GR8scott

Im waiting for expanding service but theres actually been flight cuts however replaced with larger planes to retain capacity, until they bring back more frequent flights and/or new destinations, its seems like growth will be minimal. I would hope to see some previous destinations restored like Dulles, St. Louis, and Toronto and expanded service year around to MIA, PHX, and LAX and new destinations like JFK, Seattle as well as the international ones mentioned like Cancun.

I like a couple local food options and sounds like eventually more. Would have thought Bigby over Madcap and odd how they add 8 gates to the 7 existing and said there would be 14 gates total and the pictures show an A16...

A healthy dose of constructive criticisms can go a long way. You never know who is lurking and paying attention to what people are saying to get new ideas and rethink things. I cant tell you how many times a 'glass half empty" comment made the glass fuller!

Why not face the other way? away from the sun and with the skyline as a backdrop? Also why not make capacity a little larger? its about the same as VAA which may miss out on some of the larger tours because of the smaller capacity. And with 116 parking spots? why not make a ramp with mixed use or with seating and luxury boxes on top?

you got it! you are forgiven. And hilariously I edited it and found out accidentally by typing "sh*ttle", with an "i" instead of the "u" next to it and it autocorrects to the pg version....

GVMC study results released and no surprise the largest "impact" high priority projects being a direct I-96 access route and bringing back a downtown shuttle (which was already announced) https://www.gvmc.org/airport-access-study

Looks like the airport is hiring for new concept called "Aletitude Beer Garden" and also mention of a Vino Volo chain of wine restaurants in the new addition. Not really any other details of when or other retailers.

Anything to share on concourse B renovations? It seems like one long term solution would be to mirror whats going on with A and rebuild/expand the whole thing but that would probably be minimum 10+ years out. Hopefully for now they at least add a few more concessions.

No, I was hoping there would be more details out by now or maybe even some community input. There was a release a while back about how the FAA approved the location remotely for the first time (due to pandemic travel restrictions ironically) to be located over by the cargo facilities. They also had a mock floor plan that was kind of interesting shape, https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=837516280188182 . It seems like they tend to build a few different styles such as the smaller ones in Kalamazoo and Traverse City (both taller than GRR) or the larger ones like Detroit, Ohare and many larger airports. I would think it should be in the ballpark of 200' compared to existing ~130' There are some deviations that I've seen that seem to have community input or extra dollars for aesthetics most notably is Dayton OH (below) but I also like Indianapolis too. Seems like a great opportunity that could look really cool from I-96/M-6 as well as airport patrons

"mostly likely years" away....

And the total number of commercial flights were down 7%. I remember hearing something about there being flight cuts (especially SW) BUT also more larger aircraft now so this makes sense that number of passengers almost even despite 200 less flights or about 6 less per day. There have also been some destinations cut such as DC-Dulles, Jacksonville and New Orleans but hopefully when the new gates open in June that will immediately increase number of destinations and frequencies, especially the seasonal routes, It bothers me that major hub cities like PHX, LAX and MIA are only severed during certain times of the year and places like Vegas are not served daily!

There seems to be a lot of similar master plan, community input focus lately with this, the city, the rive projects, GRR ect. At least there is mention of "stronger riverfront presence" for downtown campus. Not sure what that means exactly but hopefully do something with the surface parking lot along the riverfront and there looks like a bridge, would be cool to see Jackson Island utilized as a park. Also much needed "stronger riverfront presence" at the Allendale campus!

odd area. I hope MDOT gets it right as far as expanding Broadmoor on the north by Patterson and the south through Caledonia and planning for more traffic, people, business ect. Also why isnt it still referred to as East Beltine there? seems odd how many names the same road has in Kent Co. alone. And also seems like an opportunity for Davenport U to increase its visability with a grand entrance off Broadmoor

Odd that the NY press got ahold of this instead of ANYONE locally?!

completely off topic but whats with the pride flags specifically the trans-pride at just about every brewery in GR? I havent noticed that really anywhere else with this kind of "participation" rate.

