AUSTIN, Texas — Officials with the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport said they've seen massive amounts of growth year after year.
Now, with large events like the Austin City Limits Festival and the Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix, they're preparing for record-breaking traffic coming in and out of the airport.
This year alone, the airport has already seen a nearly 80% increase in passenger traffic compared to 2021, making this a year that airport officials said is constantly breaking records.
This comes as no surprise, as Austin airport officials like Bailey Grimmett say the airport continues to see massive growth year after year.
"We have seen that this year compared to five years previously. We have broken each month. The record has been higher than the previous year before," said Grimmett, a spokesperson for the airport.
Travelers like Austinite Melinda Taylor said she's seen it first hand.
"The traffic is really terrible. It's hard to park out here at the airport and you certainly see it during those big influxes of people during those tourist events," said Taylor.
With added traffic surrounding events like ACL Fest and the U.S. Grand Prix, Grimmett said they've run into issues in the past, like being able to get fuel to planes.
"The traffic, like the actual vehicle traffic around the area, made that difficult. It was a challenge. So I do know that the fuel consortium is planning and they're talking about having an alternative route," said Grimmett.
These are the routes the consortium is considering for fuel transportation around the airport:
Grimmett also noted that an influx of people has led to fuel shortage alerts for airlines. She noted that, this year, they have already had to issue 12 fuel shortage alerts to airlines, which is the same number of alerts issued last year altogether.
This August compared to last saw 1,787,017 people, up 37.67% since last year.
Officials said they have about 60 projects planned to expand the airport. Traveler Ty Ford said it's needed.
"It would make a lot of sense for just the airport itself to start encompassing for the population that's coming through here," said Ford.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: