Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion

[Miesian Corners]

Concourse B has new test wall paneling systems up for the remodel.  Some were very cool--blue matte finish. others just varying stainless steel patterns (yes, I said patterns! It's not going to be boring! Yay!). I took photos, but don't have a clue as to get them from my iphone to this site.  

[Deleted.]

Concourse B has new test wall paneling systems up for the remodel.  Some were very cool--blue matte finish. others just varying stainless steel patterns (yes, I said patterns! It's not going to be boring! Yay!). I took photos, but don't have a clue as to get them from my iphone to this site.  

Please post! 

[Miesian Corners]

The only two shots that really came out.  Doesn't do them justice.

[Deleted.]

The only two shots that really came out.  Doesn't do them justice.

TBH they look a little plain, I'll have to keep an eye out for that next I'm on B. I do like the idea of the stainless steel, it'll make us look a little like Terminal A-West in Philly! Which is one of my favorite terminals in North America. 

[LKN704]

TBH, the only one that really looks good is the stainless steel one. The white/grey ones look really sterile and the blue one I feel will be out of style in 10 years or so. I have a feeling they are going to pick the white one, IMHO. Will the panels ultimately reach ceiling height?

Also, when will terrazzo flooring, ceiling, and lighting be installed?

[Miesian Corners]

On 11/16/2015, 1:05:40, LKN704 said:

TBH, the only one that really looks good is the stainless steel one. The white/grey ones look really sterile and the blue one I feel will be out of style in 10 years or so. I have a feeling they are going to pick the white one, IMHO. Will the panels ultimately reach ceiling height?

Also, when will terrazzo flooring, ceiling, and lighting be installed?

The airport employee I spoke with said they're going to wait until January to start the major stuff (holiday traffic hell). They are installing flooring samples on A Concourse.  I'll see if I can get a photo when I'm back out there.  

As for the wall covering, I kinda dig the blue.  I was told the designers are looking for several different finishes as a way to break up the monotony of the long corridors. And the new panels will go from floor to ceiling.

 

[Deleted.]

2 minutes ago, Miesian Corners said:

The airport employee I spoke with said they're going to wait until January to start the major stuff (holiday traffic hell). They are installing flooring samples on A Concourse.  I'll see if I can get a photo when I'm back out there.  

As for the wall covering, I kinda dig the blue.  I was told the designers are looking for several different finishes as a way to break up the monotony of the long corridors. And the new panels will go from floor to ceiling.

 

Sounds promising. Thanks for sharing. I'm still trying to find out if the new Admirals Clubs rumor is true. 

[Deleted.]

http://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Qatar-Airways-Set-For-Historic-Announcement

Qatar is to make an historic announcement on the 9th Dec. Rumors include a Joint Venture and Code Share with AA, which would make a CLT route more likely. But they will also announce US Growth Outlook, which I guess could include CLT.

[Deleted.]

On October 18, 2015 at 10:39:57 AM, Piedmont767 said:

Checking over the schedule for summer 2016, the only differences I see are:

-CLT-Dublin was reloaded on the A330-200 again instead of the 757-200 ETOPS 

-CLT-Paris was downguaged to the smaller A330-200 from the -300- so 33 less seats on CLT-Paris, not a big deal. I suspect this is due to Delta starting RDU-Paris. 

Another schedule change will be loaded: 

-CLT-Madrid now departs CLT at 16:45 and arrives Madrid at 07:00 

-CLT-Barcelona now departs CLT at 20:35 and arrives Barcelona at 10:55

[LKN704]

It's nice to see that AA is continuing these routes next year. I do wonder what are the chances of DUB becoming year round as well, with Aer Lingus now being part of IAG and Oneworld. The airport is nice to connect through, and having pre-clearance in DUB is always an advantage.

I also what the prospects of GRU returning are as well...

[Silicon Dogwoods]

7 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

It's nice to see that AA is continuing these routes next year. I do wonder what are the chances of DUB becoming year round as well, with Aer Lingus now being part of IAG and Oneworld. The airport is nice to connect through, and having pre-clearance in DUB is always an advantage.

I also what the prospects of GRU returning are as well...

Probably small since Brazil is mired in a deep recession and giant corruption scandal.  The business links in Brazil that might drive a restoration of that route are in disarray.

Edited December 2, 2015 by Silicon Dogwoods

[Deleted.]

^You hit the nail on head. GRU or GIG will not be returning for a long time.

Madrid was always going to be continued, Barcelona is the one that may be dropped. CLT-Dublin could go year round with Aer Lingus going to join oneworld. 

