AUSTIN, Texas – Travelers at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport will soon have more options to explore new parts of the world.
While the City of Austin continues to experience rapid growth, the traffic at the airport has also been increasing exponentially. That growth will now expand to include new non-stop destinations from ABIA.
The airport has doubled its non-stop destinations in the past few years, starting out with 27 non-stop destinations when ABIA opened in 1999. It then grew to 40 in 2010, and now it's expanding to 83 non-stop spots.
The airport's spokesperson said they added 10 more stops since January and are anticipating even more carriers to sign up. He said a big part of the growth in non-stop services is in passenger traffic and airline seating capacity.
Just 10 years ago, ABIA had 12 million airline seats available annually. Now, it offers over 19 million seats every year.
Airlines are continuing to add larger planes and trips, on top of their current services to major cities including Atlanta and Los Angeles.
"The growth is all about reflective and intertwined with Austin's growth as a city, the businesses that are here and also, as a destination to come to," said Jim Halbrook with ABIA.
Halbrook said this type of growth will also help travelers save money because more carriers mean more competition on fares.
To keep up, ABIA is building nine new gates into existing terminals to handle 15 million passengers annually. Right now, the airport can only support 11 million.
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