By Brandon Loomis
The Salt Lake Tribune

Salt Lake City is throttling up the jets on its long-delayed airport reconstruction plan, plotting a $1.8 billion makeover to break ground next year with freshly secured airline support.

Mayor Ralph Becker on Tuesday night announced that the city had reached accord with Delta and the other airlines over the last month - a crucial step because the carriers would pay hundreds of millions of dollars toward the project - and said design work should begin this summer.

A new airport with striking views of the mountains and a window to the future as a major hub would "express our ascendancy" as a city, Becker said in his State of the City address.

"Visitors to the airport," he said, "should experience a wonderful gateway to Salt Lake City, to our state and to the Intermountain West."