San Antonio receives $20 million in federal funding for airport development.

SAN ANTONIO. San Antonio International Airport is undergoing significant changes thanks to a $20 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA announced Monday it has awarded nearly $1 billion in bipartisan infrastructure legislation to fund airport development across the country.

“Needless to say, this is the largest grant we have received in a long time,” said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg.

Nirenberg said he and his staff traveled quite extensively to Washington, D.C. to work with federal agencies and local leaders to get BIL federal money to San Antonio for several projects.

The city recently received over $66 million in federal funding, including grants to SA Ready to Work for apprenticeship programs and a grant to Metro Health from the Centers for Disease Control. But Nirenberg paid special attention to money for the airport.

“One of the most important parts of this plan is the strategic development plan for the airport,” he said. “The work we’ve done with the FAA to protect San Antonio is paying off, and that’s indicative of this grant,” Nirenberg said.

This year, $150 million in FAA grants were awarded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to cities with medium hub airports such as San Antonio International Airport. San Antonio applied for $50 million, but despite only receiving $20 million, city manager Eric Walsh was unfazed.

“We received $20 million more than three hours ago. So I’m happy,” Walsh said.

The money will go toward building a 37,000-square-foot ground load facility with five new gates south of Terminal A.

“This facility can accommodate approximately 1.3 million additional passengers,” said Jesus Saenz, director of airports for the San Antonio Airport System.

Travelers can expect workers to begin clearing fences and preparing the site’s foundation around June or July, but actual construction is not expected to begin until early 2024 and be completed in March 2025.

Officials are calling it a boon for the airport’s terminal development plan, which will eventually add a new Terminal C, double the size of the airport and could lead to more direct flights.

“In a year. We will move further in development,” Walsh said. “What the federal government is looking for for our ready-to-use projects.”

Cities with similar airports will compete for more grants over the next three years. Walsh said while San Antonio has the edge, he doesn’t take anything for granted after last year’s funding flew off without them. Walsh believes the airport did not receive any FAA grants for 2022 because there was too much information about the plan in their application before they made any progress on it.

“I think it was a lesson for us to lay out a long-term plan for the airport,” Walsh said. “Each building block leads us to this terminal development plan.”