Austin’s Airport Is Getting a Multibillion-Dollar Makeover
What the expansion includes, when it will open and what it could mean for Austin
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is preparing for the largest expansion in its history.
The Journey With AUS program is a collection of terminal, concourse, airfield, parking and infrastructure projects intended to serve a region that has outgrown the airport built for it in 1999. AUS handled more than 20 million passengers in recent years, nearly twice the volume the original Barbara Jordan Terminal was designed to accommodate.
What Is Being Built?
The centerpiece is Concourse B, a new midfield concourse south of the Barbara Jordan Terminal. Current plans call for 26 gates, including 18 for Southwest Airlines, five for United Airlines and three common-use gates.
Passengers will reach the concourse through an underground tunnel equipped with moving walkways and space for a possible future automated people mover. The project also includes expanded baggage systems, aircraft aprons, fueling infrastructure and airline support areas. Concourse B is currently in design and is expected to open in the early 2030s.
A second major component is the new Arrivals and Departures Hall, which will replace the Red Garage and existing curbside area. It is expected to include:
Expanded airline check-in and ticketing
A centralized TSA checkpoint
A larger baggage-claim hall
New concessions and passenger amenities
Redesigned pickup and drop-off roadways
A pedestrian connection to parking and rental cars
That facility is also targeted for the early 2030s.
What Happens Before Then?
Travelers will see several projects completed well before the new concourse opens.
A six-gate satellite facility called Concourse M is designed to preserve airline capacity while gates and airfield areas are affected by construction. Passengers will travel between it and the Barbara Jordan Terminal by shuttle bus. Construction was expected to begin in summer 2026.
Other work includes:
Two new midfield taxiways
A 7,000-space Yellow Garage
Additional surface parking
A new central utility plant
Campus-wide electrical, water and drainage improvements
Continued expansion inside the existing terminal
The Yellow Garage is expected to open in early 2027, while the midfield taxiways are projected for completion in 2027.
How Is It Being Funded?
The airport says the expansion will not rely on Austin property taxes or the city’s General Fund.
Funding is expected to come from airport revenue bonds, airline rents and fees, passenger facility charges, airport operating revenue and federal grants. In May 2026, AUS completed a $1.18 billion airport revenue-bond sale, the largest bond issuance in City of Austin history.
City Council has separately authorized major design and construction agreements, including approximately:
$1.103 billion for Concourse B and the tunnel
$865 million for the Arrivals and Departures Hall
$335 million for the Yellow Garage
$346.7 million for the midfield taxiways
Those authorizations are project-specific contracts rather than a final all-in program cost. The airport says the complete scope and budget are still being developed.
What It Means for Austin
A larger airport could support more flights, more nonstop destinations and stronger competition among airlines.
That matters to Austin’s technology companies, conventions, tourism industry and corporate recruiting efforts. Air connectivity is also an important consideration for companies evaluating Central Texas for relocations and expansions.
The construction program itself should create substantial work for contractors, engineers, architects and professional-service firms. Once complete, additional gates and passenger activity should support more jobs in airline operations, concessions, hospitality, transportation and airport services. Airport and city officials have described the program as a long-term economic opportunity for Central Texas.
Where Could It Go Wrong?
The greatest risk is cost escalation. Airport projects are complicated, and this one will unfold over most of a decade. Construction inflation, interest rates, labor availability, design changes and delays between interconnected projects could all push costs higher.
There will also be years of disruption. Travelers should expect roadway changes, temporary gates, shuttle boarding, construction noise and shifting parking arrangements.
Concourse M may be operationally necessary, but passengers assigned to a bus-served satellite concourse may not view it as an improvement—particularly during bad weather or Austin’s hottest months.
Finally, the financing still depends on continued passenger and airline revenue. The debt is not backed by property taxes, but it will ultimately be supported through the money travelers, airlines, tenants and airport businesses spend at AUS.
The Bottom Line
Austin needs more airport capacity, and the expansion is no longer theoretical. Supporting projects are under construction, financing is in place and the airline agreements needed to move the larger program forward have been completed.
The process will be expensive and inconvenient. But by the early 2030s, Austin could finally have an airport designed for the city it has become—not the much smaller city it was when the terminal opened.