to solicit public feedback on its 20-year Master Plan.
On the tarmac SMF is looking to expand its flight roster, with goals of eventually adding nonstop international routes, while navigating the impacts from the war in Iran on travel and jet fuel prices.
At the same time, airport officials are also handling a situation at Aviator’s Restaurant, an iconic local establishment located at Sacramento Executive Airport in Land Park which has been forced to stay closed after inspections revealed significant structural issues.
The terminal building at Sacramento Executive Airport Monday, July 20, 2026, in Sacramento's Land Park neighborhood.Sarit Laschinsky/CapRadio
Department of Airports Director Cindy Nichol spoke with Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez about the latest developments.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
Summer is the peak travel time. What do passenger numbers currently look like?
We’re doing well; we're roughly flat. This is a period where we're seeing the airlines reduce some of their flights, and some of the seats that are available. For the full 12 months that ended in June, we're down 0.1%. But, we’ve had four years of considerable growth since COVID. I don't celebrate this, but we're outperforming the airports in the Bay Area. We're just excited about continuing to get more air service and find new ways to connect our region to the world.
Do the changes hinge on the impacts of the Iran War on jet fuel prices and travel?
I think it's a couple things. First of all, just the price of daily activity — your gas, groceries, all that is higher now. As well as the fact that the airlines have been increasing the fares. I think that's what’s affecting people, but we're honestly still pretty darn strong in terms of our demand.
[Airlines] are always looking for ways to maximize their earnings, what they call yield. What we're seeing is, for example, we saw American [Airlines] reduce some of their flights out of here to increase flights to Europe from other airports.
How much sway does the airport have when working with airlines about costs and routes?
We do a couple things. One is we have access to USDOT [and] FAA data that the airlines don't have. We know how many people are trying to get from Sacramento to London, or Frankfurt, or something. We share that information with the airlines [and] work with them. It takes several years for them to understand that we have a significant demand, and they could fill their planes every day if they served us directly.
We can also give them discounts on our landing fees and our terminal rents, but other than that there's not that much we can do. I will mention one of the things we have been doing is working with our business community, trying to get some support from our local businesses. If we can get our community to help support for the first couple years, and prove that there’s that level of demand, then airlines will keep serving it.
Turning now to local upgrades, the airport is wrapping up a parking garage expansion. When will that be done?
The garage is going to be done before Thanksgiving of this year. It’s more than doubling our garage space. It's being built by a local woman-owned business. They are ahead of schedule. Plus when we started this project I said to my staff, "I don't want an ugly garage. I want a beautiful garage." And it's going to be beautiful. The outside is going to be perforated metal that from a distance looks like orchards with big pictures of the fruit. When you look more closely it’s going to be place names, and the names of every single person involved in these projects.
A 2024 rendering of the future Terminal B parking garage at Sacramento International Airport.Sacramento County Department of Airports/Otto Construction
How has the parking situation been amid all this construction?
I want to thank our traveling community because it has been challenging, and people have been pretty patient with us. The garage fills up not the entire day, but pretty much by 11:00 or so it frees up. We try to communicate well out to people what's available.
We have new signage on the roadway that says whether the garage or lots are open. Once you get into the garage you can see how many spaces are available by level, and how many by row. There are red and green lights showing you where the spaces are available. We have that in place in the existing garage and we're putting it in the new garage.
We also learned about a new camera system, Automodus, to help manage curbside drop-off. How does this work?
Our folks, who used to have to just wait at the curb and see if people showed up and needed help, now they can see on cameras if there are people who are parked there for quite a while. We don’t like people to sit there for more than four minutes because it gets crowded, and if you’ve been to Terminal A we get backups on the roadway.
The camera allows them to see when someone’s parked there. They can then go person-to-person [and] talk to them, offer that they can circulate again or go to our free waiting area and then pick up their person.
What other major projects are coming down the pipeline?
We are just now starting work on adding up to six gates, we’re still refining that at Terminal B. That’ll make us able to bring in more flights. All the airlines are scrambling for those gates, they’re fighting over them. We’re also starting a project to reroute the exit from Terminal A just to make traffic flow a bit more easily. After the garage opens, probably [at the] end of this year or early next year, the pedestrian walkway will open. It's going to be so beautiful with incredible art… a delightful way for people to come into Sacramento and to leave Sacramento.
The last big project we have — probably over $480 million — will be a new rental car center. Residents don’t really see that as most are parking or using other forms of transportation, but our visitors do rent cars. Right now that rental car [facility] was the first in the country. It's very 1960s-1970s and you have to take a shuttle bus. So now the consolidated rental car facility will be right south of the [existing] garage. We expect that that [to] open in 2030.
There’s a survey out for the public to weigh in on the next 20 years at SMF for its master plan update. What kind of feedback are you looking for?
What's really helpful is to hear what their vision is. A lot of our passengers are going in-and-out of other airports; what are they seeing there that they would like us to have? We would really like to make improvements to our international facilities, when people are coming into the country through customs.
We're going to get a new air traffic control tower; [the] FAA is building it on the north side of the airport. That will get the old tower out of the way for us to add new facilities. What do people envision us putting there? For example, another thing we’re working on is a childcare center for people who work at the airport. I think that would certainly help women and people in underserved communities who have trouble paying for childcare come and work at the airport, and know that their child is right there.
Your department also oversees Sacramento Executive Airport in Land Park, which is home to Aviator’s Restaurant. It’s been open for nearly three decades and is known for overlooking the airfield, but is currently closed. What’s going on there?
The airport was built in the early 1950s, and construction was a little different in those days. When Aviator’s closed, as they normally do, during the December-January timeframe, we did some inspections. We looked under the linoleum and saw there was some degradation to the rebar, some rusting. We needed to close the restaurant.
The locked door of Aviator's Restaurant is surrounded by holiday decorations Monday, July 20, 2026 at Sacramento Executive Airport in Land Park.Sarit Laschinsky/CapRadio
Right now we’re shoring up the floor. We’re completing inspections to really learn the extent of the damage, and then we’re going to have a contractor come and fix it. Honestly, we think that process could take a couple years.
The restaurant has been a haven for aviation enthusiasts. What kind of response have you received regarding the closure?
It certainly is beloved; I’ve been there myself. I think people understand that we’ve got to make sure that the structural integrity is assured. And, we’re talking to Chik [the operator] about what the future looks like.
Editor’s note: The Department of Airports said on social media it has waived Aviator’s rent during the closure.
