- Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
Infobox Airport
name = Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
nativename =
nativename-a =
nativename-r =
image-width =
caption =
IATA = AUS
ICAO = KAUS
FAA = AUS
type = Public
owner =
operator = City of Austin
city-served = Greater Austin
location = Austin, Texas
elevation-f = 542
elevation-m = 165.2
coordinates = Coord|30|11|40|N|97|40|12|W|type:airport_region:US
website = http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/austinairport/
metric-elev =
metric-rwy =
r1-number = 17L/35R
r1-length-f = 9,000
r1-length-m = 2,743
r1-surface =Concrete
r2-number = 17R/35L
r2-length-f = 12,248
r2-length-m = 3,733
r2-surface = Concrete
h1-number = H1
h1-length-f = 60
h1-length-m = 18
h1-surface = Concrete
h2-number = H2
h2-length-f = 60
h2-length-m = 18
h2-surface = Concrete
stat-year = 2007
stat1-header = Passengers
stat1-data = 8,885,391
stat2-header = Flights/day
stat2-data = 302
footnotes =Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Airport codes|AUS|KAUS|AUS is a mixed-use commercial
airport located five miles (8 km) southeast of thecentral business district of Austin, the capital ofTexas . It covers convert|4242|acre|ha|0|lk=on and has tworunway s and twohelipad s.The airport began passenger service on May 23, 1999. A total of 8,261,310 passengers traveled through the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in 2006, up 7.5 percent over the 2005 record of 7,683,545. [ [http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/austinairport/actov_dec06.htm Eight million passenger milestone passed, record year at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport] , Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, January 24, 2007.] [ [http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2007/01/22/daily29.html?surround=lfn ABIA travelers way up, cargo way down] , "Austin Business Journal", January 24, 2007.] [ [http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/01/25/25airport.html Austin airport has 2nd record year] , "Austin American-Statesman", January 25, 2007.]
History
A separate airport, named
Robert Mueller Municipal Airport , originally built on open farmland, first served the air traffic needs of Austin starting October 14, 1930. [cite web
url = http://www.muellercommunity.com/index.php?module=Pages&op=view&title=Robert_Mueller_Municipal_Airport
title = Mueller Community - citiCite Pages - Robert Mueller Municipal Airport
accessdate = 2008-08-24]In 1942, the City of Austin purchased land and donated the land to the
United States government for a military installation, with the stipulation that the city would get the land back when the government no longer needed it. This land becameBergstrom Air Force Base .In the 1950s, developers began building residential areas beneath the flight paths of Mueller and, in parallel, the number of arrivals and departures at the airport increased dramatically because of the growth of the city. Citizens began to complain about the noise. Also, at convert|7269|ft|m, the runway at Mueller was too short to handle new planes such as the 747. However, larger aircraft such as American Airlines
DC-10 s and Continental AirlinesBoeing 720 s have been regularly scheduled in the past. Before major expansion at Mueller took place, the departure area consisted of 4 to 5 gates, not enclosed but covered by a large awning. Nojetways existed at this time.Historic airline routes (at Mueller) include:
Braniff International (San Antonio-Austin-Washington D.C. Dulles-New York City JFK),Continental Airlines (Houston-Austin-Midland/Odessa-El Paso-Phoenix-Los Angeles),Trans World Airlines (Mc Allen-Austin-St. Louis and Austin-Houston Hobby),Texas International (Austin-Lubbock-Amarillo-Denver),Eastern Air Lines (Atlanta-Austin-El Paso),Pan American World Airways (Austin-Dallas-New York City JFK),Muse Air (Houston Hobby-Austin-Midland/Odessa-Las Vegas-Los Angeles) andUnited Airlines (Austin-Corpus Christi and Austin-San Antonio).The city began considering options for a new airport as early as 1971, when the
Federal Aviation Administration proposed that Austin and San Antonio build a joint regional airport. That idea was rejected, as few Austinites supported driving half way to San Antonio to catch a flight.In 1976, the city submitted a proposal to the
United States Air Force for joint use of Bergstrom AFB. The Air Force rejected the proposal in 1978 as being too disruptive to its operations.In the 1980s, neighborhoods around Mueller applied enough political pressure to force the city council to choose a site for a new airport from locations under consideration. On November 1, 1987, a voter referendum finally approved a site near Manor. The city began acquiring the land and fighting lawsuits from the
Sierra Club and others concerned about the Manor location.In 1991, the
Base Realignment and Closure Commission selected Bergstrom AFB for closure and gave the nod to the city for it to be used as a civilian airport. The city council decided to abandon the original plan to build the new airport near Manor, and resolved instead to move the airport to the Bergstrom site; the voters approved the move in 1993. Groundbreaking for the airport was November 19, 1994 and air cargo operations began on June 30, 1997. Bergstrom had the designator BSM until Mueller's final closure, when it took Mueller's IATA code of AUS. On November 5, 2007 the Mexican-based carrierViva Aerobus announced plans to operate theirBoeing 737 aircraft to Austin with 6 new non-stop flights to the Mexican citiesCancún , Guadalajara, León/Bajío ,Monterrey ,Puebla , andQuerétaro . Viva Aerobus has already received approval from theUS Department of Transportation to operate to those cities.Facilities
Terminal
Barbara Jordan Terminal was designed byUniversity of Texas at Austin Architecture professorLarry Speck . [ [http://utopia.utexas.edu/university/longhorn/speck.html Larry Speck UTopia Profile] "The University of Texas." Accessed23 June 2006 .] The terminal is 600,000 square feet (56,000 m²) with a total of 25 gates. Inside the terminal, many local restaurants have leased concession space so that visitors can get a "taste of Austin" as they come through. The terminal also has a live music stage on which local bands perform in keeping with the spirit of Austin's proclamation as "The Live Music Capital of the World."A new dedicated facility known as the
South Terminal Austin has been approved by the Austin City Council in order to accommodate the arrival of Mexican based low cost airlineViva Aerobus , which launched operations on May 1st 2008.Both
American Airlines andContinental Airlines operate lounges at this airport for members of their executive lounge programs.Runways
Runway 17R/35L, to the west of the terminal, is the original runway built and used by the Air Force. The 12,250 foot (3734 m) long runway was reconditioned when Austin-Bergstrom was built. The runway is dedicated to former President
Lyndon B. Johnson .cite web
url = http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/austinairport/projsum.htm
title = Fast Facts
accessdate = 2007-08-21]Runway 17L/35R is a new 9,000 foot (2743 m) runway on the east side of the terminal and parallel with runway 17R/35L. This runway is dedicated to former Congressman J.J. "Jake" Pickle.
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