AUSTIN | ABIA Updates

[drummer]

Can anyone post a picture of some of the terminal expansion plans? I've seen them before, but not in a while. The internet minders in this country evidently have something against the City of Austin, so I'm not able to access the site unless I'm on a VPN...and with the already slow and problematic internet here, the VPN makes downloading PDFs painfully slow most of the time...

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

If built, the new "South Terminal" will be constructed a bit further south.

We're talking about the current vacant low-cost terminal that is referred to by ABIA as the "South Terminal" - the one-story metal corrugated building that Viva Aerobus flew out of. The lime green building in this photo.



I believe you are referring to the 21-gate facility planned (maybe) shown in red on this map.

[KevinFromTexas]

From May 27. It was a diverted flight (from Bush Intercontinental) after the storms there. This was a flight from Angola.


https://www.facebook.com/abia/photos...type=3&theater

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by LoneStarMike

We're talking about the current vacant low-cost terminal that is referred to by ABIA as the "South Terminal" - the one-story metal corrugated building that Viva Aerobus flew out of. The lime green building in this photo.



I believe you are referring to the 21-gate facility planned (maybe) shown in red on this map.

Yes, you are correct. Thank you for the clarification. I was referring to the "planned," new 21-gate facility.

Just to add - that initial 21-gate facility will be able to be expanded by at least 20 more gates (when adding to the east and west sections of the concourse). The total number depends on how far the airport decides to separate each gate from one another.

Also, notice the "further expansion" areas which flank the purple FAA ATCT acreage (the dotted rectangles in the middle of the image). Those are for two midfield concourses. Each of those have the capability of developing a further, roughly, 40 gates each. Depending on the average space between gates, ABIA has the capability of developing into a 125-150 gate airport. That possibility, if ever realized, is generations down the road (considering major U.S. airlines are not creating any new hubs).

Currently, ABIA is handling almost 447,000 people per gate (NOTE: Gate 1 has only recently been brought back into the fray). ABIA was constructed with a "capacity" level of 440,000 per gate (25 gates). If ABIA was to complete the east expansion (32 total gates) and add a 21-gate south terminal, ABIA's new capacity (based on current formula) would be in the 23-24 million passenger range. At a an average of 5% growth per year, ABIA would reach this capacity level by 2029/2030. We all know that may be a stretch to accomplish...but, maybe not?!?

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

Just to add - that initial 21-gate facility will be able to be expanded by at least 20 more gates (when adding to the east and west sections of the concourse). The total number depends on how far the airport decided to separate each gate from one another.

I don't believe that is correct - at least according to the master plan. (See Chapter 7 Section 3)

Planning Level 1 is the East Concourse extension.

Planning Level 2 consists of the following components:

• Construct New Unit Passenger Terminal on the south side of the Airport (522,500 SF terminal building with 11 gates - 240,000 SF concourse and 1.9 million SF of terminal apron).
• Construct passenger connector to new south Parking Garage.
• Possible build-out shell structure for Planning Level 3 terminal requirements.
• Possible build-out shell structure for Planning Level 3 concourse gate requirements.

Planning Level 3 involves the following:

• Complete build-out of terminal facilities (add 372,500 SF terminal building).
• Complete build-out of concourse gate facilities (add 10 gates - 157,500 SF).
• Begin initiating inter-terminal connection.

I believe the inter-terminal connection is necessary in case two mid-field concourses are built in the future.

Edited to add: Actually, perhaps you're right about more gates being added because in another section (Chapter 7 section2) it says:

The concourse as shown is recommended to be 150 feet in depth and 1,325 feet in length to accommodate a total of 21 gates in addition to the 31 to 32 gates already in full use at the existing north terminal. While the depth is substantially wider than most airport concourses in existence, it is anticipated that the width is necessary to accommodate the larger influx of people in the concourses should a low cost carrier or carriers increase its flight frequencies as well as expand its operations beyond presently known destinations being served. It is also anticipated, based on the master plan concepts generated, that the concourse is to be further expanded east and west to accommodate
future gate requirements.

It's a bit confusing when one section says Full build-out and another section says additional gates.

[drummer]

Yeah..."full, complete, absolute build out...that is until there needs to be more gates added, in which case we'll build out further..."

"Complete", to me, isn't very ambiguous in its meaning (in and of itself). I'd rather them say "initial" or emphasize that it completes the goals of that particular phase.

Thanks for the diagram, by the way, GoldenBoot. That's helpful to understand what everyone's talking about.

[LoneStarMike]

This is what the master plan says about total number of gates.

Ultimate Gate Requirements.

