Steve Adler on more Americans moving to Austin
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport issued a fuel shortage alert Monday, warning passengers to arrive at least two hours early as the Texas capital struggles with an influx of travelers.
Officials sent the alert Monday morning, directing incoming flights to land with more fuel than normal if the airport is unable to refuel them.
“This is happening more regularly as the airport experiences increased flight activity,” Sam Haynes, a spokesman for ABIA, told Fox Business. “There is no immediate impact on operations, but it is possible that flights may need to be diverted to refuel prior to landing at AUS.”
Travelers walk through the main concourse of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Jack Plunkett/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The line to get through security, meanwhile, wrapped around outside the airport as passengers attempted to make their flights, according to reports of frustrated travelers taking to social media.
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ABIA transports fuel in just 2-3 days, which is below the industry average of 5-7 days at other airports. The airport is currently in the process of completing a new fuel storage facility.
An American Airlines passenger plane takes off. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
Opened in 1999, the airport was only designed to handle about 11 million travelers a year, a number that will be slightly dwarfed in 2022. Austin hosts two major events each year, SXSW and the Austin City Limits Music Festival, and numerous other events that require a major airport, including racing events at the Circuit of the Americas, MLS soccer games at the new Q2 Stadium, and soccer games by Texas Longhorn. The 2022 edition of SXSW ended on March 20th.
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“As more people and businesses move to Austin and Central Texas, AUS is seeing increasing demand for air travel, with early forecasts for 2022 passenger traffic reaching similar record-breaking numbers as 2019, when over 17 million passengers departed from AUS,” wrote the airport earlier this year in a press release about the need for the new fuel depot.
According to the Census Bureau, Austin is the fourth fastest growing metropolitan area in America. (iStock)
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Austin is the fourth-fastest-growing metropolitan area in America, as the city’s population has exploded 21% over the past decade to nearly a million people, according to Census Bureau figures released last year.
The city hasn’t been immune to growing pains in recent years, however, as shown by the airport’s struggles, a multi-day boiling water alert last month and a record 89 homicides last year after the City Council voted to annihilate Austin’s budget Police.