Austin Adds Direct Flight to D.C.
Austin's airport recently added nonstop flights to Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Portland and Cancún. Photo by I-Hwa Cheng/KUT NewsBy Joy Diaz, KUT News
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport recently added nonstop flights to Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Portland and the Mexican city of Cancún. But these additional routes won’t necessarily mean a significantly bigger airport any time soon.
There is some expansion ahead for ABIA, which served 9.1 million passengers in 2011. Next spring, the airport will begin building a new parking lot for rental cars, which will free up the top floor of the existing parking garage.
Airport spokesperson Jim Halbrook said other changes will be less visible, but will help accommodate passenger needs without outgrowing the existing facilities.
“We are doing a project to build another access to the concourse with another security-screening checkpoint in it,” Halbrook said.
That particular project is still about three years away, and doesn’t include plans to dramatically increase ABIA’s current size. Halbrook said being wedged between giant hubs in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston will keep growth limited and strategic.
ABIA’s new Washington D.C. flight was awarded – in part – due to a delegation of state and local-government officials, along with business and tourism leaders, encouraging the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The Austin-Washington service is ABIA’s 40th nonstop flight. A full list of nonstop services can be found here.
