Austin airport closes security checkpoint as part of expansion project
AUSTIN, Texas - Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is making major improvements to its infrastructure. The changes are part of the Journey with AUS Project, where the airport will expand one of its checkpoints and build a new baggage handling system.
In the process, the checkpoint will be closed to travelers for the next two years.
"That just closed, just a couple of weeks ago, for construction on a project that will expand this space by more than 70,000 square feet, so we are gaining a lot of space," Airport Communications Manager Sam Haynes said.
Checkpoint 3 is closed to travelers as construction is underway at Barbara Jordan Terminal for the West Infill Project at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
"We will be opening a big, better checkpoint 3 that will have up to 6 to 8 new lines," Haynes said.
While the checkpoint is closed until 2026, travelers can use any of the three open checkpoints.
"We do have regular screening pre-check and Clear at checkpoint 1, and then we have a pre-check-only checkpoint that is going to be checkpoint 2 east, and then checkpoint 2 west is clear and general screening," Haynes said.
"There are days when you can get straight through, but when they close down one of those checkpoints, it is definitely a bottleneck, and sometimes you go through, and it is like 20 minutes to get through security," traveler McKenna Willis said. "I have been there before, and it has been like over two hours."
There have been two lanes added to checkpoint 2 west while the west infill expansion is underway.
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The current construction at the airport is for the extra 16,000 square feet that will house the new baggage handling system.
"It is essentially, if you can envision, a rollercoaster of conveyor belts for checked luggage to travel on," Haynes said. "Once you check it at the airline ticket counter, it makes its way throughout the airport to your aircraft."
It is expected to be in use by the end of the year, along with the new fuel facility.
"That is a new airline fuel facility that will house and store all of the jet fuel needed to support today's operations for our airline partners and operations to come," Haynes said. "The beauty of our Journey with AUS Program is it is building out near term projects like this one, like the west gate expansion, that is adding more square footage overall on the west end."