Construction began this week on one of the first major elements of the San Antonio International Airport’s $2.5 billion redevelopment plan: A new ground load facility that’s expected to add three gates, with the possibility of expanding to five.
The addition will use pre-engineered metal to construct a 37,000-square-foot passenger facility south of Terminal A. It’s expected to be completed in May 2025, much sooner than the rest of the airport improvements.
The start of work on the new facility comes as airport officials on Wednesday unveiled plans for another new international flight that could take advantage of the new gates.
SAT will add direct flights to Torreón, Mexico, starting June 1, 2024, Director of Airports Jesus Saenz told City Council members.
The flight will be provided by the ultra-low-cost carrier Viva Aerobus, which is also introducing a direct flight to Querétaro, Mexico beginning Dec. 1. Viva Aerobus currently offers nonstop flights out of SAT to Monterrey, Mexico City and Guanajuato.
Ground-boarding gates like the ones San Antonio is building are more commonly used in smaller airports, but growing in popularity at larger airports that want to attract low-cost carriers, which like them for their boarding and unloading speed.
Much like the flights to Querétaro, the flights to Torreón will be aimed at people traveling for work in the automotive and electronics industries, Saenz said. The direct flight to Torreón will take less than two hours on an Airbus A320 aircraft with 186 seats.
While the new $62 million ground boarding facility creates space for smaller planes like the A320, Saenz said larger planes, like ones that will provide direct service to Frankfurt next year, will take up two gates.
Larger gates to accommodate them will be part of a new terminal, which is expected to be complete in 2028.
“The new ground load facility is going to be the bridge that’s going to take us to the new terminal complex,” Saenz said in an interview. “As we put in those gates, it’s going to provide additional capacity for some of these carriers that like to utilize ground load facility operations.”
The new passenger facility San Antonio is building for its ground-boarding gates will include an integrated federal inspection station for international arrivals, according to airport officials. It’s billed as a fully modern facility with dedicated workstations for travelers, as well as new food and retail offerings.
San Antonio received $20 million for the ground boarding facility from a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant this year. Saenz said the Biden administration liked the project’s environmental benefits of moving people on and off airplanes more quickly.
This month the city is requesting another $44 million for its airport redevelopment efforts from the FAA. That tranche of money is expected to include $150 million for midsized airports like SAT.