Edited December 2, 2015 by Piedmont767

[Deleted.]

Japan Air Lines is looking at new Japan-USA routes. Destinations they supposedly could and may be looking at include Atlanta, Portland, Washington, Miami, Philadelphia and Charlotte! 

Seeing that AA won't launch CLT-Tokyo for years, if ever. I'd put more money on JAL starting CLT. I'm sure CLT management would try and get service from Asia to Charlotte, perhaps in the form of incentives ie. no landing fees for 9 months. 

Seeing how CLT is major oneworld hub and has increasing local market to Asia, I don't see why a 3x weekly Tokyo flight couldn't work. Prehaps JAL could launch Philadelphia 4x weekly and Charlotte 3x weekly, allowing them to use the same number of aircraft as they would for 1 daily destination. 

Do you think we could see a CLT-Tokyo route soon?

[CLT2014]

Do you think we could see a CLT-Tokyo route soon?

No. CLT was not mentioned in the actual article regarding JAL's expansion goals from Kyodo News. JAL does NOT have an aircraft suitable for CLT. Their 787-900 aircraft it much too premium. 22% of the seats are in open suite business class, 18% of the seats are premium economy. This is a VERY premium aircraft that would not be suitable for connecting traffic flow. Compare that to the legacy US Airways aircraft like the A330 where only 9% of seats are in business class. 

44 open suite business class seats is a lot of premium tickets that JAL is looking for PAID fares, not upgrades from American Airlines customers. JAL's configuration is going to limit them to cities where they can fill 44 mostly paid business class seats each day. 

I love CLT and the American Airlines 787 is a much better aircraft for CLT-NRT due to the higher ratio of economy class seats, brand awareness, and likelihood of success for our great airport.

Edited December 4, 2015 by CLT2014

[LKN704]

First off, all of the stooges on other forums seem to believe that RDU will get a NRT flight before CLT. In another forum, it seems that the possibility of RDU getting a flight to NRT is actively being discussed, while anyone who brings up CLT is shot down.

All this got me thinking though, how hard does CLT work to attract to carriers and provide incentives? For instance, I know DEN actively pushed for a NRT flight for years and provided UA an incentive package to start the flight. Im sure if CLT went to local businesses they could probably pool together incentives to start a flight.

[Deleted.]

7 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

First off, all of the stooges on other forums seem to believe that RDU will get a NRT flight before CLT. In another forum, it seems that the possibility of RDU getting a flight to NRT is actively being discussed, while anyone who brings up CLT is shot down.

All this got me thinking though, how hard does CLT work to attract to carriers and provide incentives? For instance, I know DEN actively pushed for a NRT flight for years and provided UA an incentive package to start the flight. Im sure if CLT went to local businesses they could probably pool together incentives to start a flight.

I know about the airliners.net thread. But what's the other forum that says a RDU-NRT is actively being discussed? How can anyone say RDU will get a Tokyo flight before us? They just got their second European destination, we have nine. We have more connecting traffic and IIRC more O&D to Asia. 

CLT2014, AA won't being launching Tokyo from CLT for the short/medium-term future, at least according to an Observer article where they interviewed the AA Routes Planning Manager. AA would probably work better on CLT-Tokyo than JAL, but we're not going to see this for a long time. 

[CLT2014]

There are almost as many business class seats on a JAL 787-9 as RDU will have on both Delta AND American to Europe. NRT does not justify 44 business class seats from CLT, let alone RDU.

JAL's only US destinations currently:

- New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, Chicago, Boston

What do these have in common? Mainly mega cities with a wealthy group of population with high demand to Japan to fill 44 business class seats that sell for $5,500-$7,000  roundtrip. 55% of all passengers between Tokyo and the US are traveling to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Honolulu. NYC area is about 9%, Chicago is 7%, Seattle is 3%. All other cities have less than a 3% share of passengers to/from Tokyo. RDU is laughable in that group.

Edited December 4, 2015 by CLT2014

[caterpillar2]

18 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

There are almost as many business class seats on a JAL 787-9 as RDU will have on both Delta AND American to Europe. NRT does not justify 44 business class seats from CLT, let alone RDU.

JAL's only US destinations currently:

- New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, Chicago, Boston

What do these have in common? Mainly mega cities with a wealthy group of population with high demand to Japan to fill 44 business class seats that sell for $5,500-$7,000  roundtrip. 55% of all passengers between Tokyo and the US are traveling to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Honolulu. NYC area is about 9%, Chicago is 7%, Seattle is 3%. All other cities have less than a 3% share of passengers to/from Tokyo. RDU is laughable in that group.

