Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I need direct flights, and options throughout the day. This means a hub. And I want it to be relatively central and have a fast, frequent train to the center of town.
Austin's airport looks like it's maxed out in the current terminal, but there's room for a second terminal (or two) to the south, much like Atlanta or Denver. Runway capacity seems good. At a glance it seems like there's no reason for another airport. Aerial.
San Antonio looks like it has room for another concourse to the west of the existing ones. The two parallel runways are too close to work together in bad weather. The perpendicular runway doesn't add as much capacity as a parallel runway would. A second all-weather parallel runway would require tearing down some real value. But it seems like plenty for another generation or two with moderate terminal expansion. Aerial.
Silicon Valley has been the epicenter of the tech industry for decades. More tech companies are opting to move operations to Texas and other states with lower costs of living and more-favorable tax laws.
I need direct flights, and options throughout the day. This means a hub. And I want it to be relatively central and have a fast, frequent train to the center of town.
Austin's airport looks like it's maxed out in the current terminal, but there's room for a second terminal (or two) to the south, much like Atlanta or Denver. Runway capacity seems good. At a glance it seems like there's no reason for another airport. Aerial.
San Antonio looks like it has room for another concourse to the west of the existing ones. The two parallel runways are too close to work together in bad weather. The perpendicular runway doesn't add as much capacity as a parallel runway would. A second all-weather parallel runway would require tearing down some real value. But it seems like plenty for another generation or two with moderate terminal expansion. Aerial.
Do you think it's likely that both SA and Austin would develop into hubs?
Austin probably had a better chance with a growing Tech Industry.
Do you think it's likely that both SA and Austin would develop into hubs?
Austin probably had a better chance with a growing Tech Industry.
Just one developing into an airline hub is already a seemingly impossible challenger. Houston and Dallas are already major airline hubs. And both are also operating bases for southwest. If a major airline would develop, it would have to be from Delta since United and American are already taken. Austin would have to not only see out of this world population growth but also astronomical infrastructure imptovemwnts to support it all. Right now, were Delta to invest in a major Texas hub, it would likely go to IAH or DFW to accommodate Sky Team alliance presence.
Just one developing into an airline hub is already a seemingly impossible challenger. Houston and Dallas are already major airline hubs. And both are also operating bases for southwest. If a major airline would develop, it would have to be from Delta since United and American are already taken. Austin would have to not only see out of this world population growth but also astronomical infrastructure imptovemwnts to support it all. Right now, were Delta to invest in a major Texas hub, it would likely go to IAH or DFW to accommodate Sky Team alliance presence.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, it's probably going to be a long time before any of the big airlines establish more hubs because of how hard they were impacted by COVID. It's going to take at least several years for them to recover from that.
Even the serious talks about DFW opening a third passenger airport (Fort Worth's Meacham International) and Frontier establishing a hub there have all but ceased.
Will that result in new flights mostly due to origin & destination traffic as the population grows, or will Austin also serve as more of a transfer point? Will an airline go big? It certainly seems plausible. For example Salt Lake is a small hub for Delta, and Portland is a small hub for Alaska. Total boardings in 2019 (wiki) were 12.8m for SLC, 9.8m for Portland, 8.7m for Austin, and 5.0m for SA.
San Antonio would like to expand a runway to enable heavier planes and intercontinental routes. Their terminal expansion/replacement ideas seem to be more about quality than any major expansion.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, it's probably going to be a long time before any of the big airlines establish more hubs because of how hard they were impacted by COVID. It's going to take at least several years for them to recover from that.
Even the serious talks about DFW opening a third passenger airport (Fort Worth's Meacham International) and Frontier establishing a hub there have all but ceased.
2 airlines are currently planned and plan to establish hubs. One of those in Houston actually. But for the major carriers, it will be a lot harder with the lingering debt. The other out of Salt Lake City.
Perhaps Frontier? Spirit? Alegiant? Only legacy carrier that could would be Delta. New airline Breeze Airways May use Austin as a focus point. Avelo already invested in Houston
Will that result in new flights mostly due to origin & destination traffic as the population grows, or will Austin also serve as more of a transfer point? Will an airline go big? It certainly seems plausible. For example Salt Lake is a small hub for Delta, and Portland is a small hub for Alaska. Total boardings in 2019 (wiki) were 12.8m for SLC, 9.8m for Portland, 8.7m for Austin, and 5.0m for SA.
San Antonio would like to expand a runway to enable heavier planes and intercontinental routes. Their terminal expansion/replacement ideas seem to be more about quality than any major expansion.
That would depend on who would be willing to establish there. There’s only so many airlines out there
Maybe frontier? Spirit? Alegiant ? Maybe breeze as an initial focus city? Avelo is already invested elsewhere
Almost all major and semi-major cities are connected. Austin is nothing similar to Houston and DFW in terms of connected airports. In Houston you can fly to all inhabitable continents (Africa pending due to Covid now though), in DFW you can fly to all except Africa. While Austin had a few weekly flights to London, Houston and DFW had like 5 daily each.
Austin doesn't stand out at all for being well connected even compared to other cities in its size range. Even Cleveland puts it to shame.
You're right about layovers not being a big deal though. That's definitely worked in Austin's favor recently. But for a company like Microsoft with so many clients, sometimes it helps to be able to have so many daily flights to where you can catch a cross country fight in the morning and return in the evening.
I never said Austin stood out? I said it had connecting flights to every major city. Comparing Austin to Houston is pretty disingenuous but unsurprising. Again, Texans just hate Austin.
I've worked for tech companies for ten years. Travel and connections is not as big a deal as you think.
What on earth are you on about? I can't remember the last time I took a non-direct flight somewhere in the continental US.
Question for you: have you even been to AUS at any point in your life?
Reminds me of that poster who said Atlanta was way prettier than Austin, quite possible of course. But he'd never been to Austin, just Wichita Falls.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
