Just last week the final tally came in on SeaTac’s proposition 1. The “ayes” have it.
So the sky must be falling, right? Afterall, opponents of the biggest campaign the City of SeaTac has ever seen have been claiming for months that businesses would close shop, employees would lose their jobs, and airlines would move their business away from SeaTac.
Wrong. Despite these claims, business appears to be booming at SeaTac airport.
Rather than moving business away from SeaTac, some are making new investments. In fact, Delta Airlines is making moves to expand business at SeaTac airport. On election day, with a pending victory for living wages at SeaTac Airport, Delta Airlines announced, their plans to expand the Seattle market by adding 8 new daily non-stop flights, and a summer seasonal flight to Alaska. Demonstrating that with living wages, SeaTac Airport will grow as an international hub.
Are we seeing businesses close inside the airport? Well, it looks like the opposite is happening for concessionaires inside the airport. Just last week, the Port of Seattle announced that they are opening 4 new duty free stores, which plan to hire roughly 85 new employees.
Currently, Proposition 1 will cover roughly 6300 workers, but it looks like with these new shops and expanded flights, there will be even more living wage jobs at SeaTac Airport.