Airport Experience® News - Leadership Issue 2024

Right: San Antonio International Airport is on a growth trajectory. Director Jesus Saenz anticipates serving 11 million passengers this year, and predicts the airport will soon enter the ranks of large hub airports in the U.S.

City of San Antonio Airports director Jesus Saenz comes from a long line of “helpers”. Texas born and Texas bred, “all of my family, from my grandparents to my parents to my brothers and sisters, were always serving others,” says Saenz. “That’s what ultimately has led me to my career as an airport director. I try and help everybody I can.” After 25 years at the Houston Airport System, Saenz was recruited to lead the City of San Antonio Airports, which operates both San Antonio International Airport (SAT) as well as Stinson Municipal Airport (SSF), joining in February 2020. That was inauspicious timing given that the Covid-19 pandemic hit that same month, but Saenz navigated through that crisis, and SAT returned to growth under his leadership. Since then, SAT has expanded the concessions program with a focus on more local brands; increased air service, including international service; and embarked on an aggressive expansion program that will add a new terminal, renovate the existing Terminal A and make various other upgrades. For his effective management throughout the pandemic and into a new growth cycle, his forward vision for growth and his commitment to the broader airport industry, Saenz was selected as AXN’s Director of the Year in the medium-hub airports category. Catching The “Jet Bug” For Saenz, an interest in aviation began while working in another field entirely. While studying to obtain his bachelor’s degree in social sciences from the University of Houston, Saenz worked in the delivery information and loss prevention departments of the United Parcel Service , better known as UPS. “You cannot be a supervisor with United Parcel Service without being a package car driver, and I did a couple of

deliveries to [Houston’s] Ellington Field – it intrigued me,” says Saenz. “I don’t know if the ‘jet bug’ got to me there, or if [it was] the experiences that we had delivering packages with the United Parcel Service as a cargo carrier that really intrigued me,” he adds, but the experience “led me to be a part of the Houston airport system.” In December 1995, Saenz began his career in the Houston Airport System in logistics. He began by managing parking, shuttle bus operations, maintenance and customer service needs at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), which led to serving in a wide variety of roles at both IAH and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU), culminating in the role of chief operating officer (COO) for the Houston Airport System. Saenz says that spending 25 years in the Houston Airport System helped him not only fundamentally understand the ins and outs of airports, but to grow as a leader, and his presence as a leader also helped the airports system grow. “When I first started, [the Houston airports system] was moving approximately 28 million passengers per year. When I left in 2020, we were right at the precipice of 60 million passengers a year,” says Saenz. “We [gained] the ability to connect to the six inhabited continents – I mean, all we had left was Antarctica, and the only reason we weren’t in Antarctica is because nobody wanted to go there,” he laughs. “That was a very strategic effort on our part as a group.”

Saenz was eventually recruited to lead the City of San Antonio Airports, which operates both SAT and SSF, joining in February 2020. “My 30, 60, 90-day plan went to the trash as soon as Covid hit,” says Saenz. “We made a total about-face to say, ‘We are focused on the health, the wellbeing and the safety of all who come in contact with the airport’.” Saenz and his team jumped into action, taking a hands-on approach to protect their workers through the dark days of the early pandemic. “Everyone was looking for a mask, and we couldn’t find enough for the employees. So we went to a cloth store…, we bought sewing machines, and we spent the time building 700 masks,” says Saenz. “We made our own masks so that we could give them to all of our employees and to some of their families, so that they would be okay.” And as Saenz led the project, “I was giving [the team] guidance on what we needed to do,” he says, “and that led to, ‘How could I not go sit down at a sewing machine and help the teams that were doing that, all for our safety?’” he adds. “And that’s the beauty of who the city is and who the team is.” But even as he navigated the slings and arrows of the Covid-19 shutdown, Saenz was already thinking about San Antonio’s post lockdown growth. “One of the first things we wanted to do was to go out and listen to the community, and figure out what everyone wanted and what they expected of the airport,” says

21

AX NEWS DECEMBER 2024 / JANUARY 2025