F1 helps break passenger records for Austin-Bergstrom Airport

Austin-Bergström International Airport had a turbulent year before October. Portion the capital of Texas was a challenge facing with the same flight delays, cancellations and staff shortage touching almost every other airport in the country. In addition to this, Austin-Bergstrom nearly ran out of jet fuel in the spring. The airport even suffered a three-hour power outage last month. However, Austin-Bergstrom is also seeing its passenger numbers surpass pre-pandemic levels and crashing now. records, mainly due to the United States Formula 1 Grand Prix this past weekend.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport opened in 1999, and Austin’s profile as a city has changed dramatically since then. More importantly for potential tourists from overseas, the FIA ​​Formula One World Championship began racing annually in Austin in 2012. A decade and a hit Netflix documentary series later, the Grand Prix of the United States this year attracted more than 440,000 fans at Circuit of the Americas during race weekend. This number of people converging on a metropolitan area of ​​2.3 million has had a huge impact on its transportation infrastructure.

On Monday, 43,177 passengers took off on flights from Austin-Bergstrom, a new record for the airport. KXAN reported that the new record broke the previous record (set only last week) by more than 7,800 passengers. This record was set on day after the second weekend of the Austin City Limits music festival. When Austin-Bergstrom opened in 1999, the airport was designed to handle 11 million passengers per year, or 30,137 passengers per day. It’s quite the influx.

A major expansion of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, called AUS Master Plan 2040, will add a 20-gate concourse extension, doubling the airport’s current passenger capacity to more than 31 million passengers per year. With Circuit of the Americas signing a five-year deal to stay on the Formula 1 calendar, I don’t expect demand for air travel to Austin to decline anytime soon, so AUS will need any help possible.