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'We appreciate the patience' | Travelers deal with long TSA lines, rental car traffic at Austin airport

The airport said it is dealing with high volumes of passengers as visitors travel home from events like Texas Relays, NASCAR and more.

AUSTIN, Texas — Travelers flying out of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) have been dealing with some messy mornings.

On Monday, March 28, Twitter user Kaf tagged KVUE in a photo of what appeared to be a very long TSA line at the Austin airport. They said the line wrapped around and outside the entire length of the building.

KVUE's Bryce Newberry reported that the airport said Sunday that it had adequate staffing to manage lines and wasn't having operational issues. 

At around 7:30 a.m. on Monday, Twitter user Kelly Williams Nagel said that there were abandoned rental cars far from the drop-off area at the airport at around 6:30 a.m. She also said that the TSA lines were wrapped around outside.

Newberry confirmed that one rental car stalled out at the drop-off curb Monday morning, and rental car staff told the customers to leave the vehicle with the keys inside. That caused a ripple effect where other drivers also left their rental cars alongside the curb.

AUS told Newberry that eventually it was alerted and got in touch with the rental car company to request help moving the vehicles from the curb. AUS staff also directed traffic. The vehicles were cleared from the curb, but operations didn't return to normal for about 2.5 hours.

AUS sent Newberry a statement regarding the situation Sunday and Monday mornings, saying in part that it continues to see high volumes of passengers, especially on peak travel periods of Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays and Mondays before 8 a.m.

The airport said that on Sunday, TSA processed 8,965 passengers before 8 a.m. On Monday, the agency processed 8,252 before 8 a.m. AUS said these volumes reflect the thousands of visitors traveling home after attending Austin events like Texas Relays, Dell Match Play, NASCAR and more.

"[In] response to the strong demand for air travel, AUS continues to expedite terminal improvements through the Airport Expansion and Development Program and through working alongside our partners, like the TSA, to fill staff vacancies," AUS said in the statement. "We appreciate the patience and understanding of our passengers and continue to ask them to plan ahead, arrive early and show kindness to airport and airline staff who are working hard to get them safely to their destination."

RELATED: Austin City Council member pushing to relocate proposed jet fuel farm near airport

On Wednesday, airport officials reiterated that it will continue seeing a high volume of travelers and expects 28,000 passengers to fly in and out of the airport Thursday through Monday. The trend is expected to continue through the summer due to more flights and seats being available. 

To that end, officials expect to set a new passenger record of 20 million this year, breaking the 17.3 million passenger record set in 2019.

Airport leadership reportedly met with the TSA to address the passenger wait times and to continue improving passenger flow and staffing. They also met with the Consolidated Rental Car Facility (CONRAC) and requested an "after-action report to thoroughly understand the cause of Monday morning's traffic back-up and to identify solutions to prevent it from reoccurring."

On Monday afternoon, AUS issued a fuel shortage alert due to the number of flights scheduled and a lack of fuel supply available. Arriving flights were asked to land with extra fuel in the event that there isn't enough for them to fill up at AUS. 

The airport operates with two to three days worth of fuel supply, while most airports of similar supply operate with five to seven days' worth of fuel. 

The shortage alert was lifted Wednesday afternoon.

KVUE will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.

KVUE on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Bryce Newberry on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Britny Eubank on social media: Twitter

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