By: Megan Rodriguez | From: San Antonio Express News

City leaders are looking to ease the parking crunch at San Antonio International Airport — while also making accommodations for flying taxis.

The City Council on Thursday awarded $110 million design-build contract for the construction of the airport's third parking garage. The six-story structure will add more than 2,000 parking spaces and is slated to open in fall 2027.

Called the Ground Transportation Center, it will include lanes for VIA Metropolitan Transit buses, hotel shuttles, taxis and ride-hailing services. The aim is to clear the frequently clogged pickup and drop-off lanes outside Terminals A and B.

Now, about those flying taxis:

Aviation companies are still years away from perfecting the aircraft, known as electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles. But Airport Director Jesus Saenz said San Antonio will be equipped to welcome them when the time comes.

“The easiest way I have explained it is 'The Jetsons,'” he said, referring to the 1960s animated sitcom set in the future and featuring the Jetson family and flying cars. “That is really where things are moving toward.”

The electric aircraft can lift off like helicopters and fly at speeds of up to 200 mph, but they’re far quieter than fuel-powered helicopters and small airplanes.

Port San Antonio is also looking to welcome air taxis and other similarly innovative aircraft to the city. The Port is building a landing area for the aircraft to land and have advocated for the new technology. 

City Council awarded the contract to Kansas City-based J.E. Dunn Construction, San Antonio’s Marmon Mok Architecture and the Houston-based PGAL design firm. The overall cost of the project is expected to approach $125 million.

All three firms have experience working on San Antonio projects. J.E. Dunn and Marmon Mok built a 900-space parking garage at University Health System’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Saenz said the garage and new surface lots surrounding it will add up to 2,500 parking spaces at the airport. Construction will begin in the next two months.

Ticketless trouble

The airport will likely use Santa Monica, Calif.-based Metropolis Technologies to collect payment at the Ground Transportation Center.

Metropolis replaced the airport’s ticket-based parking system in November. 

Drivers create a profile with Metropolis using the company's app or website, providing their license plate and credit card numbers. The company charges them for the time they spend in the parking area after its cameras spot their vehicles leaving.

The company has been slammed with multiple class-action lawsuits and complaints to the Better Business Bureau, with drivers alleging they were charged high late fees on top of parking charges they didn't know they had accrued. 

In March, the San Antonio Express-News found that 41 veterans were charged for parking through the ticketless payment system even though vets have free parking at the airport for up to 30 days at a time. Saenz said Thursday the number of complaints has dropped, and that the company has refunded the veterans' payments.

Scarce parking spaces

The Ground Transportation Center will sit outside the loop that drivers circle when dropping off or picking up travelers at the airport.

Open parking spaces have become scarce, especially as demand for air travel has come roaring back after the pandemic. The airport’s two existing garages often hit their maximum capacity, forcing people out to surface lots from which they have to take shuttles to get to the airport. 

The airport’s two parking garages, two surface lots and five small overflow lots account for about 10,000 parking spaces.

The new garage will be the second largest on site, behind the 4,000-space long-term parking garage.

The project is one of the priciest in the airport’s 20-year, $2.5 billion expansion plan, behind a $1.7 billion terminal that has been under construction since December.

Hensel Phelps, general contractor for the new terminal, was set to work on the parking garage under its city contract. But airport officials pulled the project from the to-do list about a year ago in hopes that another contractor could build the facility sooner.

The garage was initially slated to open in 2028 with just 500 spots.

City Council on Thursday also approved a $90 million contract with Coppell, Texas-based Austin Bridge and Road for airfield improvements, including drainage work and pavement rehabilitation on one of the three runways.

The runway supports most of the air travel flying in and out of San Antonio, but Saenz said the revamp isn’t expected to slow down travel. Work on the runway will begin in January and is expected to wrap up within eight months. 

 Austin Bridge and Road has worked on airfield projects at 25 airports across the country, including Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.