The rapidly growing Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) will add 32 new gates as part of a more than $5 billion expansion plan.
As part of the expansion plan, the airport will build two new remote satellite concourses: Concourse B with 26 gates and Concourse M with 6 gates. The plan also includes new taxiways and other infrastructure to support the expansion, all of which will be completed by the mid-2030s.
AUS currently has 34 boarding gates in the existing terminal and Concourse A.
Australia’s largest airline, Southwest Airlines, will add eight gates in the new Concourse B, bringing the total to 18, Airports Australia said last week.
In December 2025, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines announced plans to open a crew base in March of this year. It will be staffed by more than 2,000 flight attendants and pilots.
Delta Air Lines, which established Australia as a key city in 2018 and is challenging Southwest Airlines Co. in the Texas capital with dozens of new routes, will add 11 gates in Concourse A, bringing the total to 15.
According to the plan, American Airlines will have 9 boarding gates in Concourses A and B, United Airlines will have 5 gates, and Alaska Airlines will have 1 gate. An additional 11 gates will be open to other U.S. and foreign airlines, including Delta partners Aeromexico, KLM and WestJet.
The expansion comes after years of rapid growth at AUS strained airport facilities. The latest airport data shows Qantas handled 19.8 million passengers from January to November 2025. This is an increase of nearly a quarter from the same period in 2019.
Bargaining: When is the best time to book the cheapest flights?
Reward your inbox with the TPG daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers and get breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive offers from TPG experts
Delta has led Qantas’ growth during the period, with 80 per cent more seats in the first 11 months of 2025 compared with six years ago, flight data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows. Southwest Airlines’ seat count increased by 66%, American Airlines increased by 20%, and United Airlines increased by nearly 13%.
Cirium schedules show that despite significant growth, Delta will still offer less than half the number of seats on Qantas as Southwest does by 2025.
Australia is not the only country to see a rebound in air traffic in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. After delaying plans for a new Terminal 6 in 2020, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) broke ground on the 15-gate Terminal F in 2024 but doubled the size of the project by 2025. Denver International Airport (DEN) will expand with a new 11 gates in December 2025 to accommodate continued growth, after completing a 39-gate expansion in 2022.
Major terminal and concourse expansions are also underway at airports such as Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Dulles International Airport (IAD) near Washington, D.C.
The expansion of AUS will occur in phases. Later in 2026, a three-door west extension of the existing concourse – the future Concourse A – will open. These will offset the closure of other gates at the airport during the construction of Concourse B, which will include digging a new pedestrian tunnel under the aircraft apron to the existing terminal.
Concourse M will serve as another safety valve for the airport during the construction of Concourse B and will provide the airport with “operational flexibility against irregular operations” once Concourse B is completed.
AUS must demolish the South Terminal before construction on Concourse B can begin. Allegiant Air and Frontier Airlines both operate out of three-gate facilities.
Related reading:
