An unexpected flurry of email arrived like a cool front from the Hill Country in response to my early November column, San Antonio International Airport is the City’s Achilles Heel.
Readers, elected officials, business owners, and travelers who have to choose between flying out of San Antonio or Austin wanted to tell me a few things:
One, I neglected to note the nonstop seasonal service from Austin-Bergstrom to Frankfurt, Germany on Condor Airlines that began on June 27 this year. Guilty as charged: I didn’t even know there was an airline named Condor.
Austin now offers nonstop service to London, Frankfurt, Toronto, and various cities in Mexico. San Antonio’s only international destinations are to Mexican cities.
“Many Hill Country residents of German heritage with family and friends in the Old Country can now fly to Germany in 10 hours instead of making connections through other cities and spending twice as much time and money getting there with layovers and extra costs,” said one frugal Fredericksburg resident.
Two, many Hill Country residents say they feel a closer bond to San Antonio than Austin, but can’t ignore the greater choice of flights or the lower costs. I received multiple emails from residents in Kerrville, Comfort, and Boerne making points one and two.
“Regarding your article on the San Antonio Airport, important to also note that thousands of fairly affluent travelers from Fredericksburg and certain parts of the Texas Hill Country have the option of which airport to choose – SA or Austin – pretty much the same distance,” wrote Ernie Loeffler, the president and CEO of the Fredericksburg Convention & Visitor Bureau. “If they are looking for non-stop service, you are right: Austin often now wins. Bergstrom now has seasonal nonstop flights to Frankfurt, which is important for German-Texan residents in Central Texas who visit Germany frequently.”
The Hill Country to Europe traffic isn’t limited to family visits.
“The British Airways nonstop to London Heathrow is hugely important to Fredericksburg’s international tourism promotion efforts in Europe,” Loeffler added. “I have a staff person who is attending World Travel Market in London this week and will be talking about that route as the best way to visit Fredericksburg and the Texas Hill Country.”
With the Euro currency only five cents ahead of the U.S. dollar, travel to Europe is looking more affordable now than it has been in many years.
Mayor Ivy Taylor and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff announced plans to form a task force to study the San Antonio airport’s deficit and its negative effects on the city’s profile nationally and internationally. The task force will follow in the footsteps of the Air Service Development Task Force formed by the City and the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and apparently now discontinued.
New nonstop flights to various domestic destinations, including Los Angeles, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, New Orleans, and Las Vegas were added, but since then, a nonstop flight to Philadelphia has been discontinued, as have flights to Mexico City and Cancún.
“The issue of the airport keeps coming up as far as the city’s competitiveness and meeting needs of the one million people who are going to come here (in the next 25 years),” Taylor told the Rivard Report two weeks ago. “We need to get folks in the room to think strategically to determine whether or not we need a new airport, changes to our existing airport, partnerships with other communities, or other innovative models.”
Three (if you are still counting), one Boerne official wrote to point out that while Taylor’s SA Tomorrow plan documents the anticipated population growth of one million more people in San Antonio by 2040, the Multimodal Transportation Plan makes no provisions for expanded airline service or any mass transit plan connecting the city to the airport.
Noting that much of that population growth will occur along I-10 West, the official wrote, “Forget about I-35 and building a new airport in Austin, which isn’t going to happen. Why not build it near Boerne where everyone is moving, anyway?”
Various San Antonio leaders have lamented the “lost opportunity” of joining with Austin in the 1990s to build a new international airport serving both cities and the region. Austin officials are implementing an ambitious $2 billion expansion plan at Austin-Bergstrom that includes the construction of nine new gates in anticipation of 15 million passengers annually by 2025, the same year San Antonio expects to have grown by 1 million more people.
Yet the difference in the way leaders of the two cities are thinking is evidenced on the one hand by Austin’s long-term aviation plan and the recently announced planned departure of San Antonio’s Interim Aviation Director Thomas Jones, who has been on the job for less than one year. Jones told a reporter that his most notable accomplishment as interim director was accelerating the planned finish date for a the airport’s rental car facility.
Jones can’t be faulted for the failure to win more nonstop domestic and international flights, but San Antonio does lack visionary aviation expertise and leadership. It will take a major change in mindset among local officials and business leaders to move from increment thinking to more ambitious long-term strategies. It’s easier, of course, to sell taxpayers on incremental change than it is to win buy-in for a long-term vision, but the cities that think and act long-term are the cities that are thriving.
