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Adding more international flights at San Antonio airport would boost local economy
From: SA Report
Those of us who have visited the San Antonio International Airport have noticed that it is pulling from all levers to handle large crowds of travelers. Airport staff is working around the clock to maintain the level of high-quality service for the millions of leisure and business travelers that depend on our airport. But have you ever considered how important the airport is to our city’s ability to attract foreign direct investment and economic opportunities from abroad? It’s a bigger deal than most people realize.
According to the City of San Antonio Aviation Department, international demand to and from our airport has grown at an astonishing rate over the past several years. While the COVID pandemic slowed growth, demand from most regions has recovered, and in several cases, surpassed 2019 levels. This is exciting because international travelers usually stay longer and spend more money in the region than domestic travelers, adding a much-needed boost to our local economy.
Our city has been closely connected to Mexico for many years, but demand has grown significantly due to our ever-expanding population, post-pandemic travel patterns and the new Mexican airlines. Increased activity between our metro area and Mexico is creating many more opportunities to connect our region and other cities across Mexico.
Over the past two years, our airport has added nonstop service to five Mexican destinations across five airlines. Expansion to more cities in Mexico is important, but so is expansion to Panama, Colombia and other Latin American countries. The city’s aviation department estimates that just one new flight to Central or South America, even less than daily, could result in an economic impact of over $36 million per year. The economic development opportunities created by international flights are too important to ignore, and it’s exciting to know that San Antonio is positioned to benefit from them.
In large part, this is because our local communities made up of people from those countries are growing at a very fast clip. Also, we’re creating relationships with major cities and their markets, requiring airport capacity that can handle the passenger and cargo that are already arriving from these countries. I’m confident that, in the next five years, San Antonio will have established strong Sister Cities relationships with major cities in Central and South America.
It is also important to me that we establish nonstop service between San Antonio and Europe. The city’s aviation department estimates that a single new flight to Europe could create over $52 million in economic impact to our community on an annual basis. London is the top market for European travel to San Antonio. Continuing to grow lasting relationships in the United Kingdom, Spain and Germany is key to attracting flights to our airport.
It’s not just tourism that informs our airport expansion efforts. San Antonio’s strong cultural relationships with Spain and Germany span hundreds of years. Those historical and cultural ties have resulted in significant business opportunities and opportunities for our local universities and our local economy. There is a straight line that connects those long-term relationships with current and future jobs and capital investment for San Antonio. San Antonio’s economic resiliency depends on an airport that can support tourists, business travelers and cargo planes.
San Antonio’s limited airport has resulted in our region losing out to other cities when large employers consider relocating or building new corporate headquarters. I know this because, all too often, I’ve been in the room when the CEOs and their site selection consultants tell us that San Antonio checks all the boxes of an ideal host city, but our airport makes it impossible for them to choose us. Simply put, we have gifted multi-billion-dollar opportunities to other cities by not offering a competitive airport to the world’s largest employers.
Recognizing this, and with a sense of urgency, I am working with our airport team, Mayor Ron Nirenberg and our City Manager to add more capacity to our airport so that we can meet our growing city’s needs and maximize our potential. During the development of the San Antonio Airport System Strategic Development Plan, the airport team and the City of San Antonio emphasized engagement throughout the community resulting in a plan that incorporated input from more than 100,000 direct engagements with residents and stakeholders. We’re always eager to hear from residents on how our airport can best serve locals and visitors and we will continue to inform the public of our progress through regular public presentations to civic and residential organizations, which offer opportunities for feedback. After all, this airport belongs to all of us.
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I'm just repeating what I've read in the news and my experience with being a PM on other airports projects.
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