Atlanta is larger than San Francisco, San Diego, and Boston and certainly as important on the business level as the others. I wonder why JAL doesn't fly into Atlanta or was Atlanta just overlooked?

[CLT2014]

17 minutes ago, caterpillar2 said:

Atlanta is larger than San Francisco, San Diego, and Boston and certainly as important on the business level as the others. I wonder why JAL doesn't fly into Atlanta or was Atlanta just overlooked?

Delta owns ATL. Delta flies their own flight and JAL wouldn't be able to compete with Delta loyalty in ATL. Delta offers more seats per day than JAL does to Boston and San Diego, so Atlanta is appropriately served, just not by JAL.

It is important to remember the US - Tokyo (and US - Asian in general) is VERY much driven by demand in California. Any hub east of California is missing out on about 50% of all travel between the US and Asia. So the current hubs east of California like DFW, MSP, DTW, ATL, JFK, BOS, ORD, etc... with Tokyo service are competing for the other 50% of passengers. 

San Francisco has far stronger ties to Tokyo - 15% of all travel between the US and Tokyo begins and ends in San Francisco. 27% of all travel between the US and Tokyo begins and ends in Los Angeles. ATL is in the <3% group, even with their own nonstop. 

Edited December 4, 2015 by CLT2014

[Rufus]

I think rather than push for a Tokyo flight, we should be pushing in the opposite direction towards the Middle East and India. I know that one of the reasons for RDU's push for Paris was to be able to connect to South Asian and Middle Eastern networks.  I would love to see Dubai, Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Delhi or Mumbai here, and I think that it would be more beneficial to the international population of the region than a flight to Tokyo. 

[Deleted.]

5 minutes ago, Rufus said:

I think rather than push for a Tokyo flight, we should be pushing in the opposite direction towards the Middle East and India. I know that one of the reasons for RDU's push for Paris was to be able to connect to South Asian and Middle Eastern networks.  I would love to see Dubai, Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Delhi or Mumbai here, and I think that it would be more beneficial to the international population of the region than a flight to Tokyo. 

They may be more beneficial for the population, but they wouldn't be profit-wise. The only Middle Eastern destinations I see possible in the near future (5-10 years) from CLT are Doha and perhaps, in the very-long term future (10-15 years+), Dubai.  

Tokyo would be beneficial due to the fact, it would offer connections to the Middle East, Connections between some of the largest oneworld hubs, usefulness for the number of expanding Japanese business in CLT (think Hitachi) and becuase Japan is such a large economy, would help get more Jaoanese businesses to CLT. 

[Silicon Dogwoods]

CLT should have non-stop service to Shanghai before Tokyo (or any other Asian city, for that matter.)

[Silicon Dogwoods]

5 hours ago, LKN704 said:

First off, all of the stooges on other forums seem to believe that RDU will get a NRT flight before CLT. In another forum, it seems that the possibility of RDU getting a flight to NRT is actively being discussed, while anyone who brings up CLT is shot down.

All this got me thinking though, how hard does CLT work to attract to carriers and provide incentives? For instance, I know DEN actively pushed for a NRT flight for years and provided UA an incentive package to start the flight. Im sure if CLT went to local businesses they could probably pool together incentives to start a flight.

The only way RDU will get a flight to Narita is for a Japanese company to underwrite it. I have no idea who that would be, unless an unnamed Japanese auto company decides to set up shop in Chatham County. Even then, it's unlikely.

It seems to me Shanghai is far more important to Charlotte than Tokyo.

[CLT2014]

American Airlines is adding two daily flights to Madison, WI (Dane County Regional Airport) beginning April 5, 2016 from Charlotte, adding connectivity for Madison to the Southeast, Caribbean, and Europe. American currently also flies to Chicago and Dallas from Dane County. This fits American's strategy to continue to better link Midwestern and Great Plains cities to Charlotte and the Southeast since the merger. 

The only other southern city Madison has flights to is Atlanta on Delta. 

http://www.hngnews.com/sun_prairie_star/news/article_40980bac-a02e-11e5-ac8f-1f620a354c13.html

[LKN704]

What a sexy destination...wish they were announcing Milan or reintroducing Manchester. Regardless, I guess it is nice to see AA remain committed to CLT. I hope they connect SJC and SNA with CLT, although I am not sure if AA has enough slots at SNA for that.

Edited December 14, 2015 by LKN704