Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is heading into summer with more flights going to more nonstop destinations than this time last year.
But the extra flights are mostly coming from the big airlines. Smaller and ultra-low-cost carriers are pulling back, squeezed by rising fuel costs and the loss of the smaller South Terminal.
Airport data shows ABIA has 280 average daily departures in June, up from 275 a year earlier. The average number of seats for sale each day ticked slightly higher from 42,000 to more than 42,400. ABIA is serving 87 nonstop destinations this month, up from 85 in June 2025.
More space coming but big projects still years away
The airline growth is happening while construction work on a $5 billion airport expansion continues. Some new features are coming online this summer while the biggest pieces of the expansion, like a new 26-gate concourse, aren't expected to open until the early 2030s.
The most noticeable near-term change is the West Gate expansion. The project adds three gates on the west side of the Barbara Jordan Terminal. Allegiant, Frontier and other airlines are now operating there after the closure of the South Terminal in March.
"We've been able to open extra ticket counter space for those airlines and an entirely new TSA checkpoint," said Sam Haynes, one of ABIA's deputy chiefs.
More pieces of the West Gate project are still being finished, including a quiet room and place where people can take their pets to pee.
"There will also be for the first time ever at the airport, an indoor playground for kids to hopefully burn off energy before boarding their flight," Haynes said of the West Gate area. "We're looking forward to opening that to the public later this summer or early fall."
Inside the terminal, crews are working to fill in the atrium above baggage claim with a new floor that will open up a cramped walking area between the east and west sides of the terminal.
The now-vacant South Terminal is set to be demolished to create space for new taxiways that will allow planes to access the 26-gate concourse.
Frequent Austin flyer Bowen McCulloch said the airport still feels tight, but he's seeing signs of improvement.
"With the South Terminal being closed now and then having to put those Frontier and Allegiant flights over in the main Barbara Jordan Terminal, it's a terminal that was already bursting at the seams," said McCulloch, a management consultant who runs the travel website ATXJetsetter.com.
McCulloch said the new TSA checkpoint has helped, especially for travelers entering on the west side of the building.
"It does seem like the new Checkpoint 4 is alleviating some of that," McCulloch said. "Obviously, I think we all have a little bit of PTSD from what it was like during the TSA funding lapse when you were having hours-long wait times in line."
More flights but not for every airline
Most of the growth in seats for sale is coming from the two airlines with the biggest presence at ABIA: Southwest and Delta.
Southwest Airlines is scheduled to offer as many as 132 flights per day during the summer. That's a record for the airline in Austin.
Last week, Southwest added a seasonal nonstop route to Cincinnati and brought back Seattle service, a route it hasn't flown from Austin since 2018. In October, Southwest plans to add service to Memphis and Knoxville, Tennessee; Santa Rosa, California, and Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
Delta launched new service to Columbus, Ohio, and Kansas City, Missouri, on Sunday. It's adding several Saturday-only summer routes, including Bozeman and Kalispell, Montana; and Asheville, North Carolina. The airline will also start its new Phoenix route in July, months earlier than previously planned.
ABIA added a new airline in May. Porter Airlines now flies nonstop to Toronto five times a week.
On the less expensive end of the market, some airlines are shrinking or disappearing entirely.
Spirit Airlines went out of business on May 2 and its assets are being sold off to pay back creditors. The carrier accounted for less than 1% of departures at ABIA, but its exit removes a source of competition on routes including Newark, New Jersey, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Allegiant Air now has a more limited schedule. The airline is blaming high oil prices for reducing service on several routes, including Cincinnati and Las Vegas. Allegiant also plans to suspend Asheville service for part of September.
Frontier Airlines is operating a relatively small number of routes, focused mainly on Atlanta, Denver, Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida.
In some cases, larger airlines are stepping in to fill the gaps. Southwest is increasing service to Las Vegas and Orlando while JetBlue is adding more flights to Fort Lauderdale.
Fuel prices take a bite
Airport officials say fuel costs are a major factor behind some of the cutbacks.
Air Canada's nonstop Austin to Montreal flight had been expected to be year-round, but now it's going to be suspended effective Sept. 5 and won't return till summer 2027.
Jet fuel prices have risen sharply since the start of the U.S. and Israel's war on Iran, putting pressure on airlines already dealing with higher costs for workers, aircraft and maintenance.
The Gulf Coast spot price for jet fuel averaged about $3.94 a gallon in May, nearly double the price from a year earlier, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data.
Jamy Kazanoff, ABIA's deputy chief of air service development, said fuel costs are one of the major expenses airlines weigh when deciding which routes to keep.
"They look at where they can fly where they may use less fuel and where they can have higher demand," Kazanoff said.
What's changing at ABIA
Southwest
- Added seasonal nonstop service to Cincinnati
- Brought back Seattle service, which it has not flown nonstop from Austin since 2018
- Plans to add Memphis and Knoxville, Tennessee; Santa Rosa, California; and Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Florida in October
- Increasing service to Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida, after Spirit's shutdown
- Ending Chicago O'Hare service and suspending Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, service until November
Delta
- Started new routes to Columbus, Ohio, and Kansas City, Missouri
- Adds Saturday-only service to Bozeman and Kalispell, Montana; and Asheville, North Carolina
- Moved up the launch of Phoenix service to July instead of November
JetBlue
- Added a second daily flight to Boston
- Increasing Fort Lauderdale, Florida, service from two daily flights to three starting Wednesday
Air Canada
- Reducing Vancouver, British Columbia, service and shifting it to a redeye flight in August
- Seasonally suspending nonstop Austin-Montreal flights Sept. 5 because of high fuel prices with service expected to return summer 2027
Allegiant
- Reducing flights this summer to Cincinnati; Des Moines, Iowa; Washington Dulles Airport, Las Vegas and Pittsburgh because of high oil prices
- Will fly nonstop from Austin to 11 cities this summer: Asheville, North Carolina; Cincinnati; Des Moines, Iowa; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Washington Dulles Airport, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Provo, Utah; Sanford, Connecticut; Sarasota, Florida; and Knoxville, Tennessee
- Asheville service suspended from Sept. 11-28 because of high fuel prices.
Frontier
- Will fly to Atlanta, Denver, Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida, at least through Nov. 19
- Limited service to Cleveland and Phoenix in October
International nonstop flights
- ABIA's newest airline, Porter, is flying to Toronto five times a week
- Cayman Airways flies on Sundays to Grand Cayman until Aug. 16
- British Airways is flying twice weekly to London Heathrow until late October, when it reduces to once a week.
- Lufthansa is flying to Frankfurt, Germany five times a week until October, when it goes down to three times a week.
- KLM is flying to Amsterdam four times a week in June. Three times a week after that.
- WestJet is flying nonstop to Calgary twice weekly instead of three times a week as originally planned, and will end service on Sept. 10. instead of Oct. 22.
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