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AirportImprovement.com      July | August 2026
TERMINALS 
SAT
The centerpiece of the program is 
Terminal C, a new 850,000-square-
foot facility with 18 gates designed to 
accommodate projected passenger 
growth through 2040. It is currently under 
construction and scheduled to open in 
mid-2028. But those with a discerning 
eye can catch a glimpse of what’s to 
come by noting the colors, materials, 
finishes and accessibility features found 
in and around SAT’s newest gates and 
holdrooms in Terminal A. 
“We didn’t really 
go into it with this 
mindset initially, but 
the ground loading 
facility was a good 
test bed for things 
that we want to do 
in Terminal C,” says 
Timothy O’Krongley, 
deputy aviation director of development 
for the San Antonio Airport System.  
“We put in a lot of time and effort so 
that every future project we build will 
follow these design standards,” he adds.
The benefits extend beyond aesthetics, 
however. A review of processes and 
takeaway lessons from opening the new 
ground loading facility is helping SAT 
stakeholders prepare for the airport’s next 
major debut.
“It’s amazing the stuff we’re learning 
out of this,” O’Krongley says. “It’s going 
to be invaluable to us when we open 
Terminal C.”
Addressing Current 
and Future Needs
ELEVATE/SAT represents the largest capital 
improvement project in the city of San 
Antonio’s 308-year history. It was conceived 
prior to the COVID pandemic and later 
revved up amid the post-pandemic spike 
in passenger traffic. Last year, SAT handled 
nearly 11 million passengers. 
The plan to extend Terminal A came at 
the request of airlines, primarily Mexican 
carriers that use front-and-back boarding 
and deplaning in their home nation. A 
ground loading facility was easier—and 
therefore faster—for SAT to construct 
than bridge-loaded gates, thereby 
alleviating near-term growth pressures 
until Terminal C is completed.
Along with added holdroom space 
for new Gates A1A, A1B, and A1C, 
the airport also had general contractor 
Hensel Phelps Construction Co. 
simultaneously develop a separate $25 
million ramp improvement. That created 
room for up to five aircraft to gate, plus 
seven more pad spots where aircraft can 
remain overnight. The two projects were 
the first significant new construction at 
SAT in nearly a decade.
Planners quickly realized the ground 
loading facility project offered a unique 
opportunity to establish design standards 
that previously did not exist at SAT. 
Terminal A, which was built in the 1980s, 
and the newer Terminal B that opened in 
2010, were essentially stand-alone efforts. 
Although the ground loading facility 
and Terminal C projects have different 
lead architects, their respective 
design teams from Page and Corgan 
collaborated to create a unified look and 
feel. A third architecture team tasked with 
designing an upcoming parking garage 
was also included to help continue a 
more cohesive airportwide aesthetic.
John Trupiano, 
a Dallas-based 
principal with 
Corgan, shares an 
anecdote of how the 
new ground loading 
facility served as a 
test canvas to help 
select paint shades 
for later use in Terminal C. 
“Often times when designers select 
colors, it’s off of renderings and small-
sized color samples,” he explains. “Here, 
we were able to ask the contractor to 
paint two or three columns, full-scale, 
20-feet tall, and in the sunlight, in artificial 
light…We had the real environment there 
to determine if that was the right color.”
PHOTO: RAMA TIRU
TIMOTHY O’KRONGLEY
JOHN TRUPIANO

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