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Southwest Airlines is suing San Antonio over the airport terminal decision

Vaseline September 29, 2024

This story has been updated.

Talks between Southwest Airlines and the city of San Antonio over use of the new airport terminal reached another impasse this week when the airline sued the city for discriminating against the low-cost carrier.

According to a lawsuit filed Thursday, naming the city’s director of airports Jesus Saenz, the airline says the city “unlawfully and unfairly applied subjective criteria” to ban Southwest from the new terminal because the city’s passenger profile was inappropriate was considered for the new accommodations.

Last week, Southwest declined to join other major airlines in signing a new lease and use agreement that takes effect Oct. 1 unless the airline gets the 10 gates it wants in the new $1.4 concourse billion or the guarantee that the city will release more money. to upgrade Terminal A.

Airport planners working for the city had proposed converting San Antonio International Airport’s Terminal A into a dedicated southwest terminal, reducing the number of gates by seven to expand waiting areas and concessions. They had promised to spend $200 million on upgrades.

Other airlines, American and Delta, were assigned to the new $1.4 billion terminal, while United would remain in Terminal B.

City Manager Erik Walsh addressed the lawsuit Friday, saying this could be a key in the city’s overall massive airport redevelopment project. “Southwest’s actions could result in our progress being halted and the airport remaining as it is,” he said in a statement.

Jeff Novota, vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Southwest, said in a letter to Saenz that the airline, which has 37% of SAT traffic, is being discriminated against.

Southwest makes this claim based on Department of Transportation grant rules, which require airports to be made available for public use “without unjust discrimination against all types, types and classes of aviation operations.”

Novota said in the letter shared with the report that the city of San Antonio, as owner and operator of the airport, “is not at liberty to use subjective criteria to choose one airline over another based on the desire of the decision makers of the municipal government. ”

He added that airports “do not legally have the right to pick ‘winners and losers’ among the airlines that choose to serve the airport.”

A sign advertises the new terminal coming to San Antonio International Airport. Credit: Bria Woods/San Antonio Report

Novota also objected to making gate and terminal assignments based on whether an airline is a good fit for San Antonio or whether it has an aviation club as part of its offering, which would violate the Airline Deregulation Act.

Southwest claims that Terminal A is too narrow and will not provide the customer experience it expects. “To date, the city has not submitted a viable plan that would address these customer experience issues or correct the impact on our long-term commercial plan by requiring Southwest to remain in the old Terminal A,” Novota said in a statement. the letter.

Despite the threat of a lawsuit, city leaders traveled to Dallas Tuesday to meet with Southwest executives and offer a compromise to close the deal.

Concessions offered by the city included increasing Terminal A’s renovation budget from $200 million to $300 million, with half of the expenditure subject to the approval process outlined in the agreement, to which all airlines agree have to go. The other half would be funded entirely by the San Antonio Airport.

The olive branch came with an artist’s rendering of what Terminal A could look like as a dedicated southwest concourse.

“We have made a substantial offer – within the terms of the lease – to address their concerns, and we look forward to further discussions,” Walsh said earlier this week.

In a memo to Mayor Ron Nirenberg and city council members, Walsh said Wednesday that Southwest “accepts” that the decision to keep the airline in Terminal A is final, but that airline executives will not sign the agreement until they know the approved budget for renovation is sufficient.

Walsh said if the city were to agree to Southwest’s request and not implement the agreement within the next week, it would delay construction of the new terminal and send negotiations over the agreement that other airlines had signed “back to square one.” Push.

Andrea Drusch contributed to this report.

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Southwest Airlines is suing San Antonio over the airport terminal decision

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Southwest Airlines is suing San Antonio over the airport terminal decision

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