AUSTIN | ABIA Updates

[paul78701]

I still find the fact that this is/was a 40 year deal completely insane.

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by drummer

What's the likelihood of success here for the city. I see the point on both sides of the argument, and while I am on the side of the city that the south terminal in its current form is inefficient and impeding necessary growth, I also see the legal argument on the other side. Any legal experts in the chat? Curious about this one.

Great question. I read somewhere that eminent domain lawyers everywhere are going to keep a close eye on this case. The case is a very rare one due to the fact the city is trying to take property it already owns in an effort to get out of a contract they NEVER should have entered.

[Novacek]

IANAL, but say the land was owned by a second party, and leased to a third. Does the city have the eminent domain authority to both acquire the land and terminate the existing lease? Or if the city was able to reach an agreement for purchase with the owner, do they have the authority to then use eminent domain authority against the lease on the property they now own? I think the answer to both of those questions is yes (surely in the history of construction/road projects there's been acquisition of property that's currently leased out).

or if the city ever sells off land, does that terminate forever their ability to later acquire it through eminent domain if the need arises?

It doesn't seem like it's all that much of a precedent.

[ATXboom]

Wow.

- Amazing we can squeeze 30M through BJT

- Whoever was responsible for that 40 year lease should never be responsbile for such things again... Austin needs to start thinking like a big city that is growing faster than any other big city. 40 years... WOW.

- I bet they settle out of court before an eminant domain decision is made

- If i ran the show I'd just take the business away from the operator. Give the low cost airlines a better deal ASAP via bus from BJT. Once the revenue dries up they'll take whatever deal they can.

[ILUVSAT]

Originally Posted by ATXboom

If i ran the show I'd just take the business away from the operator. Give the low cost airlines a better deal ASAP via bus from BJT. Once the revenue dries up they'll take whatever deal they can.

I'm pretty sure the ULCC's have contracts with Lone Star/South Terminal which would be costly to break - regardless of what ABIA offers.

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by ATXboom

Amazing we can squeeze 30M through BJT

That's after completing the whole, master planned expansion (2037ish). Obviously, the BJT will be much bigger at that time (plus the midfield concourse). A total of 65-70 gates (I don't remember the exact number).

The current infrastructure of the airport was designed to support 15 million PAX. We already past that in 2019 (17.3 million). They're estimating 22 million this year - roughly 47% over design capacity.



**I believe the three-gate west concourse expansion and the Gate 13 hard stands (bus gates) will increase the terminal's capacity to roughly 18 million. Can someone confirm that?!?

Quote:
Originally Posted by freerover View Post

$100 million should do the trick, I guesstimate, to break the contract. The City wanted to turn a public utility into a private cash cow and apparently signed a public/private partnership contract to that effect.


Quoting myself from April 22nd. Basing everything on 10 minutes of reading time. Big part of lease in right of first refusal to partner for some of the airport improvements.

Regardless, 100 million is only 2.5% of 4 billion planned ABIA improvements, if I hastily read correctly. Well worth 5 -6 years of trial through the Supreme Court (and good luck with that).

Why did City do it? Ask the guy that made the contract. City just passed a VMU bill when lawyer sitting there that successfully sued on another VMU bill before said he sue agian.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by smallfrie

Why did City do it? Ask the guy that made the contract. City just passed a VMU bill when lawyer sitting there that successfully sued on another VMU bill before said he sue agian.

What other VMU bill?

The city just passed a change to development regulations (you know, as they've done hundreds of times before) without changing the zoning of any property. The suit concerned the notification requirements of rezoning properties.

[keifffers5]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

Great question. I read somewhere that eminent domain lawyers everywhere are going to keep a close eye on this case. The case is a very rare one due to the fact the city is trying to take property it already owns in an effort to get out of a contract they NEVER should have entered.

Keep in mind that Adler is an Eminent Domain lawyer by trade, so he is probably in the midst of all of this somehow. When all is over and done with, the taxpayer is going to be paying a pretty penny to get out of this mess but it is just surprising that there was no 'out' built into the contract, then again it is government related so that common sense doesn't exist like you might find in the private sector. Just my opinion so please if you don't agree with it, no need for negative remarks so just move along if thats all you want to comment with.

[keifffers5]

Originally Posted by smallfrie

Quote:
Originally Posted by freerover View Post

$100 million should do the trick, I guesstimate, to break the contract. The City wanted to turn a public utility into a private cash cow and apparently signed a public/private partnership contract to that effect.


Quoting myself from April 22nd. Basing everything on 10 minutes of reading time. Big part of lease in right of first refusal to partner for some of the airport improvements.

Regardless, 100 million is only 2.5% of 4 billion planned ABIA improvements, if I hastily read correctly. Well worth 5 -6 years of trial through the Supreme Court (and good luck with that).

Why did City do it? Ask the guy that made the contract. City just passed a VMU bill when lawyer sitting there that successfully sued on another VMU bill before said he sue agian.

The city did it because thats what govt entities do.....sometimes I think they just do a quick once over and sign off with the belief that it works to the benefit of the taxpayer and then later someone who decided to dig a little finds out they made an ooopsie. Private sector will run over contracts with a fine tooth comb and won't sign off on it unless it fully benefits their business. We must not forget that common sense does not exist in govt

[We vs us]

Every contract I’ve ever signed with a government entity has had easily twice the limitations, and oversight than anything I’ve ever done with private entities. To the point where doing business with the government isn’t much worth the exceptional amount of additional effort.

There’s almost certainly a reason it was built as a 40yr contract term. Incompetence is far too simplistic (and ideological) an answer.

