SAN ANTONIO — As the San Antonio International Airport services historic amounts of travelers, plans to build a new and improved parking garage to accommodate the growth are gaining steam.
"San Antonio is the fastest-growing city in the United States," said Jesus Saenz, director for San Antonio International (SAT). "As populations, households and jobs continue to grow, people want to continue."
In July, more than 1 million passengers flew in and out of the airport, breaking records set by the same time last year. With that, Saenz said, come parking spaces that remain full.
"Some short-terms are going to long-term because we’ve exceeded our space counts," Saenz said. "The garages are closing every single day. We’re pushing a lot of our passengers to the surface lots."
SAT has already announced an expansion, and plans to open a new terminal with new flights being offered by 2028.
The construction of a parking garage was already a part of those announcements, but SAT is expediting the addition and starting phase one of building the new "ground transportation center."
"We're going to need more than 500 spaces and we know that," Saenz said.
The proposed parking garage is set to go on airport property on West Terminal Drive. It will be across the street from the existing, covered long-term and short-term parking garages.
"We’re far exceeding our passenger activity levels, which is why we’re coming forward and saying, 'We’ve got to pull this garage out right now and we got to move on it today,'" Saenz said.
San Antonio's primary airport will soon be looking for a designer and a contractor. The airport states they will share the total number of spaces as they go through that process.
An exact opening date has not been announced, but the airport plans to complete the garage before the terminal opens in 2028.