Airport Experience® News - Customer Service Issue 2025

DIRECTOR’S CHAIR

WARD: What sort of passenger numbers are you expecting five or 10 years down the road, and how are you preparing? BADAWI: We’re building to accommodate 30 million passengers. WARD: Are you actively seeking more flights or are you trying to accommodate what you have without pursuing more aggressive growth? BADAWI: We are absolutely pursuing more – with air service, it does not happen overnight, especially when trying to attract the international flights. Our community wants more direct connectivity to Asia, more destinations in Europe and more nonstop flights to Central and South America. It takes few years to land those routes, and we’re working with the airlines, presenting the business case and convincing them that we are the best option here in Texas. Our challenge is delivering that growth within the facilities that were designed for

15 million passengers, and we’re pushing 22 million right now. The strain affects everything from the curb to the gate. WARD: Can you share details about the Journey With AUS expansion plan? BADAWI: We have been tackling this on two fronts. First, we’ve focused on near term relief. By Q1 of 2026 we will complete a new TSA checkpoint and our modern outbound baggage handling system will be complete. Three additional gates will be added to offset the closure of gates in the future [during construction]. They will provide modern hold rooms, new concessions, new public art installation by local artists. We’re also adding amenities that we don’t have today, like play areas for kids and a sensory room. We will also add a second outdoor patio out of those gates, and an airline club. Our international arrival facility upgrade was completed this summer. These short-term improvements are going

Above: Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is operating at well-above its current capacity of 15 million, a reality that has prompted the Journey With AUS expansion program currently underway.

to enhance the current passenger experience and give us incremental capacity while we are designing and focusing on the long-term transformation. The long-term transformation involves Concourse B, a new arrival and departure hall and major updates to our utilities. Under construction now is the new midfield taxiway project. It will be complete by 2027 and that will provide the space needed for us to construct the new concourse, because the new concourse will be constructed on the top of the existing taxiways. Also, we’re

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AX NEWS OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2025