The City Council will today consider a handful of funding items that together would approve nearly half a billion dollars worth of contracts for the expansion of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

The five applications have a total value of $497.8 million and represent the next major decisions in a series of possible approvals that would total nearly $2.5 billion in the coming months.

A memo released on Tuesday gives the Council an overview of the items on today’s agenda, as well as other items scheduled for the September 12 and 26 meetings.

The largest single airport expenditure on the agenda are two requests related to design and construction support services for airfield improvements at ABIA. Together, the two items total $346.7 million, which includes replacing existing taxiways in the center of the airfield to make room for the new hangar.

Other requests include $60 million to fund a switch between engineering and architectural services, $72 million to design the new station concourse and tunnel system, and $19.1 million to design and build a new baggage handling system.

At the Sept. 12 meeting, the council will likely see a motion to allow the airport authority to accept grants from federal agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration (part of the Department of Homeland Security), to help pay for some of the expansion costs. The motion would allow up to $500 million in grants, with the possibility of more, with the centerfield runway project eligible for nearly $220 million in funding.

Two weeks later, the Council is likely to receive three more requests totaling $1.89 billion.

The largest contract is worth $1.03 billion to build the new hall and tunnel. Another $865 million will cover the cost of designing and building a new arrivals and departures hall, and a final contract worth $1.1 million will cover the removal of a mound of dirt left over from previous construction work.

The expansion is considered essential for the airport, which has fully recovered from the impact of the travel decline caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year, more than 22 million people traveled to or from the airport, an increase of nearly 28 percent from just before the pandemic. Through the beginning of this summer, five of the 10 busiest days in the airport’s history occurred this year.

Despite this growth, there has been some fluctuation in flight availability; American Airlines and Allegiant have significantly reduced their routes from Austin.

Meanwhile, airlines such as Delta, Frontier and Southwest have recently announced the addition of additional nonstop flights from the airport.

Earlier this month, the Airport Advisory Commission received a detailed report on the expansion’s timelines and logistics. Much of the work will be carried out over the next three years, but the new hall is scheduled for completion in 2023.

A detailed financial breakdown of the airport’s budget and a financial forecast for the next two fiscal years were also presented at the meeting. Rajeev Thomas, the airport’s CFO, shared that a large portion of the $351 million budget for 2025 was due to a planned increase in staff to further reduce the 38 percent vacancy rate, which had led to a number of operational challenges in recent years.

Thomas said the airport currently has a 19 percent vacancy rate, and plans are underway to reduce that number to 13 percent by fiscal year 2025. He said these new hires are necessary to help travelers navigate the site as parts of it will be closed for construction in the coming years.

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