San Antonio Airport (Houston, Atlanta, Memphis: home, purchasing, construction)

[KY Filly]

We are relocating to S.A. soon and recently made a house-hunting trip. My first impression upon arriving at the airport was not an overwhelmingly positive one (as concerned the facilities - certainly not the people - those ambassodors that work at the airport were wonderfully friendly!). My impression was that, for a city of it's size, the airport was very old/outdated. I noticed that there was construction of some new terminals though. Will the new terminals completely replace the older ones and/or are there plans for future remodeling of the airport? Just curious to know, often the first impression one has upon arriving at a city is the condition of the airport.

BTW, we've been reading this forum for several weeks now and it has been very helpful to understand the "goings on" of the area and will help us become familiar with the city more quickly upon our arrival. When we visited recently the info we've learned here was helpful while traveling around the area. Thanks!

[ged_782]

A new terminal will replace Terminal 2 (The one that American, Continental, and US Airways uses). Terminal 1 (built in the 1980s) will remain and be renaimed "Terminal A". The new terminal will be named "Terminal B" and will bear more of a resemblance to the existing Terminal 1 than Terminal 2 (built in the early 1950s). Terminal 2 will be demolished after the new Terminal B opens, and then construction will begin on a new "Terminal C" just west of the current Terminal 2 site.

A new Long-Term parking garage addition in nearing completion, and the two-tier roadway system that currently serves Terminal 1 will be extended to serve Terminals B and C.

[SweethomeSanAntonio]

There will be a total of 3 terminals. There is also a multi-million dollar art project for all terminals.

[adtobias]

the new terminals will be modern but still to small for a city the size of san antonio. and they are taking a long time to complete

[Paka]

I must admit, the airport terminals seem to be in a "terminal" state of repair...if it is not the buildings it is the parking. If they EVER get it all done, we will ALL rejoice!

[firstclassflyer]

Tell me about it! I practically LIVE in the airport. Almost 200 flights last year alone.

[hamjeepr]

Maybe the old/outdated isn't so bad. First, I found it to be the cheapest airport to fly in and out of in TX. Second, I haven't heard alot about lost luggage there. The bigger airports are a pain (Houston-Bush, Atlanta, O'hare). Give me SA anytime. The only airport I like better is Memphis but I'm always connecting on NW so I never leave the commuter terminal.

[firstclassflyer]

I know why you enjoy MEM...it's the smell of either Interstate or Corky's BBQ that permeates throughout the airport, isn't it?


Remember: Friends don't let friends do two things:

1) Fly Southwest
2) Check bags

[oldmanshirt]

My wife and I just visited Denver for the first time, and after seeing DIA it really hit home to me just how tiny SA's airport really is. Does anyone have any insight as to why they're spending all this money to upgrade a landlocked airport with too-short runways instead of pursuing the purchasing of land (say, on the east side around China Grove and St. Hedwig) to build a new airport? I've tried researching this and asking around, but everybody seems to be just as puzzled as I am.

[smitty12]

Denver had a much different situation, when the new airport was being built there both Continental and United had significant hub operations. Now Frontier and United have hubs there.... If not for the connecting passengers on United and Frontier Denver would not have an airport much bigger than San Antonio.

While the terminals are nice in Denver I think the location sucks for actually visiting Denver since the airport is a good 30 to 45 minutes from downtown. When it was built it was literally in the middle of nowhere....

San Antonio does have a 9000 foot runway, The only types of flights this would limit are Long Haul International with big airplanes. The airport is more than capable for any plane on any domestic route. I know last year an Air France 777 diverted to SA, of course it only needed to take off and go back to Houston, so runway length was not an issue due to the light fuel load.

I don't think it is in the cards for any airline to start hub operations out of San Antonio, with American and Continental already operating very large hubs in the state, without a hub the likely hood of large plane international operations are slim, why built an airport to support it?

Part of the long term plan at the airport is to put in another 9000 ft Runway parallel to the current one, so there are expansion plans in the works.

Lackland/"Port San Antonio" has an 11000 ft Runway, and it recently opened for commercial cargo operations, that could be an option, if for some reason we ever needed an airport with a larger runway.

Corey