Taylor, to her credit, said the new task force will consider all options, including the feasibility of a new airport. Some will point to South Texas and, by inference, to Mexico as the logical location. While population growth might favor that conclusion, I believe it would be wrong. Economic development and wealth creation is occurring at a faster rate in the other three directions around San Antonio. As Austin’s elevated airport traffic shows, it’s the size of a city’s economy rather than its population that determines how many people have business reasons or the personal income to travel.
As for Mexico? This city’s ever-growing population of wealthy Mexican nationals live in the city’s north and northwest sectors, not so far from our near-Hill Country neighbors.
Non-daily, nonstop flights to Cancun are offered by Southwest Airlines…
I am originally from Alsace France and go home once a year using the Frankfurt airport as a destination. This has been a subject of discussion for my family for 10
years, thank you for raising awareness on this issue. I leave downtown San Antonio and we use the Austin airport now instead of the SA airport who is 10 min from my house. Prices and flight choices are just not competitive.
I have suggested before a plan that might work for the city, but they never seem to pursue it. I lived in Europe for 20 years. Europeans have 5-6 weeks of vacation (“holiday”) each year and take charter trips to warm, sunny climates. The charter companies put out catalogs for shopping for these vacations twice a year (winter and summer). Europeans tend to prefer beaches, but they will go to multiple locations. San Antonio officials should be approaching the charter companies (which are large Euro corporations now with sales offices in all major cities–Tui being one of the largest) about charter programs (which offer flight only or flight and housing combined) to San Antonio. Europeans wouldn’t come here for a whole week. But I think they would choose to fly here for 3 days in San Antonio and 4 days at North Padre Island. Those coming for two weeks might choose a week in San Antonio and a week at North Padre Island. The nice thing is that these charter airlines, when they develop a location, send one flight a week from each city as the popularity of the destination grows. If That means that over time there can be a flight from London one day, one from Copenhagen another, one from Vienna another, etc. Also, the flights go both ways, so locals in the destinations can book flights only from them to head to Europe. Although the flights to any one city would be weekly rather than daily, imagine daily flights leaving San Antonio with each day having a different destination in Europe! And these charter flights are budget priced.
This has been an on-again & off-again conversation for more then 30 years. It has yield little return and possibly late in the context of our long term economic competitiveness. Cities beyond San Antonio understood early on that great airports are key to supporting economic & wealth transactions. They also knew that “economic development and wealth creation” stimulates airport demand. San Antonio has yet to produce the critical mass of wealth to sustain the desired expansion of airport services. It also has not had the collective will to stimulate both aspects of the coin; which are critical to sustaining the livability aspects that attract and retain 21st century individuals. I have personally witnessed the arrival of talented and creative people who have left, often citing our relaxed market coupled with a lack national/international connectivity. I am glad that San Antonio is again talking about a race to the finish line. Perhaps the turtle can once beat the hare.
This has been an on-again & off-again conversation for more then 30 years. It has yield little return and possibly late in the context of our long term economic competitiveness. Cities beyond San Antonio understood early on that great airports are key to supporting economic & wealth transactions. They also knew that “economic development and wealth creation” stimulates airport demand. San Antonio has yet to produce the critical mass of wealth to sustain the desired expansion of airport services. It also has not had the collective will to stimulate both aspects of the coin; which are critical to sustaining the livability aspects that attract and retain 21st century individuals. I have personally witnessed the arrival of talented and creative people who have left, often citing our relaxed market coupled with a lack national/international connectivity. I am glad that San Antonio is again talking about a race to the finish line. Perhaps the turtle can once again beat the hare.
This has been an on-again & off-again conversation for more then 30 years. It has yield little return and possibly late in the context of our long term economic competitiveness. Cities beyond San Antonio understood early on that great airports are key to supporting economic & wealth transactions. They also knew that “economic development and wealth creation” stimulates airport demand. San Antonio has yet to produce the critical mass of wealth to sustain the desired expansion of airport services. It also has not had the collective will to stimulate both aspects of the coin; which are critical to sustaining the livability aspects that attract and retain 21st century individuals. I have personally witnessed the arrival of talented and creative people who have left, often citing our relaxed market coupled with a lack of direct national/international connectivity. I am glad that San Antonio is again talking about a race to the finish line. Perhaps the turtle can once again beat the hare.
