McAllen International Airport expansion and parking plans enter next phase

McAllen International Airport is advancing a multiyear capital program that could change how travelers park, move through the terminal and reach boarding areas. The city’s fiscal year 2025-26 budget identifies funding for terminal improvements, parking-lot work, parking-equipment replacement, elevator rehabilitation and passenger-boarding bridges.

The records do not describe one finalized construction contract with a single start date. They show separate projects and funding lines at different stages, including appropriations, ongoing planning and feasibility work. Airport and city officials still need to confirm final designs, project phasing, procurement, closures and traveler notices.

What the city budget includes

The city’s Airport Capital Improvement Fund lists $16.644 million for terminal improvements, $1.339 million for airport parking-lot improvements and $300,000 for parking-equipment replacement in the FY 2025-26 plan.

The same fund lists $635,000 for terminal-elevator rehabilitation and $125,440 for a terminal-expansion feasibility study. The feasibility-study line is important because it shows that at least part of the future expansion remains in study or planning rather than representing a completed expansion contract.

A separate Passenger Facility Charge fund lists $3.257 million for terminal passenger-boarding bridges in FY 2025-26, followed by $4 million in the city’s FY 2026-27 plan. Together, those listed plan-year amounts total about $7.26 million. The city budget also contains other airport projects and funding sources, so the figures should not be treated as one boarding-bridge contract unless the airport identifies one.

What travelers could notice

The city says McAllen International Airport’s terminal is 138,000 square feet and accommodates more than 1 million passengers annually. The airport lists multiple gates, baggage-claim areas, rental-car service, rideshare access and a ticketless parking system among its passenger facilities.

That means the planned work could eventually affect parking access or payment equipment, elevator availability, terminal circulation and the boarding areas used to reach aircraft. Construction could also create detours or temporary disruptions. The available budget records do not establish whether parking capacity will increase or decrease, which spaces could close, or when specific work will begin.

A July 9, 2026 report said the McAllen City Commission was scheduled to receive a presentation on the airport parking program during its July 13 workshop. That provides a recent local policy checkpoint, but it does not by itself establish a final parking layout or construction schedule.

How the broader $100 million estimate fits

A July 25 report by the RGV Business Journal described a broader airport effort as costing at least $100 million and potentially as much as $170 million, depending on the final design, budget and financing. The report connected that broader concept to parking changes, terminal expansion and other facility improvements.

That estimate is not the same thing as the city’s narrower FY 2025-26 budget lines. The city budget separates airport capital improvement, passenger-facility-charge and customer-facility-charge funds and lists multiple projects, including runway, taxiway, terminal, parking and passenger-facility work. The budget documents funding authority and planned expenditures; they do not show that every part of the broader concept has been awarded, scheduled or combined into one project.

Funding and next checkpoint

The FY 2025-26 budget shows airport capital work supported through several airport-related sources, including federal aviation grant reimbursements, passenger facility charges, customer facility charges, transfers and airport revenues. It also lists $38.875 million in total FY 2025-26 appropriations for the Airport Capital Improvement Fund, a figure that includes many projects beyond the terminal and parking items discussed here.

For residents and travelers, the next useful checkpoint is an official airport or city notice identifying the final parking layout, project phases, construction schedule and any access changes. Until that information is released, the safest reading of the records is that McAllen International Airport has a substantial multiyear capital program with several projects moving through different stages—not a finalized timetable for terminal expansion, parking closures or boarding-bridge replacement.

Sources

• City of McAllen Approved Operating and Capital Budget FY 2025-26
• Big changes coming to the McAllen International Airport
• McAllen City Commission airport-parking agenda preview