Based on the ultimate estimate of the maximum potential passenger aircraft annual operations (427,000), it is possible to derive an estimate of the maximum passenger throughput and number of gates. The forecast of aircraft operations described in Chapter 3 applied an average aircraft size of 140 seats and average load factor of 70 percent in the year 2020. Using these values for long-term estimates suggests that the maximum potential passenger operations 427,000) will generate nearly 42 million annual passengers (MAP). Therefore, the maximum number of passengers that is estimated to be supported by the ultimate runway capacity is 42 MAP. Using the annual gate utilization assumed for Planning Level 3 in the determination of gate requirements (376,000 annual passengers per gate) indicates the need for approximately 112 gates to accommodate 42 MAP. This is assumed to be the maximum number of gates to be required, however, as seen from the preceding discussion several variables influence the projection (runway capacity, number of passenger operations, average aircraft size, load factor, and gate utilization). The construction of gates as estimated will require approximately 200 acres of midfield area in addition to the 210 acres identified on the land use plan for passenger terminal facilities.

[DoubleC]

Thoughts about this concept:

1.) Perhaps the other two runways (17C and 17L) will be widened and lengthened eventually?

2.) How will the midfield concourses be built? One at a time at half length, or build one, expand, then build the next concourse? Where will ATC be relocated, and will the current control tower be relocated?

3.) Will people be able to directly drive from the Barbara Jordan terminal to the most Southern concourse? I'm not sure if those arrows around the midfield indicate busing or if there will be some sort of tunnel (haha) in which people can move across.

4.) It seems like there wouldn't be room for more security checkpoints once the Southern terminal is built, so the airport will crowd even more when the two midfield concourses are built...I'm thinking way ahead xP.

Austin's ultimate layout would resemble Atlanta or Denver's airports.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by DoubleC

Thoughts about this concept:

1.) Perhaps the other two runways (17C and 17L) will be widened and lengthened eventually?

2.) How will the midfield concourses be built? One at a time at half length, or build one, expand, then build the next concourse? Where will ATC be relocated, and will the current control tower be relocated?

3.) Will people be able to directly drive from the Barbara Jordan terminal to the most Southern concourse? I'm not sure if those arrows around the midfield indicate busing or if there will be some sort of tunnel (haha) in which people can move across.

4.) It seems like there wouldn't be room for more security checkpoints once the Southern terminal is built, so the airport will crowd even more when the two midfield concourses are built...I'm thinking way ahead xP.

Austin's ultimate layout would resemble Atlanta or Denver's airports.

That's a good point about security, that airport plan pre-dates 9/11 doesn't it? It might require some modification for more security capacity.

[ATCZERO]

Originally Posted by DoubleC

Thoughts about this concept:

1.) Perhaps the other two runways (17C and 17L) will be widened and lengthened eventually?

2.) How will the midfield concourses be built? One at a time at half length, or build one, expand, then build the next concourse? Where will ATC be relocated, and will the current control tower be relocated?

3.) Will people be able to directly drive from the Barbara Jordan terminal to the most Southern concourse? I'm not sure if those arrows around the midfield indicate busing or if there will be some sort of tunnel (haha) in which people can move across.

4.) It seems like there wouldn't be room for more security checkpoints once the Southern terminal is built, so the airport will crowd even more when the two midfield concourses are built...I'm thinking way ahead xP.

Austin's ultimate layout would resemble Atlanta or Denver's airports.

1) There's really not much room to lengthen 17L. The approach lighting system takes up a lot of room north of the runway and the south side is close to the airport boundary.

2) Don't know about the concourses, but the tower will likely stay close to where it is.

3) The arrows around either side of the midfield are "spine roads" on the master plan. They are tunnels that connect the north and south terminal loops.

[LoneStarMike]

Here's a nifty little site:

Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Where it says "Select an airport" choose Austin from the dropdown list and then click on "submit." (The major airports are listed alphabetically first, then all other airports.) We're in the "all other airports list."

The default table that comes up will show you the number of departing flights for each month and the total for the year. The data goes back to October 2002. You can look at an individual month's total and divide the total number of flights by the number of days in the month to get an idea of how many daily departures we have.

At the top of the Table, there are other links you can click on, too including Passengers, Revenue Passenger-Miles, Available Seat-Miles, Load Factor, Net Income, and Operating Revenue.

Clicking on Passengers will show you the number of enplaned (departing passengers) for each month and a grand total for the year.

Clicking on "Load Factor" will show you what percentage of total available seats among all airlines were filled for each month and an average for the year.

