Updated with comments from San Antonio International Airport
A special high level City-County Task Force will begin investigating how to overcome long term problems with San Antonio's air service, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"Convenient, affordable air service is vital to our economic competitiveness," Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff says. "The task force will look at big picture solutions to our pressing air service needs."
A lack of reliable, non stop passenger air travel has been cited as one of the biggest barriers to economic growth in San Antonio. Brad Parscale, CEO of the local tech firm Giles Parscale, who was a key adviser to Donald Trump in last year's election, told News Radio 1200 WOAI's Michael Board that when he asked people in airports as he traveled extensively for the campaign, about San Antonio, the number one complaint he heard was about the city's lack of robust air service.
In fact, when AT&T moved its corporate offices out of San Antonio in 2008, the reason cited by CEO Randall Stephenson for the move to Dallas was the lack of non stop air service out of San Antonio.
One of the three chairs of the Task Force will be AT&T executive Renee Flores, who is a former Chair of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. Other chairs are former Mayor and HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, and retiring Councilman and long time Chamber executive Joe Krier.
San Antonio International Airport, which is landlocked and unable to grow, is losing local travelers to Austin Bergstrom, which has more than twice the number of non stop flights, is home to popular airlines like Virgin which don't serve SAT, and offers non stop flights to Europe, something that San Antonio's airport has never offered.
Several proposals have been floated over the nine years since AT&T's abrupt departure, including a joint D/FW style airport in conjunction with Austin, building a new International Airport outside the city, potentially in the New Braunfels area, and doing more to utilize Stinson Field and the runways at Port San Antonio.
The Task Force will investigate other issues, including whether the city-owned Airport should be co managed in a joint agreement with Bexar County, and whether the aviation services should even be privatized.
UPDATE: The San Antonio International Airport released the following statement:
San Antonio International Airport is not landlocked and has potential to grow. Development on our existing real estate has always been a part of our planning efforts.
· Infrastructure is clearly a part of the equation for air service, but the primary factor is validating a demand signal to airlines. The airlines are very sophisticated at network planning and we work intensely with them to advocate for air service where we have underserved or unserved markets.
· San Antonio has an 8% leakage to Austin-Bergstrom. The leakage or loss of business is attributed to various reasons.
· As a result of inclusive community involvement in the development of a 5-year air service development plan, SAT established a goal of 3.6% for air capacity growth in 2017. This mark was exceeded by 20% with the addition of new service or additional service by Air Canada, Frontier, American and Aeromexico.