San Antonio has a class C airport???? (Houston, Dallas: how much, hotels) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

brajohns81 · 09-12-2010, 11:50 PM

That is in the league with the mid-sized city regional airports. Of course I learned this off of wikipedia so I don't know how reliable it is. If that is true they really need to upgrade. SA is not only an important tourist destination it is the 8th largest city in the US. They should also work on trying to attract more major league teams.

ged_782 · 09-13-2010, 04:55 AM

The Class C designation has to do with protecting approach & departure paths from aircraft not under Air Traffic Control. Austin's airport, for example, is also designated Class C, and they have a runway over 12,000 feet long, which is long enough to handle fully loaded jumbo jets, which would typically be used on overseas flights.

San Antonio is in a tough spot, geographically speaking, with the larger metro areas of Houston and Dallas already established as hubs. Plus, you tend to have more overseas flights arriving from/departing to overseas destinations at East coast/West coast aiports. San Antonio would be more attractive to Latin American destinations, as far as international flights.

The current airport, although relatively small, should be adequate for the foreseeable future. In fact, I think the master plan that is being finalized bears this out. The new Terminal B that is slated to open in a couple of months should help boost San Antonio's image from an airline passenger's perspective. The obsolete 1950s-era Terminal 2 hasn't been doing much to help that image the last few years.

Building a bigger airport with more gates and longer runways probably wouldn't be economically feasible. A new Terminal "C", which would add something like five or six new gates in the initial phase, has been delayed a few years, because the demand for increased capacity just isn't there yet.

Spock's Beard · 09-13-2010, 05:27 AM

Class "C" probably stands for "construction," which is never-ending both in and around the airport.

scuba steve · 09-13-2010, 06:23 AM

Terminal 2... it's like landing in some 3rd world country south of the border. All it needs is a couple of chickens or something running through the building.

Mom2Feebs · 09-13-2010, 07:32 AM

San Antonio's airport is a little misleading with its name. "International"? Sure, if you're going to Mexico. It's a stretch, just like calling San Antonio the 7th or 8th largest city is. Technically, maybe--but we have a long way to go before we can meet the level of amenities and services that a large city should have. Just my opinion.

Quattro72 · 09-13-2010, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brajohns81

They should also work on trying to attract more major league teams.

There is a lot more that San Antonio needs to work on.

smitty12 · 09-13-2010, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brajohns81

That is in the league with the mid-sized city regional airports. Of course I learned this off of wikipedia so I don't know how reliable it is. If that is true they really need to upgrade. SA is not only an important tourist destination it is the 8th largest city in the US. They should also work on trying to attract more major league teams.

Medium sized airports with active control towers are "class c" airports. "class c" airport is really a misnomer, the airspace around the airport is "class c". They include it do indicate the presence of a control tower.

Some of the classes of airspace don't include airports, for example "class a" is between 180 and 18000 feet off the ground. No airports up there, therefore there are no "class a" airports.

Airspace Classifications

Mdlx · 09-13-2010, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brajohns81

That is in the league with the mid-sized city regional airports. Of course I learned this off of wikipedia so I don't know how reliable it is. If that is true they really need to upgrade. SA is not only an important tourist destination it is the 8th largest city in the US. They should also work on trying to attract more major league teams.

Its seems the only problem here is you thinking San Antonio really is the 8th largest city in the US. It's closer to the 28th. The airport is fine for a mid-sized city, which San Antonio is.

I would love for San Antonio to pick up a MLS team and have them play in the alamodome.

Mom2Feebs · 09-13-2010, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mdlx

Its seems the only problem here is you thinking San Antonio really is the 8th largest city in the US. It's closer to the 28th. The airport is fine for a mid-sized city, which San Antonio is.

I would love for San Antonio to pick up a MLS team and have them play in the alamodome.

Exactly. Maybe population-wise, but that means nothing with San Antonio. I never really understood that until I moved here.

When San Antonio can get real with what it is, only then will we grow and flourish as we should, instead of attempting to meet unrealistic expectations.

SweethomeSanAntonio · 09-13-2010, 08:32 AM

2.2 million people isn't a mid size metro. It's a large smaller metro. Bexar county is the 18th most populous county. San Antonio's airport is landlocked so i'm not sure how much it can expand. Although Dallas and Houston have bigger airports they attract less international visitors that actually make it to their final destination according to a study made by Hotels.com. San Antonio attracting more visitors than Dallas and comprable to Houston says a lot. So people flying into their Airports and swithcing plains is of not much significance!