Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldenBoot
Ummm...Good Luck with that one, Brad!
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Would have responded to this much earlier, but was gone. I have to agree with GoldenBoot on this one. According to the carrier stats for SA Int'l from Dec. '15 through Nov. '16, Southwest accounted for 41.64% of the total PAX count. Assuming SW was relocated to a separate, dedicated site, I can't even begin to imagine what our current airport would look like with only about half as many users as there are now. Granted, we are creeping upward on the number of total annual users, but are still years away from being able to justify breaking ground on Terminal III. If the third terminal was ever built and they wanted a hub for a carrier that would establish one, why not use it for that? If we really get another million residents in the next 20-25 years, I see it getting done, but at the rate we move around this place, I wouldn't expect anytime soon. Airport expansion with more terminals and more domestic and foreign connections will eventually come, but only if and when the carriers view it as a profitable move on their part. I seem to remember the last airport Master Plan showing room for even an eventual Terminal IV so it's not like there is a shortage of space.
Of course, the ongoing controversy over runway expansion being the only way to handle the largest birds remains unresolved. There is a definite limit to how much longer they can get at the current location. An idea mentioned quite some time ago was to utilize the runway at Kelly (11,500 ft) as the nucleus of a new, main airport for SA. That strip is currently the property of JBSA Lackland, so it's potential use by COSA would seem to raise a host of thorny issues meaning years of negotiating with the Feds with no guarantee of a favorable outcome. As a location, it is about as convenient to downtown, SeaWorld and Fiesta TX as is the current airport, but with practically no adjacent amenities such as hotels, restaurants, shopping, etc. Austin ended up with the perfect solution in Bergstrom, and with fewer hurdles to overcome given the original donation of the land by the city to the feds on condition that it would revert back when the feds no longer had use for it. How sweet it is...
San Antonio... THE DRIVING DEAD