San Antonio airport set to take off with development of new terminal

World-class cities deserve world-class airports.

For a variety of reasons, our airport terminal development did not keep up with our economic development over the last two decades.

To visitors, our airport plays an outsized role in first impressions, but when they land in San Antonio today, they get little sense of our rich history and culture.

The airport is also an economic development engine, critical to our region’s success.  We are one of the fastest growing cities in the country with a bustling tourism and convention business, but to this point we’ve grown without the airport being a catalyst for that growth.

We are changing that and moving quickly to make our airport a centerpiece of an economic rebirth.  On February 15th, the San Antonio region will get the first look at the future San Antonio International Airport as the City of San Antonio’s Aviation Department presents the results of a year’s worth of planning. This is a pivotal moment for SAT, as the work to design the new terminal complex begins in earnest.

In 2017, Mayor Ron Nirenberg created the Air System Development Committee to make the airport a public policy priority during his administration.

The committee was comprised of business and community leaders whose first goal was to answer one question – “will it fit?” – will the existing airport facility be big enough to facilitate future growth? The answer was an unequivocal “yes.” 

I have had the honor of serving as the committee’s chairman from the outset.

The committee’s main recommendations focused on three things that have guided the process since.

One, any future terminal should focus on the passenger experience - every facet of design should focus on maximizing the passenger experience and provide a positive impression for our first-time visitors.

The second key committee recommendation was that our future airport communicate what we called “sense of self,” our city’s rich history and culture. Finally, we recommended that our future terminal should have one eye on the future and take advantage of technology and design trends to be that one would expect in a world class airport.

At the time, I promised the committee we had a year – maybe two – of focused work to get the job done. I was wrong.

Almost six years and a pandemic later, the airport team is poised to share at City Council next week design concepts for a new airport terminal facility that are nothing short of jaw dropping. The new airport will spark excitement in our community unlike anything we’ve seen in years and be cathartic for many who hinge our future on charting a new course with the airport. 

As the saying goes, this didn’t “just happen.”  Success has many fathers and mothers - credit for our accomplishments can be shared by many.

First, our mayor. Mayor Ron Nirenberg demonstrated vision by putting the ASDC together and making the airport a public policy priority throughout his three terms. His continued leadership has helped us weather political crises that might have derailed a less-focused elected official.

A talented team of city staff and their consultants are bringing the vision to life. Our committee’s strong observation over the last seven years is our public servants are deeply committed to fulfilling the vision of building a world class airport.

Our City Manager, Erik Walsh, has been personally Involved in the airport project, immersing himself in every detail of the design and finances while guiding the airport team. He fully recognizes that the airport is the largest project to be built during his tenure and has dedicated his energy, leadership, and executive focus that one might expect for a project of this scale.

Jesus Saenz, our Aviation Director, has assembled a “dream team” of talented aviation industry experts who know how to build world class terminals and, ultimately, attract more non-stop flights. Jesus is an airport guy. He eats, drinks, and sleeps airports -- there's not a better person to be at the point guiding this team to a successful outcome.  

Saenz and team have also brought on board the best airport design team in the country and an architecture team whose projects capture the spirit of our city and its rich history and culture.

We are making up for lost time. We have the right team and components in place and have momentum for a 2024 groundbreaking of our new terminal.

We are on the precipice of doing something special for our city and building an airport that will propel our region for the next century, taking a perceived economic development liability and changing it to an economic development crown jewel, why is this so important to our future?

It is tremendously important because this city deserves a world class airport.