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

[samikeyp]

Good point. I supported that as well.

[boutons_]

Huge corporations have big installations in Austin, requiring good connections to everywhere.

Austin has 100s of $Ms generated by nothing other than being state capitol with tons of state HQs of business and professional assocations.

Austin has the University of Texas "industry". SA has the Medical Center, but Medical Centers are dime a dozen as Americans everywhere make themselves sicker and more decrepit.

SA does have the military $$ and attendant civil service bureaucracies.

SA has almost no large corps HQ'd or ever present here, pretty much due to SA not having a top flight university for science or engineering or medicine. The Toyota plant takes it in the ear as low-mileage pickups take it in the ear.

San Antonio will always be way behind HOU and DFW as air hubs and business centers, and very probably the new SA AP won't gain a step on Austin, either.

I remember a long time ago that a very large %age of SA couldn't read/write/speak English. That's probaby changed (lower %age), but SA has quite large percentage of poor, manul-labor Hispanics that is not offset by a high-earning middle class, making SA "smaller" than the metro population would suggest.

I think we're pretty much stuck with SA being what it is, poor sister to Austin, Dallas, and Houston, rather than outstripping the growth in national wealth. And the podunk airport, and ATT HQ lost, reflects that status.

"The median income for a household in the city is $36,214, and the median income for a family is $53,100. Males have a median income of $30,061 versus $24,444 for females. The per capita income for the city is $17,487. 17.3% of the population and 14.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 24.3% of those under the age of 18 and 13.5% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Antonio,_Texas

Austin:

"The median income for a household in the city was $42,689, and the median income for a family was $54,091. Males had a median income of $35,545 vs. $30,046 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,163. About 9.1% of families and 14.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.5% of those under age 18 and 8.7% of those age 65 or over. From the year 2000 to 2005, the median house price in Austin grew 34 percent."

[jack sommerset]

Security tried to ban me from that airport. In 1998 I flew to DC and on my way back I lost my wallet. They held me there for 2 hours calling (seriously) all over the country looking for a warrant or arrest record. I just laughed the whole time.After they relized I was not a terrorist the head of security there told me never to come back to the airport again. A real loser Wyatt Earp wanna be. Of course the idiot was all talk. I told him to off and got a lawyer to tell them to off too. I hate that Airport.

[ShoogarBear]

Security tried to ban me from that airport. In 1998 I flew to DC and on my way back I lost my wallet. They held me there for 2 hours calling (seriously) all over the country looking for a warrant or arrest record. I just laughed the whole time.After they relized I was not a terrorist the head of security there told me never to come back to the airport again. A real loser Wyatt Earp wanna be. Of course the idiot was all talk. I told him to off and got a lawyer to tell them to off too. I hate that Airport.

Why would they care if you lost your wallet on the way back? Who checks ID after you get off the plane? Especially pre-9/11?

[jack sommerset]

I went to pay for parking. All I had was a check book. When security showed up they searched my car. I just moved to SA and I had 3-4 different things with different addresses on it address to me. They thought I was not me.

[Chief]

Why would they care if you lost your wallet on the way back? Who checks ID after you get off the plane? Especially pre-9/11?

same thing i was thinkin

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

ex already touched on it, but they ed up when they had Kelly sitting there empty. That would have been the perfect place to put in a huge airport. Too bad City Hall was so caught up in taking care of those who were tied in to maintenance deals with the AF over there.

Poor vision, as usual, from the bums in City Hall.

[Twisted_Dawg]

In the 1960's General Motors wanted to build an assembly plant here but was rebuffed by the Olmos Park and Alamo Heights old money that did not want a nasty union shop here. GM built the plant in Arlington. The 281 North Freeway took years to build due to lawsuits from that same Olmos Park and Alamo Heights crowd that didn't want a freeway in their backyard. And the reason we never had an interchange at 410 & 281 North was because Sam Barshop owned all the land and had the power to squash any plans for one. For years the city was run and controlled by the Good Government League who were bought, owned and control by the wealthy elite. Now we are governed by young professional politicians that dont know .

In the late 1800's San Antonio had a population of over 50,000 and was the largest city in the state. It was a booming place with money and a burgeoning red light district with an ample supply of gambling and women. It was a happening place, sort of a mini Las Vegas for back then.

Somehow, someway we never kept that momentum from the late 1800's. We got stuck with some mediocore leadership. While we will never catch and be a Dallas or Houston, this still isn't a bad place to live, work and raise kids. It is what it is.

