AUSTIN, Texas — Passenger traffic is back to pre-pandemic levels at the Austin airport and long security lines have frustrated flyers for months.
To help with the problem, on Monday, airport leaders opened checkpoint 2E with three new general screening lines. The checkpoint is the fourth at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
“We're looking at the passenger experience from a holistic perspective and focusing on improving the passenger experience, optimizing the available square footage that we have at the Barbara Jordan Terminal and adding additional infrastructure to accommodate the growth,” said Ghizlane Badawi, chief operating officer for the airport.
In November, the Austin City Council approved spending $1.5 million to get the new checkpoint ready. It wasn’t expected to be ready until after Christmas or into the new year.
“Since this summer, we've seen a tremendous growth here at AUS,” Badawi said. “We’re one of the fastest-growing airports, and this checkpoint will help us with the capacity to screen additional passengers and enhance the passenger experience.”
For flyers with TSA PreCheck or CLEAR, screening will still be done at checkpoint 1 or 2W.
The new checkpoint is part of overall growth plan at the airport, which calls for optimizing the Barbara Jordan Terminal for immediate growth needs. In the future, plans show additional gates and ticket counters before the airport builds another terminal and additional runway.
The airport had its busiest day ever in October when more than 35,000 flyers were screened.
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