8
TERMINALS  
July | August 2026      AirportImprovement.com
SAT
For centuries, some of the world’s 
greatest artists have crafted scale 
models or rough sketches to 
begin what would later become timeless 
masterpieces. 
Leaders at San Antonio International 
Airport (SAT) inadvertently followed the 
method used by Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo 
Picasso and architecture icon Frank Gehry 
when planning the forthcoming addition 
of a third terminal. Will the approach 
create an aviation pièce de resistance that 
likewise raises eyebrows and withstands 
the tests of time? Only time will tell.  
This spring, SAT opened a $63.5 
million ground loading facility to expand 
its existing Terminal 
A. Director of Airports 
Jesus Saenz hails the 
new 42,000-square-
foot space as both 
a “bridge to the 
future” and a “step 
in a broader vision” 
for transforming how 
visitors and locals experience air travel. 
Beyond addressing an immediate need 
for more international gates, the new ground 
loading facility also served as a model that 
helped SAT define and refine key elements 
of ELEVATE/SAT, the airport’s $2.5 billion 
terminal development program.
JESUS SAENZ
FACTS&FIGURES 
Project: Terminal Expansion
Location: San Antonio Int’l Airport
Strategy: Adding Ground Loading Facility in Terminal A 
Size: 42,000 sq. ft.; 3 int’l gates
Features: 3 holdrooms; 2 levels of seating; new food/
beverage & retail concessions; sterile corridor to U.S. 
Customs for int’l arrivals; Integrated Federal Inspection 
Station 
Key Benefits: Addressing current & projected need 
for more int’l gates; establishing design standards for 
future terminal additions
Cost: $63.5 million
Funding: $25 million in FAA Airport Terminal 
Program grants 
Project Delivery Method: Design-Build
Contractor: Hensel Phelps Construction Co.
Architectural Designers: Page (Ground Loading 
Facility); Corgan & Lake Flato (Terminal C)
Operational Readiness & Airport 
Transition: Jacobs
Boarding Ramps: Keith Consolidated Industries 
Seating: Arconas
Project Timeline: Design work began in Aug. 2022; 
crews broke ground in Oct. 2023; new facilities opened 
in March 2026
Associated Concurrent Project: $25 million 
ramp improvement
Carriers: Aeroméxico, Air Canada, Alaska, American, 
Breeze, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, Sun Country, United, 
Viva, Volaris
2025 Passenger Volume: 10.74 million
Terminal Redevelopment at 
San Antonio Int’l is Starting 
Small for Big Success
BY CHRIS JONES

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