The future of air travel in Mobile is taking shape in a building called T1T, a construction site as busy as a kicked anthill.

That stands for Terminal One Temporary, and if you fly out of Mobile after May 1, there's a chance you'll pass through its doors (which, as of Wednesday, hadn't been installed yet). That's the date when Frontier Airlines will begin service from Mobile, using the Downtown Mobile Airport at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley.

Another low-cost carrier currently flying out of Mobile Regional Airport, Via Airlines, will shift its base of operations to Brookley immediately after T1T opens for business, said Elliot Maisel, chairman of the Mobile Airport Authority board. Via was the first to commit to Brookley, announcing when it came to Mobile in spring 2018 that it planned to shift to the downtown airport as soon as possible.

Under the leadership of Maisel and President Chris Curry, the Mobile Airport Authority has aggressively pushed the long-debated concept of swapping commercial passenger service from Mobile Regional to Brookley. They and other local leaders, including Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, argue that Brookley's easy interstate access and closer proximity to potential customers in Baldwin County make the swap desirable. Such advantages should make it more competitive with other airports in the region, they say, with more customers leading to more flights and lower fares.

On Wednesday, Maisel described T1T as essentially “step one, phase one” of the airport swap. The big picture includes a master plan that hasn’t been drawn up and the construction of a full-service terminal that hasn’t been designed. Those things will take years. But the Airport Authority has committed $7 million to getting T1T ready for business on a tight timetable.

After pressing briskly through its regular meeting agenda on Wednesday, members of the Airport Authority board got a hardhat tour of the new facility from Izzy Bonilla, the authority's vice president of operations.

The building is a warehouse that was being used by Airbus. For now the authority has a little less than half of it -- about 22,000 square feet -- and it'll take over the rest in July.

The parking lot outside is tracked with the muddy treadprints of heavy equipment. Inside, fresh drywall is being readied for paint, wiring is being run, framing is being put up for climate control and other equipment.

Back in their boardroom, members had heard Curry talk about contracts for automated parking equipment and a security plan required by federal authorities. On-site, they followed as Bonilla led them through a series of unfinished spaces, explaining where ticket counters will be set up, how the flow of incoming baggage will be handled and where lines for security checkpoints will be arranged.

One theme was that expansion capacity is being built into the design. Bonilla said T1T will open with one security check lane, but there's room to add a second. When Airbus turns over the other half of the building, there'll be room for more of everything.

Another was that this was no mere show-and-tell tour. Maisel took advantage of the situation to set some goals for customer service. Automated baggage handling will come eventually, but the terminal will open with manual baggage handling. "Let's not short on personnel," Maisel said, saying it's important to impress the terminal's first wave of users -- both passengers and airlines -- with speedy service.

He also focused on making sure there was adequate parking, saying that if necessary, terminal workers will park elsewhere and be shuttled in to free up more nearby spots for customers. And he suggested that as concessions are added, he'd rather see some local flavor -- this restaurant's famous hot dogs or that one's gumbo -- rather than generic snacks.

"This is not a lipstick-on-a-pig project," he said. T1T isn't a stopgap until a "real" terminal arrives, he said. It's a facility that will meet short-term needs while offering room for growth. It might help attract other low-cost carriers to Mobile alongside Frontier and Via. It might prompt airlines currently using Mobile Regional to switch over. It might become a permanent fixture even after a bigger Terminal Two is built at Brookley.

There are a lot of options that may be explored, he said, and T1T will make it possible to explore them. "This building takes all the pressure off," he said.

There's a lot of work to be done between now and May 1, he said, but when the day arrives, Mobile air travelers will find an "efficient, functional, clean terminal that will allow them to best use the location of Brookley Field."

“Nothing happens without a deadline,” Maisel said of the pace. “The building will be there.”