Summary:
The Aviation Department would like to brief the members of the Economic and Community Development Committee on the development and construction of a permanent General Aviation (GA) Federal Inspection Station (FIS) at the San Antonio International Airport.
Issue:
Federal law requires the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to process passengers entering the United States from international flights from both commercial and GA aircraft. Both types of aircraft were utilizing international gates at Terminal A to deplane the passengers for processing by the CBP. This led to traffic congestion at the gate, causing delays to scheduled commercial traffic, as well as the GA aircraft, as well as safety concerns. International GA aircraft must wait until the passengers have been processed and returned to the aircraft before relocating to the fixed-based operator or corporate hangar. In order to improve safety and efficiency at the Airport, the City and the CBP would like the GA FIS activities to be located away from the terminals.
In October 2012, the City Council authorized a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the CBP and City for both an interim and permanent solution. The City agreed to provide an interim GA facility at ground level under Gate 16 for processing, and allowing the international gates to be used only for commercial aircraft. Gate 16 is not currently being used for commercial operations. The CBP agreed to operate the facility on an as-need basis. Operations began at the interim location in November 2013. In the MOA, the City and CBP also agreed to the need of a permanent location for the processing of GA passengers away from the terminals to be opened by September 2016. According to the MOA, the City will design and build the permanent location and the CBP will relocate the GA FIS activities to the location.
In August 2013, the City released a Request for Interest to solicit interest for a third-party to design an...
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