Feb. 15—The city's $2.5 billion plan to expand San Antonio International Airport features a new terminal that would be more than twice the size of either of the facility's two existing terminals.
In a series of conceptual renderings by Dallas design firm Corgan Associates, airport officials on Wednesday revealed how the airport — known for its cramped, outdated facilities — could look and operate in the near future.
The new terminal is expected to open five years from now.
The planned facility, to be built adjacent to Terminal B, would take up 832,500 square feet. By comparison, Terminal A is 378,524 square feet, and Terminal B 231,753 square feet.
The renderings show a largely glass exterior that would flood travelers with light. Construction is expected to start in 2025.
The new terminal could include a courtyard and up to 17 gates — for a total of about 40 at the airport. When it opens in the second quarter of 2028, it will operate eight security lines but would be able to increase the number to a dozen down the road.
Several other projects will pave the way for the new terminal, including roadway and utility work and the construction of a parking garage and Ground Transportation Center. The location of the new parking garage will be determined later. The Ground Transportation Center — for VIA Metropolitan Transit buses, hotel shuttles, taxis and rideshares — will include a few hundred parking spaces. Construction is expected to begin in early 2024.
This year, officials are working on design and environmental work and hammering out new lease agreements with airlines.
"It is the most important project that the city has going forward," City Manager Erik Walsh said.
Corgan Associates so far has completed only 15 percent of the design work, so renderings are largely conceptual, without pinpointing structures' precise shapes or the building materials to be used.
The new terminal and related projects are expected to cost between $1 and $2 billion, Walsh said. These are the first — and biggest — steps in the
20-year master plan to remake San Antonio's airport
that City Council approved in late 2021.
'We have not kept up'
A sectional rendering of the proposed new terminal at the San Antonio International Airport. (Courtesy Of The San Antonio International Airport)
A sectional rendering of the proposed new terminal at the San Antonio International Airport. (Courtesy Of The San Antonio International Airport)
Terminal A, which opened in 1984, has one of the narrowest concourses among major U.S. airports, squeezing travelers during peak travel times. Passengers' waiting areas near the gates take up 3,900 square feet in Terminal A. In the new terminal, the waiting areas would be nearly twice as large, at 6,600 square feet.
There also would be far more room for concessions, and therefore more revenue for the city, in the new terminal. Terminal C would set aside 41,000 square feet for restaurants, bars and shops — compared with Terminal A's 23,642 square feet and Terminal B's 5,982 square feet.
Under the expansion plan, the city also expects to rake in more revenue from overnight parking spaces for airplanes. The airport currently has enough space for 12 jets to park overnight — for which airlines pay a fee to the city — but the city will tear old hangars to make way for as many as six new spaces.
More overnight parking also could mean more flights, with planes departing first thing in the morning without first having to fly in from another airport.
Airport officials also have their sights set on increasing the number of nonstop international flights out of San Antonio. That will require making more space for wide-body planes used for international travel. There will be three gates equipped to handle the larger planes arriving at Terminal C.
Driving up to the airport should get easier, too. The airport's pick-up and drop-off lanes will reconfigured for smoother traffic flow.
In addition, the city will build a connector between Terminals A and B, allowing passengers to pass back and forth after clearing security. Currently, they are confined to whichever terminal they're flying out of.
In the second phase of the airport's expansion, security will located in a central location. Each of the two terminals currently has its own security checkpoint.
Katie Harvey, chairwoman of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, backs the terminal plans released Wednesday.
"The updates to the terminal development plan and the launch of the design phase are key milestones in advancing the ability of the business community to attract and retain businesses and critical workforce for the San Antonio region," Harvey, CEO of KGBTexas, a marketing and public relations firm, said in a statement.
Between 2010 and 2020, the San Antonio metro area grew by more than 400,000 people, an increase of 16 percent. At that pace, airport officials expect annual passenger totals to exceed 14 million by 2040, which would outstrip the capacity of the existing facilities.
The 20-year master plan includes extending one of the airport's two main runways to allow for more international travel as well as the remaking of Terminal A.
The city plans to demolish Terminal A, at least partially, but Walsh said that city isn't planning any major work at the terminal until the new one opens in 2028.
"We have not kept up at the airport and everybody knows it," Walsh said.
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