Why Has San Antonio's Airport Always Been So "Po Dunk"?

[Mark in Austin]

and then of course there's the flip side. If you move to Kelly, you then have 2,800 city owned acres in the heart of the north side. It could be developed like Stapleton in Denver or Mueller in Austin into dense, walkable communities that add millions to the city's tax base.

[travis2]

That's the only airport I've ever been to that had a subway.

Atlanta has one...

[Twisted_Dawg]

Here's the problem:

They're spending MILLIONS to build two new terminals, and those two terminals will only have 12 gates total, with the possibility to expand in the future to 18. That is ing Stupid. When this is done, SAT will have a whopping 3 more gates than ABIA currently has. Here's the really insane part though. After spending all those millions of dollars, it will only be a net increase of 3 gates. What. The. ?

"Terminals B & C
Timeline:“B” completion in 2010
“C” completion in 2012
Description: Passengers at San Antonio International Airport will be enjoying two new terminal facilities in the future. “Terminal B” is an 8-gate facility that’s being constructed directly between the existing structures, Terminals One & Two. Once, completed “B” will serve as a replacement facility for Terminal Two, which is slated for demolition. “Terminal C” will be constructed to the West of the Terminal Two footprint. Initially it will house five gates but is designed to accommodate eleven gates should passenger growth warrant."

So we are going to have complete different sets of security, bag screeners, etc, etc, to handle 8 additional gates in B Terminal and another set to handle 5 gates in C Terminal???

[tlongII]

Yes, but we are talking about making the airport *less* podunk.

Out of those airports listed, the only ones that could be considered major airports, on the scale of DFW and IAH, would be Honolulu (which is a special geographic situation), and Frankfurt .

Lambert-St. Louis and Scott AFB are separate facilities.

Sharing Kelly and SAT would have been a good solution in a lot of ways, I just think it would not have helped to make SAT more of a major airport.

O! San Antonio's airport has a ways to go before it would be considered in the same class as PDX.

[CosmicCowboy]

Airlines are going broke and eliminating flights all over the country. All airlines except Southwest use the hub and spoke system and there was never any way that SA was gonna be a hub with Dallas and Houston so close. Even if we built a HUGE airport it wouldn't be a hub/International airport.

[samikeyp]

Too bad they couldn't convince Southwest to pull out of Hobby and Love and move to SA. That would be great but would never happen.

[johnsmith]

The town is growing and they are building better infrastructure, i just don't think theres anywhere to go with a new airport, plus the cost would probobly rival that damn airport in Denver.

The airport in Denver is really nice. If I had to pick one to be stuck in, it would probably be that one.

Having said that, you're right, the price was out ingrageous. United Airlines ed themselves by being such a big part of it.

And I think Shoog touched on it earlier in the thread, he's right, once you're in, you still have another 30 minutes to go.

And let's not mention if you're a Denver local, it takes a ing hour minimum from any part of the city to get to.

For all the ing about SA's airport, I love the fact that I can get there with only an hour to spare and make my flight no problems.

[Jimcs50]

So you have to fly to Dallas first....bfd.

I have to drive to Houston (90 mins) when I go anywhere, because I will not fly on the puddle jumpers that fly to Dallas and Houston from College Station. At least you do not have to drive 90 miles every time you go anywhere.

[Kori Ellis]

Keep the airport small!

I love that the airport isn't crowded ... and there's direct flights to Vegas, so what else matters?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Too bad they couldn't convince Southwest to pull out of Hobby and Love and move to SA. That would be great but would never happen.

Huh? Those are just their airports in Houston and Dallas. I guess you could argue about them moving their corporate HQ to SA, but that will never happen as long as Kelleher is still alive.

[samikeyp]

Huh? Those are just their airports in Houston and Dallas. I guess you could argue about them moving their corporate HQ to SA, but that will never happen as long as Kelleher is still alive.

That was my point. Concentrate the majority of their flights in San Antonio. If that were to happen, then it would probably be preceded by the moving of the corporate HQ. But neither will happen even after Kelleher is free to move about the afterlife.

[Extra Stout]

That was my point. Concentrate the majority of their flights in San Antonio. If that were to happen, then it would probably be preceded by the moving of the corporate HQ. But neither will happen even after Kelleher is free to move about the afterlife.

1) Southwest does not use the hub-and-spoke model. Never has. It is a point-to-point airline. Its maintenance operations are decentralized/outsourced. This business model is why it clobbers the traditional airlines. Centralizing would be a bad business decision. Centralizing in a cramped, outmoded facility like SAIA would get the CEO lynched by shareholders by the end of the business day.

2) Southwest has its facilities in Houston and Dallas almost to itself.

3) Even as secondary airports in their respective cities, Love Field and Hobby nevertheless have capacities comparable to SAIA.

