ALCOA, Tenn. (WATE) — As Knoxville and the surrounding areas continue to grow, it puts an added stress on McGhee Tyson Airport to get people in and out efficiently. One of the biggest issues, especially surrounding the holidays and breaks from school, is parking.

If you’re flying out of McGhee Tyson, you are going to be hard-pressed to find parking during the holiday season.

“We are looking at that in the future as well for Thanksgiving which is condensed,” said airport spokesperson Becky Huckaby. “Most people try to leave on a Tuesday or Wednesday of that week and come back on a Sunday or Monday which will really congest parking at the airport so we know we will be using the overflow and shuttle parking as well.”

As more people continue to fly out of the airport, parking has become more of a struggle. However, there are plans in the works to alleviate flyers’ problems of finding parking.

“In the Spring we are going to start a parking garage expansion project that’s going to add over 3,000 additional parking spots in front of the terminal building,” Huckaby said. “In the meantime, we have built Economy Lot C which is 1,000 parking spots to offset that move. Once we are under construction we will have to move some of the available spots from this area over into Economy Lot C.”

The lot is roughly a 15-minute walk from the terminal, but there is a shuttle service that runs to get you there.

“Economy Lot C has a shuttle that will bring people from the lot to the terminal and back. It will run continuously to help that operation,” Huckaby said.

The parking project is slated to begin in the Spring of 2024. Airport officials are also moving to meet the growing demand for flights by constructing six new gates by 2028.

For those flying out of McGhee Tyson, their website lists the capacities of the parking lots and garages as well as TSA wait times.