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Southwest to open Austin crew base, pledges about 2,000 jobs as state and city offer incentives
Summary
Southwest Airlines said it will open a pilot crew base in Austin in March and expand flights and gates, a move officials said will add about 2,000 jobs. Gov. Greg Abbott and city leaders said the state will provide $14 million and the city will seed $5.5 million over five years to support the project.
Southwest Airlines will open a new crew base in Austin in March and expand its local operations, a development company and city officials said that they expect to create roughly 2,000 jobs and boost flight frequency at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
"We are so excited about an announcement today that will add 2,000 more high paying jobs right here in Austin, Texas," Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news event hosted at the airport, adding that the state will provide $14,000,000 through the Texas Enterprise Fund to help move the project forward and that $375,000 of that award is intended to support veteran hiring.
Mayor Kirk Watson said the Austin City Council unanimously approved a performance-based agreement to support the expansion and emphasized workforce development and community benefits. "Yesterday, the Austin city council unanimously approved a performance based agreement that will create the thousands of new jobs for Austinites and make significant investments in our airport, in our workforce, and in our community," Watson said.
Bob Jordan, Southwest's CEO, said the company will open the crew base in March, triple Southwest's local workforce and expand daily flights from about 130 to well over 200 as ramping and new gates come online. "In March, we will open a new crew base home in Austin for our pilots," Jordan said, and said the company hopes the new concourse could accommodate 18 to 20 gates.
City Manager TC Broadnax said the city's portion of the incentive—$5,500,000—will be provided from the general fund and other local economic-development resources over a five-year agreement. "It will come from the city's general fund and other resources that we have. It's a 5 year agreement," Broadnax said.
Airport CEO Ghislaine Badawi said the new crew base and concourse will increase nonstop options and reliability. "It will improve the reliability and the resiliency of our operation, especially during peak time, travel times, during the weather events, the irregular operation," Badawi said, adding the expansion will bring more tourism and connectivity to Austin.
Southwest officials also said some in‑flight training functions will be off-airport and that the permanent crew base offers operational advantages over smaller satellite bases the carrier had previously tested. Jordan predicted the company’s local expansion would spur additional economic activity, with studies he cited projecting another 7,000–8,000 support jobs in related sectors such as healthcare, real estate and manufacturing.
Organizers said the agreement includes additional community commitments, including a contribution to the city’s child care assistance reserve fund and partnerships with the Austin Infrastructure Academy to provide K–12 pathways into aviation jobs. The city’s officials said they view the mix of state and local incentives, training commitments and airport expansion as key to keeping the jobs and economic benefits in Austin.
The news event concluded with a media question-and-answer session; officials did not provide a detailed vote tally for the council’s approval, only that the council acted unanimously on the performance-based agreement. Further timing for gate construction and the full staffing schedule was described as contingent on airport construction and operational planning.
