Austinites may soon be a more common sight strolling along Paris’ famed Champs-Élysées or exploring shrines and temples in Tokyo. If the wishes of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport officials are granted, you may be able to more quickly jet off to these and 10 other global destinations.

At a February 11 meeting, members of the Austin Airport Advisory Commission reviewed a list of the 12 global destinations that Austin-Bergstrom (ABIA) is targeting for new nonstop flights. In alphabetical order, those destinations are:

• Bogota, Colombia
• Dublin, Ireland
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• Guadalajara, Mexico
• Istanbul, Türkiye
• Lima, Peru
• Montego Bay, Jamaica
• Paris, France
• Reykjavík, Iceland
• San José, Costa Rica
• Seoul, South Korea
• Tokyo, Japan

A separate list identifies Paris as the top international destination without nonstop service from Austin, followed by Seoul and San José.

There’s no timetable for starting the hoped-for nonstop routes and no guarantee that any airlines will step in to serve them. Airports like ABIA typically offer financial incentives, such as fee waivers and marketing funds, to airlines for launching nonstop service to coveted foreign and domestic locales.

ABIA offers current or upcoming nonstop service to 14 international destinations.

One factor in Austin’s favor in the quest for more international nonstop flights is the growth in ABIA’s passenger traffic.

Kevin Schorr, vice president of Campbell-Hill Aviation Group, a consulting firm for airports and airlines, told the airport commission that Austin’s population, job, and tourism growth has lifted ABIA’s prospects for domestic and international flights.

Schorr said domestic capacity at ABIA — as measured by the number of airline seats available to passengers traveling within the U.S. — is growing more quickly than at Dallas-Fort Worth’s, Houston’s, and San Antonio’s major airports. In fact, ABIA’s 46 percent jump in domestic capacity from 2019 to 2026 puts it in fifth place among the country’s fastest-growing large and midsize airports, Schorr said.

On average, about 2.2 million passengers per year travel on inbound and outbound flights between Austin and international destinations, he said. That’s a 46 percent increase from 2019.

“The more that we can show that passengers are choosing Austin [for air travel], the better the chance we have for more service,” Schorr said.

International flights represent about five percent of ABIA’s passenger traffic.

While the airport serves destinations in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, and Europe, it lacks nonstop flights to a key region for international business and leisure travelers — Asia. Schorr said Central Texas has “a significant amount of demand” for nonstops between Austin and Asia thanks to the metro area’s growing presence of Asia-based employers and growing Asian population.

The push for more nonstop international flights comes as Austin’s airport, which opened in 1999, undertakes a more than $5 billion, 32-gate expansion. Southwest Airlines will use 18 of the gates at the new Concourse B, and United Airlines will use five. That will leave three gates up for grabs. The new Concourse M will provide six unassigned gates.

The existing Barbara Jordan Terminal has 32 gates. Delta Air Lines will operate 15 gates at the configured terminal, which will be renamed Concourse A, with American Airlines occupying nine gates and Alaska Airlines occupying one gate. The remaining gates will be set aside for foreign and domestic flights.