AUS airport expanding, breaks ground on latest project

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Traveling through Austin's airport is expected to get easier.

Construction officially began Monday to expand one of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport checkpoints and add a new outbound baggage handling system.

"Our staff are very excited about this," U.S Deputy Chief of Communications and Marketing Sam Haynes said.

The West Infill and TSA 3 Checkpoint Expansion project will add approximately 75,000 square feet across four levels, tying into the planned second phase of AUS’ outbound baggage handling system, concourse and a new mezzanine level, according to AUS.

"We've had some record levels of passenger activity of individuals going through our airport," Austin District 2 City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes said. "So with today's groundbreaking, we are signifying that we are moving forward as quickly as we can and expanding the airports and ensure that we have the capacity to meet the level of demand that we have."

AUS breaks down the expansion project on its website, which includes baggage claim, apron, concourse, mezzanine and roof levels.

"We're building a new system where after you check your luggage in at the ticket counter with your airline, it travels on over a mile of conveyor belt systems to make the journey to the aircraft," Haynes said.

Costing roughly $241.5 million, AUS said travelers can expect the project to be done by 2026. AUS is asking travelers to plan for it to take more time to get through the airport with construction.

AUS said it plans to add an extra checkpoint lane to both checkpoints 2 west and 2 east to help with flow while this construction project is underway.