Austin-Bergstrom International Airport will add 32 gates as part of a massive expansion project already underway, almost doubling from the 34 gates it has now.
The new numbers were revealed Wednesday after decade-long lease contracts were finalized with the five biggest -passenger airlines at ABIA: Southwest, Delta, United, American and Alaska.
Those leases lock down how much space the airlines will occupy and help the city secure financing for the airport expansion, whose price tag now exceeds $5 billion. Funding for the project comes exclusively from airport revenue.
"Today's a big deal," Mayor Kirk Watson said. "Austin is a remarkably successful city right now, and part of the proof of that is you have these major airlines that want to be a part of it."
Of the new gates, 26 of them will not be available until the early 2030s when Concourse B opens. The billion dollar facility, currently being designed, will connect to the Barbara Jordan Terminal by an underground walkway.
Southwest Airlines, the carrier with the biggest presence at ABIA, said it wants to lease 18 to 20 gates, virtually doubling from the 10 gates Southwest leases now. Southwest will be the new anchor tenant in Concourse B.
"If there's [more] gates that become available, we want them here in Austin, because we know that we can grow in this place," Southwest Senior Vice President Adam Decaire said. Southwest recently announced plans to open a crew base at ABIA after subsidies from the city and state.
After the expansion, Delta will become the new anchor tenant of the main terminal. The airline said it will occupy 15 gates, open a new lounge and spend $250 million to upgrade its part of the terminal.
American, the third biggest airline in Austin, will increase its presence from four to nine gates.
Of the 32 new gates, the remaining six could open as soon as 2027 as part of Concourse M, a standalone facility to be installed in the middle of the airfield. Passengers will reach Concourse M by taking a three to five minute bus ride from Gate 13 inside the Barbara Jordan Terminal.
Travelers will board some planes from Concourse M by staircase, similar to how the South Terminal currently operates. Other gates in Concourse M will have the standard jet bridge.
The South Terminal is slated to close this spring so it can be torn down to create space for new taxiways and associated infrastructure. Allegiant and Frontier, which currently operate from the South Terminal, will relocate to the Barbara Jordan Terminal. Airport officials aren't sure yet which airlines will use Concourse M.
"Right now, we're planning to use [Concourse M] for diversions, off-schedule flights, maybe even some charter operations," deputy ABIA chief Sam Haynes said. "But we're hoping that once the airlines start to see that it does work and it could help benefit their schedules, we're hoping more airlines will want to use it for their regular schedules."
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly said that JetBlue and Spirit are among the airlines that hold 10-year leases with Austin's airport. They are not.
