When Jesus Saenz stepped into his role as director of airports for the City of San Antonio, he naturally had a 30-, 60- and 90-day plan to improve and grow the San Antonio International Airport (SAT).
Within a month, those plans were sidelined by a travel-busting pandemic, forcing the new airport boss to pivot to short-term basic health and safety while keeping his eye on the future.
Five years later, Saenz and his team have a new 17-gate terminal and ground load facility under construction. They have turned SAT into the largest medium-sized airport with connectivity to Mexico, integrated new vehicle parking systems and also celebrated history-making wins and losses in air service.
In this week’s episode of the “bigcitysmalltown” podcast, host Robert Rivard spoke with Saenz about construction at the airport and the anticipated non-stop flight to Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).
“It’s going to be transformative, and it’s not going to be transformative to one singular terminal — our efforts are to transform the entire asset,” Saenz said of the project he’s overseeing as part of “Elevate/SAT,” the $2.5 billion capital improvement plan.
He talks about why the upcoming inaugural DCA flight, set for March 3, is such a momentous occasion.
Local and state officials have tried unsuccessfully for years to win a DCA slot for San Antonio in the Federal Aviation Administration’s Reauthorization Bill. “And it really put a dent to this community,” he said. “But now we are going to change that … So go buy your tickets.”
Saenz and Rivard also discuss what happened to the city’s first non-stop transatlantic flight — a Condor flight to Frankfurt that lasted only months — and what he thinks about the ongoing legal challenges brought by Southwest Airlines.
“Nothing good comes easy,” he said.
Listen to episode 90 of the “bigcitysmalltown” podcast below.
Disclosure: Robert Rivard is the co-founder of the San Antonio Report.
