It has been just over a year since we last looked at Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport, a facility whose story stretches from the likes of Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh to the development of a commercial spaceport.
Since we last spoke with the Airport Director, Bryant Walker, he has been busy.
“It has been a pretty amazing year actually,” he tells us. “We have exceeded all the goals we had in place for literally everything. We are accelerating a lot of our construction plans, it has been a banner year.”
Forging New Paths
One of the biggest new developments Brownsville’s airport has seen since we last spoke to Walker has been the addition of three new out-of-state routes – a landmark for the facility.
“Over the past ten years we have only had two flights out of state, and they only lasted one season due to flight crew or equipment restrictions,” Walker says. “However, this time we have services going out to Burbank and Orlando. Now we expected to increase the routes within a year, but within two months they already added a route to Las Vegas that starts in September.”
The first two routes will expand Brownsville’s seat availability by 36%, with the Last Vegas route adding another 15%, resulting in more than a 50% increase.
At the same time, Brownsville Airport has taken over its concessions after the post-Covid environment resulted in a lack of food services looking to occupy the space. However, while other food services have moved away from airport concessions due to a perceived lack in demand, Walker has been seeing anything but.
“The increase in demand means our current projects include expanding our parking lot to double the size, including a parking garage and space for secured rental car activity,” Walker says. “We have still been operating a very small airport where customers collect the keys from a counter, but we are introducing a service where customers can just reserve a vehicle remotely, walk out and pick it up. It will be a touchless, contactless experience.”
Into the Black
The car park facilities are not the only thing that is expanding. SpaceX has taken an extra 50,000 square feet of space to develop its spaceport facilities.
As well as expanding its presence on the final frontier, Brownsville is also venturing onto the digital frontier. The airport has been subject to a 3D scan from Matterport, uploaded to Google Earth to allow a complete online tour of the airport.
“One of the jet bridges links to a 737-aeroplane interior, another links to South Padre Island,” Walker explains. “There is another link to the air traffic control tower with 360-degree views and a link to SpaceX with 360-degree views of the launchpad.”
But the spaceport is not the only way Brownsville is getting into the black. As Walker says, there has been another breakthrough at the airport.
“Since we last talked, we made another massive achievement,” he says. “We have achieved operational fiscal self-sustainability. It is a razor-thin surplus but by 2026 we are expecting at least a 10% expansion in revenues.”
It is a big step for a facility that has historically been reliant on subsidies from the city.
“Having that financial self-sustainability makes a big difference to how we operate. We are now a true enterprise fund,” Walker says.
Terminal Velocity
One of the first things Brownsville is doing with that new freedom is enhancing its airport terminals. When we speak with Walker these plans are in the design phase, but he is excited about the prospects for a new frequent flyers lounge.
“It will essentially be a private lounge for frequent fliers and first-class passengers from any airline, as well as those with day passes,” Walker says. “Other terminal enhancements include expanded retail services in the gate area and the installation of an automated exit lane. Then behind the scenes, we are installing a building management system and maintenance system.”
The terminals have already been spruced up with the installation of digital marketing displays. This is something that Walker has been planning for some time, although it has been delayed previously due to supply chain issues. The implementation of advanced technology continues with the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport’s use of robot lawnmowers patrolling its green areas.
“They worked amazingly well, and we are pursuing larger and a higher number of lawn maintenance robots,” says Walker. “They are cost-effective and do their job amazingly well. They mow between 9 or 10 thousand kilometres collectively over the course of two years, mowing effectively 24 hours a day.”
The airport will continue to partner with and deploy new technological solutions, particularly across its expanding terminal facilities.
“We only have four gates today and what we need is at least two additional gates to accommodate the peak hours,” Walker says. “But we are also building capacity to allow us to further increase the number and frequency of our routes. We are getting close to capacity, exceeding our projections and expectations. We have already hit probably 80% capacity in our gate area. We’ll be automating some of those gates with biometric gate access portals.”
Alongside all these new and expanded capabilities, Brownsville also relies on its people, and Walker has revealed himself to be an invaluable part of that. This year saw him recognised with the award for Commercial Service Airport Professional of the Year from the South-Central chapter of AAAE.
“It is quite the honour,” says Walker. “I am being recognised as doing the job I intended to do.”
He is justifiably proud of the accolade but is also keen to spread credit around. He is quick to acknowledge how the efforts of the city have helped drive the airport’s expansion.
“The city has gone to great efforts to attract industry such as SpaceX and others, tech companies that have relocated to Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport,” Walker says. “All that industry is being attracted by the city’s economic development arm, which has helped the development arm of the airport. We are not just serving the city but the businesses that use the airport. “