Great article. Thank you for shining light on this issue.
As great as it is that Austin is really planning for airport expansion, they’re still doing a terrible job providing better transportation options for their citizens. I35 is still a nightmare.
Hopefully San Antonio can do a good job of planning holistically.
Competing with Austin may be wise. Building a new modern Airport closer to Austin maybe utilizing the area around the underutilized toll 130. Take advantage of Austins weaknesses like traffic and correcting our weaknesses like transportation to and from downtown.
Such an important issue that I’m glad is being brought to the forefront of discussion. The airport will need to move eventually, just as Mueller did in Austin. My guess is that they will move it to the Southside somewhere where land is abundant and cheap. We can’t compete with Austin’s flights, it’s a losing battle, but we can build a bigger airport that can accommodate larger flights and try to attract more low-fare operators like Frontier to come to San Antonio. It’s really inconvenient to go to Austin to fly, but I would rather do that and get on a direct flight to Boston, etc. If the city sells or develops the old airport land, it would fund a lot of the new construction.
The problem with American at San Antonio is that they fly alot of their nonstop flights on Eagle, which has got to be the worst airline of all (being Platinum on AA for over 15 years, I know first hand.) Eagle has a weather problem, cramped seats, and terrible first class service compared to normal AA planes. They get very delayed or cancelled and don’t hold many people so they fill up. Fares arent worth it, so Austin is cheaper for better service. I go thru Austin to avoid Eagle or fly on Southwest to SA, which has limited nonstops.
The problem is not only a vision for an improved airport, but a vision for a city that is floundering in the past. San Antonio continues to fall behind in the creation of new higher paying jobs. The city lacks the capacity to draw employers who will invest in the city infrastructure. An example is a recent article in the Rivard Report that pointed out the new challenges for the UTHSC in light of a new medical school in Austin and the RGV. Investing in a fledgling biotech industry may take decades to bolster an economy built around lower paying tourism. Both SA and Dallas had Toyota plants but where did Toyota move its USA headquarters…….Dallas. Why? Ease of air transportation.
We continue argue amongst ourselves over light rail to improve the viability of a new business corridor between Austin and San Antonio and its’ ability to attract new business. I lived in Miami in the early 80’s when the monorail was constructed and completed in 1984. There were many opponents. Today the real estate surrounding the monorail on South Dixie Hwy is some of the most expensive commercial space in the city. We condemn tollways and HOV lanes to alleviate what is becoming a congested city. We are a city of haves and have nots and seem to be content with this bifurcation of low and well paying jobs. Our best and brightest seem to leave for better careers in other cities,
Furthermore, I truly don’t know how it slipped by the electorate of the city to now pay our mayor and city council a meager wage.
As for our woefully forgotten airport. I fly over 150K miles per year over 3 continents and it is very difficult to use SAT as a home base. Non-stops have been cut to Newark, San Francisco and Chicago. Many of the planes used are uncomfortable regional jets and the non-stops are usually ultra early in the morning or mid afternoon. The mid afternoon is just to get a plane to another part of the country for further use. Organizations I belong to have passed San Antonio over as a convention destination because of the lack of non-stops.
The airport is under utilized and honestly poorly designed. Why would you construct a new terminal, where after you go through security, you can’t go from one terminal to the other? There is only one small airline club in a terminal that can only be accessed from one terminal.
It still hasn’t been explained why the entire short term parking had to be demolished at one time to inconvenience business travelers (although the extra exercise is good for me) to construct the new facility. Moreover I am hopeful in the new plans there will be more than one pedestrian bridge from parking to the terminals. Further the runways are too short too handle the larger jets. Did San Antonio make a mistake by creating a land locked airport without the ability to handle larger planes needed for international and transcontinental travel. Obviously, Austin took advantage of the closing of an Air Force base. Was the proximity to downtown more important to San Antonio than a new airport instead of demolishing much of the existing one and rebuilding? Was there a cost benefit analysis done? You put lipstick on a pig and you still have a pig.
Strategically, you need to give the airlines a reason to create more routes and a larger parking garage is not going to do it albeit the rental car facility will be much more convenient. Possibly the creation of incentives for the airlines to fly out of San Antonio in terms of landing fees and terminal costs.
One thing I do enjoy about SAT is that I can show up right before a flight and walk on, but that’s not what you want to hear because that just means either the flights are undersold or there are too few flights.