City Council OKs new utility plant at Austin airport; more steps in expansion to come

Chase Rogers, Austin American-Statesman
·3 min read
Work continues on the west gate terminal expansion at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Thursday. The expansion will add 84,500 square feet over three levels. Much more is in the works as the airport grows to accommodate increasing numbers of travelers.
Work continues on the west gate terminal expansion at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Thursday. The expansion will add 84,500 square feet over three levels. Much more is in the works as the airport grows to accommodate increasing numbers of travelers.

The Austin City Council on Thursday passed the first of many steps to address the "deficient" elements of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport this year, kicking off a spate of votes in the coming months to increase capacity at the overcrowded airport.

The unanimous decision, the first of at least nine expansion-related votes planned this year, approves a $162 million construction contract to build a new utility plant for the city-run airport. Built in 1997, the existing plant powers the airport's heating and cooling and has reached its peak cooling capacity, meaning it could not accommodate further growth, according to airport officials.

In addition to expanding the ceiling for the airport's growth, current plans for the new plant aim to cut down on the carbon footprint.

"This project is at the forefront of our sustainability and environmental goals," airport CEO Ghizlane Badawi told the City Council during a public meeting Tuesday.

Construction for the new utility plant will begin in June 2025 and be "substantially complete" by November 2027, according to city documents. The City Council approved the city staff's recommended builder for the project, Kansas City, Mo.-based JE Dunn Construction.

The airport's latest expansion involves three new gates, dining areas, a playscape, a quiet room, nursing rooms, a pet relief room and a mezzanine with a public outdoor balcony. The $165 million project is expected to be complete in 2026.
The airport's latest expansion involves three new gates, dining areas, a playscape, a quiet room, nursing rooms, a pet relief room and a mezzanine with a public outdoor balcony. The $165 million project is expected to be complete in 2026.

The majority of the airport's elements are not sufficient to meet the current need, Badawi said. In 2019, the number of gates, the arrivals and departures hall, the outbound baggage handling system, utilities, and landside roads were "insufficient." This year, accounting for the traffic growth, the parking capacity and infrastructure to handle international processing received the same "insufficient" rating.

Thursday's vote is the first of many planned for the year. Next month, airport officials will ask the City Council to consider contracts relating to utilities, such as water main extensions and storm drainage, across the airport — which Badawi said are currently "maxed out" — and a new parking garage with at least 7,700 spaces.

The most significant expansion-related votes will come in the fall. The airport plans to add at least 20 gates inside a newly constructed building, called Concourse B, near the center of the airfield. The concourse, slated to open sometime in the 2030s, would be connected to the Barbara Jordan Terminal by an underground pedestrian tunnel.

A conceptual rendering shows Austin-Bergstrom International Airport's plans for a new concourse and underground pedestrian tunnel.
A conceptual rendering shows Austin-Bergstrom International Airport's plans for a new concourse and underground pedestrian tunnel.

In a memo to City Council members last month, interim City Manager Jesús Garza said two votes relating to Concourse B would come before the council Aug. 27. One of those items is a $72 million contract, for which the city is accepting bids until April 30, to design the nearly $1 billion facility, tunnel and associated infrastructure.

The upcoming votes represent a change in tack by the city. In 2018, the council approved a long-term plan, called the "ABIA 2040 Master Plan," to increase the airport's capacity to 30 million passengers annually by 2037.

A conceptual rendering shows Austin-Bergstrom International Airport's plans for a new Central Utility Plant.
A conceptual rendering shows Austin-Bergstrom International Airport's plans for a new Central Utility Plant.

Airport officials now say the projections informing those plans were an undercount. A post-pandemic surge of traffic brought more than 22 million passengers through the airport last year, and current projections forecast more than 30 million passengers annually by 2027 — a decade earlier than first expected.

The airport has been operating over capacity for years. The last expansion affecting capacity was in 2019 when the airport added nine gates in the Barbara Jordan Terminal. Since then, the airport has been equipped to handle 15 million passengers annually.

Some parts of the airport are already under construction. Last month, as part of what officials call the West Infill project, the airport closed one of four passenger screening checkpoints to start construction on an additional 75,000 square feet of space, new screening lanes and housing for a new outbound baggage handling system.

Construction is also underway to add three gates to the west end of the Barbara Jordan Terminal. Completion is expected to be in 2026, Badawi said.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin City Council takes first of many votes for airport expansion