June 13, 2023

This paid piece is sponsored by SDN Communications.

Business travel often means spending time in busy, loud airports.

And taking a work call or getting work done before that next flight can be challenging while seated among other travelers in noisy boarding areas.

Thankfully, the Sioux Falls Regional Airport has a solution for travelers: the SDN Communications Business Lounge. And people wanting to use the lounge don’t have to be a frequent flyer or have a special credit card – it’s free.

“It’s a quiet area for people to get away and work on their laptops,” said Dan Letellier, airport executive director. “You have a bit more room, and you have some privacy.”

Located across from gates 4 and 6, the 1,000-square-foot lounge was installed about 10 years ago during an airport renovation. The lounge features overstuffed leather chairs, six individual workstations, a large-screen television and internet connections. It’s open to anyone and seats about 15 to 20 people.

Letellier said the lounge is used consistently by people traveling for business.

“It depends on the time of day … but I would say there’s always a handful of people in there,” he said. “It’s used throughout the day.”

When the lounge was installed, it offered SDN Communications connectivity services while the rest of the airport utilized another provider. In 2022, the entire airport became an SDN internet customer.

“It was a competitive decision between the package offered by another company and SDN. It was a close call, but we elected to go with SDN, and having the business lounge already, it did make sense to switch,” Letellier said.

Jon Clayborne, SDN commercial sales manager, said the late Mark Shlanta had a vision as CEO for providing the airport with SDN services, so it was a big win when it happened.

“Providing services to the business lounge was great … providing it to the entire airport took it a step further,” he said. “It was always Mark’s vision to provide connectivity to the airport.”

Letellier said having SDN as the airport provider has been a positive experience all around.

“SDN has been a great partner. … They’ve had great reliability.”

Clayborne said it’s a great opportunity to provide services to not only the airport staff but also the travelers who come through the airport.

“We want to provide that quality service whether you’re in the business lounge or not,” he said. “We want the users at the airport to have a good experience. And they do with SDN.”