AUSTIN, Texas (The Texas Tribune) — Southwest Airlines is building a new crew base for pilots and flight attendants that will bring 2,000 new jobs to Austin as part of an economic development agreement struck between the company, the city and the state, the company announced at a Friday news conference alongside Gov. Greg Abbott.
The new base, located at Austin Bergstrom International Airport, will open in March and initially hold roughly 1,000 employees, according to a news release by Southwest, one of the state’s largest employers. By mid-2027, the base will expand to reach its expected size of 2,000 employees, who will be paid an average salary of $180,000, according to the news release.
“As we’ve seen Southwest grow, the Texas economy has grown,” Abbott said at the news conference. “Then, when Southwest recently decided they wanted to achieve another expansion that will lead to 2,000 more employees … we knew that we wanted that project to be located in Texas and located right here in Austin.”
Southwest CEO Bob Jordan credited a package of economic incentives from the state and the city for bringing the expansion to Austin.
The governor’s office awarded the company a $14 million grant from the Texas Enterprise fund, along with a $375,000 bonus for reserving some of the new jobs for veterans, Abbott said. The enterprise fund is administered through the governor’s office and is intended to give “deal closing” grants to companies that are considering a new project in Texas as well as other states, according to the governor’s office.
“The collaboration between the city, the state and Southwest to get to this agreement sends … an important message about what we can do together to benefit the people of this city and this state,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said.
The Friday announcement came a day after the Austin City Council unanimously approved an incentive package for Southwest worth up to $5.5 million over five years. Southwest will receive $2,750 from the city for every Austin-based hire it makes, as long as the employee lives within city limits, according to city documents.
“This economic partnership made this decision easy,” Jordan said.
The crew base’s construction comes as Austin works to expand its airport, which has struggled in recent years with crowded terminals and long security lines as the city around it continues to boom. A new concourse is being constructed and is expected to open by 2030 at the earliest, part of a $4 billion expansion, according to the city.
The concourse will add as many as 40 new gates to the airport over time, more than doubling its current number of 34.
Southwest currently operates roughly 130 daily departures from the airport, a number that could balloon to “well over” 200 per day once the expansion is completed, Jordan said.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
