What does the Austin Airport expansion entail?
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AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin’s airport was built to serve 15 million passengers a year, but over the last two years, it has clocked in more than 22 million travelers each year. But a multi-billion dollar expansion project underway at AUS aims to double its capacity.
At the Austin Urban Land Institute’s monthly breakfast Wednesday, a packed room of Austin area professionals were eager to learn more about the airport’s growing footprint.
“Hopefully at the end is gained capacity and put some relief to those long lines you’re experiencing,” said Shane Harbinson, Austin Aviation Department’s chief development officer.
Harbinson has worked with the Austin airport for 25 years.
“The original airport was designed around 11,000,000 passengers and we did some expansions, brought it up to about 15,000,000 passengers and that was supposed to get us to year 2027, but we hit 22 million the last two years. Following Concourse B, we get to about 32 to 33 million annual passengers,” he said.
With a budget of $3.8 billion, let’s break down some of what the current airport expansion will entail the construction of:
- A parking garage
- An arrivals and departures hall
- An area to process passengers
- An outbound baggage handling system
- A TSA Checkpoint
- Terminal B, which will also include new taxiways
The project also includes the West Gate Terminal expansion, which the city said was necessary to accommodate a future underground tunnel to connect terminal B with the existing Barbara Jordan Terminal.
It’s a lot of work that requires a lot of coordination.
“The airport is one of the most complex entities we have in the city. It’s not just airport staff who are part of the Aviation Department of the city, but it’s how they work with federal government. It requires coordination with the contractors subcontractors, and there’s a lot of attention to detail to make sure that everyone’s playing their right part,” said Austin Chamber of Commerce CEO Jeremy Martin.
While each piece of the expansion has different completion dates, the city expects to finish most of the major upgrades by 2030.
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