The closure of Checkpoint 3 is part of the airport’s West Infill project, which will add thousands of square feet to accommodate travelers walking through the airport and a new outbound baggage handling system for checked bags. The project is expected to be completed sometime in 2026.
What you need to know
Travelers can visit the following checkpoints for Transportation Security Administration screening while Checkpoint 3 is closed:
- General TSA screening: Checkpoint 1, Checkpoint 2 West
- Precheck: Checkpoints 1 and 2 East
- Clear: Checkpoint 1
Airport staff added two more lanes to Checkpoint 2 West to offset congestion while Checkpoint 3 is under construction.
The context
The terminal expansion follows two consecutive record-breaking years for ABIA. The airport saw 21.1 million passengers in 2022, a 51% increase from the year prior. Airport officials told Community Impact 2023 was even busier.
"[The expansion is] addressing growth, but it's also modernizing the airport,” ABIA spokesperson Sam Haynes told Community Impact in December. “So it's not just adding more of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. It is delivering new solutions [and] current technology."
What’s next
The West Infill project is one of several major revamps ABIA will break ground on in 2024. The projects include:
- Adding baggage carousels and more queuing space to the international facility
- Adding two parallel taxiways to connect the east and west sides of the building
- Adding ticketing-level atrium infill, which will fill in an open space with 13,000 square feet to avoid TSA lines from queuing outside