This is the yearly average load factor data for AUS from 2002 forward:

2002 - 64.19%
2003 - 65.69%
2004 - 70.95%
2005 - 71.62%
2006 - 76.85%
2007 - 75.28%
2008 - 76.06%
2009 - 77.17%
2010 - 79.40%
2011 - 81.84%
2012 - 83.27%
2013 - 83.57%
2014 - 83.73%*

*2014 isn't complete because International for December hasn't yet been posted.

If you want to look at load factor for a particular airline, go to the box labeled "Select a carrier from the dropdown (major carriers) or from a link below:" and choose an airline.

For example, here's the load factor data for Frontier Airlines.

2002 - 55.04%
2003 - 65.22%
2004 - 64.68%
2005 - 63.46%
2006 - 65.57%
2007 - 68.78%
2008 - 79.45%
2009 - 73.62%
2010 - 73.55%
2011 - 83.08%
2012 - 88.68%
2013 - 91.01%
2014 - 90.44%

(No wonder they want to expand their operations in AUS.)

I haven't had much time to play around with the site, but thought I'd share if any of you are data geeks.

Edited to add Allegiant's load factor data. They started service October 31, 2013.

2013 - 82.82%
2014 - 86.85%

[Jdawgboy]

That's a great find LoneStarMike, thanks for posting that.

This gives us a good idea of which carriers we currently have are likely to expand.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by DoubleC

4.) It seems like there wouldn't be room for more security checkpoints once the Southern terminal is built, so the airport will crowd even more when the two midfield concourses are built

This is what the master plan says:

For the departing passengers, access to the secured side of the airport is controlled by a centralized security checkpoint planned to accommodate a number of passenger screening and carry-on baggage x-ray devices. The security checkpoint is 200 feet wide and may be expanded on an east–west alignment if required in the future to support passenger activities beyond Planning Level 3. The entire terminal space in front of the security checkpoint is maintained and should be maintained as an unobstructed free zone to accommodate heavy queuing conditions should it occur as well as allow flexibility for the Department of Aviation to relocate the security checkpoint farther up front if necessary.

The space located immediately after the security checkpoint tapers toward a 100 foot wide passenger connector equipped with moving sidewalks. The space for the moving walks should be such that a pair of the super wide moving sidewalks, one each for the departure and arrival traffic, can be installed, or four units of the regular 36 inch wide moving walks can be accommodated side by side, two of which shall be oriented for the departing passengers, and the other two oriented for the arriving passengers. The total passenger connector length including the areas assigned for the security checkpoint and the access area to the baggage claim level of the terminal shall be 650 feet.

[Digatisdi]

Originally Posted by Austin1971

That's all I have. I'll do some more digging. The west expansion is in response to the explosive growth and is the most economical and the fastest option available to add more gates. From what I heard the port wants to begin the west side before the paint dries on the east side.

I wouldn't be surprised if this hypothetical extension was added as a northwest angle with an accompanying apron expansion. Something like this



Of course this is pure speculation but I can't really imagine a due-westward expansion being practical.

That being said, I'm a complete layperson here. My only knowledge around the airport comes from RSS feeds and frequent flying.

[ATCZERO]

Originally Posted by Digatisdi

I wouldn't be surprised if this hypothetical extension was added as a northwest angle with an accompanying apron expansion. Something like this



Of course this is pure speculation but I can't really imagine a due-westward expansion being practical.

That being said, I'm a complete layperson here. My only knowledge around the airport comes from RSS feeds and frequent flying.

I could get behind that expansion as long as they add another exit from the ramp north of taxiway romeo. That would alleviate a good amount of the bottlenecks that happen when aircraft push off 16, 18, 20, 22, 24 and 25.

[Digatisdi]

Definitely. I'm somewhat concerned we could see similar bottleneck issues on the east once the expansion is complete. Ideally I'd like to see taxiway connections at the northern ends of the apron.

[ATCZERO]

Originally Posted by Digatisdi

Definitely. I'm somewhat concerned we could see similar bottleneck issues on the east once the expansion is complete. Ideally I'd like to see taxiway connections at the northern ends of the apron.

Unfortunately, they can't connect the east ramp to taxiway bravo because the slope is too steep. They are going to add another taxiway from golf to the ramp near the 7 gate expansion though. I'm hoping that they just make it easy for everyone and rename the new taxiway G1 and rename the other three to G2, G3 and G4. With the expansion of the terminal apron and the new G1, traffic should flow pretty well.

[Digatisdi]

Makes sense.

On a side note, I wish preparations for the eastern expansion wasn't such a closed process. I'd like to see regular updates, at least monthly from the Aviation Department, but that's mostly because I'm a wildly impatient man.

[drummer]

Ditto. I'll be flying through Austin in the next week for business. Looking forward to coming back and seeing how everything is coming along.

[Austin1971]

[q