Airport Experience® News - Leadership Issue 2024

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DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR MEDIUM-HUB AIRPORTS

Saenz. “[We gathered] 100,000-plus pieces of feedback. At the end of the day, we want our airport to have a sense of place, and we want it to represent San Antonio.” Saenz’s solicitation came as the airport was embarking on a terminal development project, which will create a new 850,000 square foot Terminal C with 17 domestic and international gates, new concessions and lounge spaces, passenger screening areas and FIS stations, and adjacent roadway improvements. “It was a big challenge to go from [Houston’s] 60 million passengers … to going to San Antonio,” says Saenz. “But I started

to look at the long-term opportunities. I looked at the competition between Dallas and Houston [and compared it to] what was happening between Austin and San Antonio, one of the strongest corridors in the entire nation,” says Saenz, noting that he quickly realized that San Antonio was moving in the same direction as the larger city pairs. “The city of San Antonio is the fastest growing city in the United States,” he adds. “When I arrived in 2020, I didn’t know that was going to happen, but I could tell that Texas was getting very attractive to the entire country, and that led me to believe that at some point the airport had to be ready.” Focus on Passengers The new terminal, which is scheduled to be complete by 2028, will help SAT reach its goals for keeping up with regional growth, says Saenz. “When you start to look at the overall reach of the San Antonio International Airport, it’s close to 5.1 million people,” he says. “What we are doing from an asset standpoint is preparing the airport for the future in alignment with what we’re doing with air service development. “[The period] right after Covid was a very somber one, but we had to inject different efforts and initiatives to work towards growing our air service market,” he adds. “We’re moving 10 million passengers a year – we’re going to break 11 million passengers this year. So we’re creeping up close to [SAT] being a large hub,” says Saenz. “My focus is preparing the airport for the future, not in 2024, but for 2030 and beyond.” To further enhance the passenger experience, Saenz has also helped expand SAT’s concessions program. “I think we have really, really good transformations that have occurred over the last three years,” he says, noting that adding San Antonio-based brands like Smoke Shack and Whataburger to SAT’s dining lineup has been rewarding. “If you haven’t been to Whataburger, you haven’t tasted a good burger – that’s probably a little biased from a Texas kid,” he laughs. And while his team is still in the process of finalizing new concessions from operators HMSHost and Paradies Lagardère , he promises “a mixture of some well-known beverage and retail establishments, along

Below: San Antonio International Airport recently embarked on an expansion project for a new 17-gate Terminal C. The project is expected to be completed in 2028.

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AX NEWS DECEMBER 2024 / JANUARY 2025