[Extra Stout]

4) Not to be ugly, but Houston and Dallas are vital business centers with 5.5-6 million people each. San Antonio is... not.

[CubanMustGo]

SW is kicking everyone else's ass because they had the foresight to hedge their jet fuel prices. As a result they pay 20-30% less that what most of the majors do. Their savings in the first quarter? $291M. Their net profit for the quarter, including those savings? $31M. http://www.redorbit.com/news/busines...uel/index.html

The other factors contribute but jet fuel costs are the #1 reason SW continues to do "well" while the legacy carriers don't.

[N.Y. Johnny]

Keep the airport small!

I love that the airport isn't crowded ... and there's direct flights to Vegas, so what else matters?

I agree with this but we're probably the only ones . I hated flying into Washinton or N.Y.

[samikeyp]

1) Southwest does not use the hub-and-spoke model. Never has. It is a point-to-point airline. Its maintenance operations are decentralized/outsourced. This business model is why it clobbers the traditional airlines. Centralizing would be a bad business decision. Centralizing in a cramped, outmoded facility like SAIA would get the CEO lynched by shareholders by the end of the business day.

2) Southwest has its facilities in Houston and Dallas almost to itself.

3) Even as secondary airports in their respective cities, Love Field and Hobby nevertheless have capacities comparable to SAIA.

exactly...which is why it would never happen .

[ShoogarBear]

O! San Antonio's airport has a ways to go before it would be considered in the same class as PDX.

Yes, and the Spurs would have a ways to go before they would be considered in the same class as the Trail Blazers. The point is that's not the direction to which we aspire.

[tlongII]

Yes, and the Spurs would have a ways to go before they would be considered in the same class as the Trail Blazers. The point is that's not the direction to which we aspire.

Oh! You were making a point!

[50 cent]

San Antonio's terminals definitely need a refresh, but these talks of a newer, international hub are crazy.

There is simply no way San Antonio will be a hub for any airline because 3 of the 4 largest airlines in the US (American, Southwest, and Continental) are based out of Houston or Dallas.

In addition, Mexicana Airlines is already code share with American, so it makes no sense for them to have a larger presence in San Antonio when everybody can be routed through DFW.

Geographically speaking, if USAirways, JetBlue, Delta, etc. wanted to hub somewhere, STL makes a of a lot more sense being in the middle of the country and not competing directly with DFW and IAH.

At least SAT is in a good location and not way out of town like DEN or DFW.

I fly about 75 times a year for business and trust me, you learn to love the little "podunk" airports that aren't too far out of town.

Some of my favorite airports:
Austin
Long Beach, CA
Milwaukee
Louisville, KY
Orange County, CA

Most hated:
O'Hare
Newark
JFK
LAX
Atlanta
Miami

See the point?

[SequSpur]

san antonio is po dunk. I can't wait to move.

[davi78239]

san antonio is po dunk. I can't wait to move.

And If I Were To Ever Get The Chance To Relocate, I'm Outa Here As Well.

[2Blonde]

I could care less about the size of our airport, my beef is with the piss ant TSA employees who are on a power trip. When my daughter and I flew out a a couple of weeks ago we got there at 0430 for an 0630 flight. When we got to the security line it was incredibly long. Then when we get near the front, a guy calls my daughter and I to separate lines. I told him we need to go through the same line because I'm the one with the travel do ents. I also asked him about the special line for disabled people. He said there wasn't one. (The clerk at the check-in desk is who told me to go to this special line). Then not 3 seconds later another TSA agent sends a woman over to the "non-existent" special line for people with disabilities. We both had a cane but she was about 20 years older than I. WTF.

Well by then Mr.TSA Guy has his undies in a knot because my daughter and I are traveling under the same last name even though her passport has her father's last name. So I get out her medical insurance card, student ID, ATM card & credit card which all list her as (firstname) (dad's lastname)-(mom's lastname). He's still being a and informs me that since her ticket does match her passport that she can only get on the plane is she submitted to a complete search. "She's 16 in' years old!!!!"

So I go on through security and watch her stand in a very tiny completely glass room for about 40 minutes. When they finally let her out they call her over to a search station. That's when I had had enough. I walked up there and at first they all looked at me like I was crazy as they began searching her. They told me to please step back. I said "gladly, but I have her ticket, boarding pass and identification". They wanted to know why I had it so I told them, "I'm her mother & she's only 16." They immediately stopped the search and said she should never have been sent to them to begin with. They told me I wasn't even required to have identification for her as long as she's a minor.

They wanted to know which TSA Guy pulled the power trip so I told them.

We got there 2 hours before our flight, and because of all the BS, we still almost missed our flight.

On the way back from NYC I handed them her ticket & boarding pass with no ID and stated she was a minor and they said no problem and waved us through. Also because of my cane they put me through a special lane so I didn't have to stand around for 30-45 minutes to get through the regular line. TOTAL DIFFERENCE!!