What nonstop flights were available when Austin-Bergstrom Airport opened in May 1999?
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Thursday marks the 25th anniversary of the opening of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
The airport opened to the public on May 23, 1999, after the closure of Robert Mueller Municipal Airport, now the Mueller neighborhood in east Austin.
A total of 19 airlines currently offer service to 92 destinations, 14 of which are international. When the airport first opened, the number of nonstop routes was about a third of what is available now, with 31 in total.
Here's a look at how the flight map has changed over the past 25 years:
Here's a look at which airlines offered nonstop service from Austin in 1999:
- America West Airlines: Phoenix
- American Airlines: Chicago (O'Hare), Dallas (DFW), Dallas (Love), Houston (Hobby), Los Angeles, Miami, San Jose
- Austin Express: Tyler
- Continental Airlines: Houston (Bush), Newark
- Delta Air Lines: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas (DFW), Salt Lake City, San Antonio
- Northwest Airlines: Memphis, Minneapolis
- Southwest Airlines: Dallas (Love), El Paso, Harlingen, Houston (Hobby), Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Lubbock, Midland, Nashville, Orlando, Phoenix, Reno, Tampa
- Trans World Airlines (TWA): McAllen, St. Louis
- United Airlines: Chicago (O'Hare), Denver, San Francisco, Washington (Dulles)
San Antonio and Tyler are the only two routes that are no longer served directly from Austin.
A quarter of a century ago, a total of 47,510 flights were operated from AUS, almost half of which were to the four main airports in Dallas and Houston.
This year, Dallas (DFW) is the route with the most flights, but Houston has dropped significantly, with Bush Airport (IAH) ranking 10th, and Hobby Airport (HOU) falling out of the top 10 altogether.
Passengers totals have really taken off in recent years, with the airport accommodating a record 22 million travelers in 2023. Last year's total is more than triple the number seen in 1999, when almost 6.7 million passengers were reported, at Mueller airport through May 22, and at Bergstrom airport after.
In the first three months of this year, 4.86 million passengers were reported, slightly below last year's pace.