SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio International Airport has plans to double its number of gates with a new terminal. Conceptual designs for the terminal were presented to the San Antonio City Council on Wednesday.
Airport staff estimate the new terminal will be more than 832,000 square feet, more space than Terminals A and B combined. Staff hope to add up to 17 gates in the new terminal, while also increasing the space for travelers to enjoy.
The plan is to get to anywhere between 40 and 42 gates once the terminal is fully open.
“It’s a transformational project for the San Antonio International Airport,” Jesus Saenz, Director of Aviation said. The terminal development program will help the airport meet future travel needs.
Part of the renderings show an outdoor courtyard area that travelers can use once they pass the security gate. Airport officials want to create a sense of place and incorporate the natural colors, textures and landscape of the San Antonio region.
Other improvements include increased space in club lounges, hold rooms—the waiting areas next to the gates—and the federal inspection service area moving into the terminal. Terminal A has 3,900 square feet for its hold rooms compared to 6,600 square feet in the new terminal.
On top of adding a new terminal, the airport plans to improve the roadways surrounding the airport and improve its terminal curbside drop-off areas and add more parking spaces.
A big traffic improvement that’s part of the project includes redirecting travelers into the parking facilities.
“We are going to take all the passenger traffic that was coming into the front and entering to go into the parking garages, is now going to enter directly in the back,” Saenz adds.
“This entryway into terminal A has always been a bottleneck for us,” Saenz says the new entryway into the parking garage will allow for a smoother traffic flow to the terminals.
The International Airport also plans to add overnight parking spaces for planes that move for the airport. Saenz hopes it will open the door to more flights around the clock.
The new terminal can also accommodate up to three widebody aircraft simultaneously, which can come in from international destinations including Europe and Canada.
“That’s the whole purpose of this effort is to continue to expand our air service and have the facilities to be able to handle flights going to those different destinations,” Saenz adds.
The next steps for the airport include doing environmental work to move forward on its design efforts. The Airport will also need to work with the FAA to obtain approvals for the work, while negotiating its agreements with airlines.
The project is estimated to cost up to $2.5 billion and construction could start as soon as 2024, with a plan to open the new terminal in the second quarter of 2028.