So forget that Austin/SA airport. That idea was kicked around for years. With the money Austin spent retro fitting Bergstrom, they would never be interested in another airport. We are stuck with our little Hooterville airport which we can drive to in about 20 minutes, get in and out of he airport in a breeze and rarely be delayed. And that ain't all bad.

[T Park]

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.

[ShoogarBear]

ex already touched on it, but they ed up when they had Kelly sitting there empty. That would have been the perfect place to put in a huge airport. Too bad City Hall was so caught up in taking care of those who were tied in to maintenance deals with the AF over there.

Poor vision, as usual, from the bums in City Hall.

The only problem with Kelly Field is that you still have Lackland AFB sitting there, without a field of its own and presumably with a need for one. So they would either have to build something for Lackland or work out some kind of shared arrangement (and do you really want military and commercial airports next to each other?).

[Twisted_Dawg]

Yea....a renovation that would be suitable for a city that is 2/3 it's current's size and 10 years ago.

All anyone would ever need to know about San Antonio's business at ude and mentality can be seen from our downtown skyline.

Beige, brown, old, concrete.

Those are metaphores for this city.

Old is self explanitory.

brown and beige represent the plain feel of this city

and concrete is hard and solid as in how san antonio is stuck in its conservative old fashioned ways.


get a rope...find a tree.

grab a beer and washhhhhhh the spurssss gamee

Are you saying you have never seen that hideous enchilada red main library downtown?

[davi78239]

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.

That Damn airport is very nice in Denver though. Me and my wife were there about two years ago and it's a dandy, especially there car rental system. You don't even have to speak to anyone over the counter. The whole process is computerized and . I think it was on the best airports to get laid over on lists not too long ago.

[ShoogarBear]

Denver airport?

It's--no joke--a 30 minute drive to get to the terminal AFTER you enter the airport.

[davi78239]

Denver airport?

It's--no joke--a 30 minute drive to get to the terminal AFTER you enter the airport.

well, besides all that. it's still a nice airport.

[samikeyp]

The only problem with Kelly Field is that you still have Lackland AFB sitting there, without a field of its own and presumably with a need for one. So they would either have to build something for Lackland or work out some kind of shared arrangement (and do you really want military and commercial airports next to each other?).

Wichita Falls has that. Sheppard AFB and the Commerical airport use the same runways. It works for them but probably not in SA.

[samikeyp]

well, besides all that. it's still a nice airport.

When the baggage claim belts aren't shooting your luggage at you.


It is nice though.

[timvp]

Buddy Holly to have a meltdown in 3 ... 2 ...

[MannyIsGod]

We're San Antonio, not Houston or Dallas.

We're ing small. We're not that big.

Why is our airport small? Is it really that hard of a question to answer?

[boutons_]

somebody thinking Toyota might not be forever:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/col...d.3e34ff2.html

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

The only problem with Kelly Field is that you still have Lackland AFB sitting there, without a field of its own and presumably with a need for one. So they would either have to build something for Lackland or work out some kind of shared arrangement (and do you really want military and commercial airports next to each other?).

That's not that uncommon:

* Wichita Falls/Shepherd AFB.

* Okinawa, Japan

* Honolulu/Hickam AFB

* St. Louis

* Phoenix

* Ft. Wayne International

* Portland

* Syracuse, NY

* Albuquerque, NM/Kirkland AFB

* Colorado Springs

* Eglin AFB/Valpo (Florida)

* Frankfurt, Germany/Rhien-Mann

There's probably more than that that I'm thinking of. These are ones I've flown in/out of and/or know off the top of my head.

Making it dual use and the new SA International Airport probably would have actually been the perfect scenario.

[tlongII]

That's not that uncommon:

* Wichita Falls/Shepherd AFB.

* Okinawa, Japan

* Honolulu/Hickam AFB

* St. Louis

* Phoenix

* Ft. Wayne International

* Portland

* Syracuse, NY

* Albuquerque, NM/Kirkland AFB

* Colorado Springs

* Eglin AFB/Valpo (Florida)

* Frankfurt, Germany/Rhien-Mann

There's probably more than that that I'm thinking of. These are ones I've flown in/out of and/or know off the top of my head.

Making it dual use and the new SA International Airport probably would have actually been the perfect scenario.

I was going to say our airport functions fine.

[ShoogarBear]

I was going to say our airport functions fine.

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.

[Mark in Austin]

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."

[baseline bum]

Denver airport?

It's--no joke--a 30 minute drive to get to the terminal AFTER you enter the airport.

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

[exstatic]

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.

With the Kelly side closed, you could have put up any sized terminal(s) you wanted. Runways are runways, but the biggest problem with SAIAP is that there are only 20-something gates and no real room for many more.