[ATX2030]

Million Air files to expand private jet accommodations
Plan is another sign of Austin's growing affluence

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/...t-service-plans-to-expand-in-austin.html

Mike Christen – Staff Writer, Austin Business Journal
Jun 22, 2022

Plans have been filed to build a private terminal and additional airplane hangers at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, which would expand capacity for private air travel and ultimately provide corporate executives greater direct access to the region.

Fixed-base operator Million Air has filed a concept site plan with the city of Austin to expand its general aviation operation on 34 acres of vacant land next to its current site, on the southern end of ABIA.

The site plan, filed June 16, follows the Houston-based company’s decision to invest $40 million at the airport, building seven hangars ranging in size from 15,000 to 20,000 square feet on municipal land.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by keifffers5

We must not forget that common sense does not exist in govt

What are you even talking about?

[freerover]

Originally Posted by ATXboom

Wow.

- Amazing we can squeeze 30M through BJT

- Whoever was responsible for that 40 year lease should never be responsbile for such things again... Austin needs to start thinking like a big city that is growing faster than any other big city. 40 years... WOW.

- I bet they settle out of court before an eminant domain decision is made

- If i ran the show I'd just take the business away from the operator. Give the low cost airlines a better deal ASAP via bus from BJT. Once the revenue dries up they'll take whatever deal they can.

You know I went back in this thread's history and I went through page after page after the south terminal deal was announced and I didn't see anyone express any concern about it. I'm sure it eventually happened but not before I gave up. If everyone here is such an expert, why wasn't it obvious back then?

It's possible that we (along with the port) only had the 2003 master plan to go off of and it didn't seem that this would be a problem given the 5-6 expansion options identified in that document including the preferred option at the southern side of the port.

[keifffers5]

Originally Posted by freerover

What are you even talking about?

seriously?? if I have to explain it you are not even worth my time.....

[keifffers5]

ABIA posted an update to the Environmental Assessment if anyone is interested. The Federal Aviation Administration has until Sept. 30 to issue their Record of Decision.

https://www.speakupaustin.org/aus-ea

[freerover]

Originally Posted by keifffers5

seriously?? if I have to explain it you are not even worth my time.....

lol. Yeah, ok.

[freerover]

Senior Airport officials were lobbying in DC for the port. I'm guessing they want BidenBucks to fund the Northern terminal extension so they can do that while they do the new concourse.

[kingkirbythe....]

TikTok praises passenger that stepped up as baggage carousel breaks at Austin airport

https://www.mysanantonio.com/lifestyle/a...ort-broken-baggage-carousel-17260860.php

It's no secret that the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport has dealt with some issues lately. In March, passengers complained of security lines stretching outside a terminal (picture above). In April, the airport had a massive messy power outage.

Now, the airport is trending again after a viral TikTok showed how a passenger stepped up after one of the baggage carousels broke down. DAMmusicshow posted a video of a man grabbing the luggage stuck inside the baggage claim area. He even hopped onto the carousel and climbed to grab more.

"Passenger doing the work," DAMmusicshow wrote in the caption of the video that was posted on June 11.

Since it was posted, TikTok has been praising the passenger as the video received more than 2.9 million views and over 200,000 likes. People in the comments believed he should have received a tip (we think so too).

"They need to pay him," officialbhgh commented.

"Not all heroes wear capes you go Mr. Man," Ed Quigg wrote.

"dads doing dad stuff," Shannon Thompson LaM added.

The Austin airport isn't the only one dealing with problems. Many airlines and airports are dealing with delays, cancellations, long lines and lost baggage as they struggle with soaring summer demand and staff shortfalls.

The Boston Globe reported its airport had dozens of delays and cancelations last weekend. USA Today also touched on how hundreds of uniformed Southwest Airlines pilots picketed at the Dallas airport to protest the lack of progress on a new contract on Tuesday, June 21. The picketing is taking place as airline unions seek sizable wage increases.

[Armybrat]

Texas Jeff posted this on Surly….

Last night was my first time picking up at ABIA post-COVID. What an experience...

My wife's flight was two hours delayed, so I pulled into the cell phone lot at fifteen minutes 'till midnight. The place was packed. I was lucky to find a parking spot. The cell phone lot has bloomed into a gas station, a convenience store, and a Whataburger with a drive through. The gas pumps were packed and the Whataburger drive through was backed up into the main lot, blocking traffic. Who decides to head out to the airport for some midnight burgers?

Five minutes after I parked, an 18-wheeler pulled into the cell phone lot and completely screwed up the traffic. WTF? I had questions for the driver like why are you picking someone up at the airport in a giant truck, but a small mob of blocked in drivers convinced the dude to leave, which he did once the Whataburger drive-through line gave him a chance.

Got a text from my wife 30 minutes after she had landed saying that she had her bag and was waiting at post E. I texted "Is it crowded where you are?" and she replied "It is more crowded elsewhere." which is information but not exactly what I wanted to know. I replied "OMW".

I started the car, weaved around the Whataburger drive through, drove around the gas pumps, tried to exit the cell phone lot and hit standstill traffic before I could even get onto the loop around the terminal. It's fifteen minutes after midnight and the airport is gridlocked. Why?

I called my wife and use my best Puddy voice and said "Babe, you gotta get upstairs to Departures. If you don't we will need to find a place for breakfast on the way home." I waited two minutes, which was easy to do because my traffic lane was not moving. I changed lanes to Departures and had two completely empty lanes to choose from and a mostly empty curbside area to pick up my wife.

If you head to the airport, beware the cell phone lot and the Arrivals area. Picking up at Departures can save you about an hour. However, if you need midnight Whataburger, a tank of gas and a bag of Fritos, they are ready to serve.