$100 million / mile seems like it would be if there was no existing infrastructure? In this case utilizing existing and not heavily used lines could be much more cost effective? Its too bad its mostly lined with industrial and lower density residential as if it went through commercial and higher density areas to the north such eastown, egr, calvin, woodland ect seems like a no brainer for light rail even at a higher cost where as this seems more like a commuter rail kind of service which might not be a bad idea to pair with another commuter line envisioned to the west through Grandville-Jenison-Hudsonville-Zeeland-Holland? Commuter rail would have less stops but more park and ride type stations, maybe something like this? With stations at Division, Burton, and E. Beltline?

the shuttle already happened in the past and there were times it was very busy especially during conventions. That seems like a no-brainer because of its relatively low startup/on going costs compared to revenue generated, yet in their analysis it has "medium" cost. I see other head scratchers in the anaysis as well such as the $100million+ secondary access road around the north runway (not a tunnel)??? And there was previous mention of rail service so it seems like its at least on their radar to preserve the rail lines nearby in case but does not appear to be in the final short-term long-term look with this study. I still think its going to take all of the above type approach but ultimately the biggest long term impact is direct i96 access shaving off 2-3 miles of the majority of roughly 10,000 peoples airport access each and every day. the miles saves TIME, traffic, pollution, money and offers a much better experience for everyone especially visitors.

highly doubt that would have much of an impact on tourism, wasnt the critisim/focus more of county DEI team being a resource for companies looking to lure talent to OC and disbanding it to "save money"? Also Holland has their own DEI team. As for the project, really a once in a generation opportunity for a major redevelopment that if done on a big scale would bring tourists regardless of the county its primarily in having a DEI resource for businesses. They at least acknowledge the want to embrace the waterfront. I hope they play into the Holland name a bit to create some canals and more dutch architecture.

lets hope its not a 12 story blob building between there and the highway to block out the skyline with generic condos

Would be great to see more single story buildings like that and Jolly Pumpkin utilize roofspace with patios

those are good reasons especially plane size, if I remember correctly though there were multiple flights per day? And these are the similar sized non-touristy and non-hub US markets currently served by AC express so its not a stretch for GRR after expansion, MKE and Hartford do about a million more passengers than GRR did pre-covid.... Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus–Glenn, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Raleigh/Durham, St. Louis, Hartford, Kansas City

Direct to Cancun, Punta Cana and I think Montego Bay were specifically cited as goals by the airport. Those are destinations taht Lansing has supported in the past so theres certainly enough demand in the area to do that. Cancun is a no-brainer and would be surprised with there are not flights by next spring season. And Europe is a long shot and would be several years out but with more 787s being built, seating less and being more efficient plus historic and business connections in west michigan to netherlands possibly a seasonal flight? I know slightly larger non-touristy cities such as Raleigh, Indy, cincy, Pittsburg have flights like that. I remember reading something about the customs at this time is part time and scheduled whereas there would need to be permanently based full time customs? which doesnt seem too difficult but probably wouldn't until an airline schedules regular service outside of US/Canada. Its not necessary for Canada as wasnt before when there were regularly scheduled airCanada flights, before they eliminated several mid-sized US markets. I would think GRR is one of the popular formerly served routes than say Allentown or Dayton so hope that comes back as well.

Lansing basically gutted their flight options with exception of new low cost carrier Avelo going to Orlando but as for the customs, it appears the building part is finished and there would need to be federal clearance/staffing? maybe they need an airline to schedule first? Possibly need more gate room in the B terminal which would have to shift things around after some of the new gates open up? I'm guessing it will be about a year before theres extra room, scheduled service and staffing for it??? Heres the new building (yellow) kind of awkwardly next to the B gates. I wonder if there will have to be a long jetbridge (orange?) to connect passengers to the new customs area?? otherwise the old school airstairs during the winter?

I read somewhere that the A gates will be legacy carriers so American, Delta and United and B gates will be "low" cost carriers so Allegiant, Frontier, and Southwest. If that happens right away with no expanded services, it seems like there would be plenty of extra room in A gates and B gates might be pretty cramped. That begs the question, would they plan to do a similar upgrade to B gates after the current Project Elevate completes? Theres not enough room to expand that concourse as long but certainty could modernize it, widen it and add a couple more gates to bring it up to par with the A gates. If that were to happen, some of the low cost carriers would certainly have to use A gates during construction. So far, the only announced new service is American adding LGA, which Delta already has. I would hope maybe Delta switches to their JFK hub for another destination option. Most major legacy hubs are serviced but still room to expand if United returns to Dulles, perhaps SFO. Delta to SEA and SLC and maybe current routes that Allegiant has like LAX and BOS. It would be nice if American had year round service to PHX and MIA instead of once per week during a few winter months. As for the "low" cost, theres been several startups but the one that was reported to fly to GRR, Midwest, is no longer? Jet Blue or Spirit could be a possibility but plenty of options for Allegiant and Southwest to expand service and Im betting International service returns with a low cost seasonal to Cancun. Canada does not need a customs, Air Canada pulled out of several midsized markets like Omaha, Rochester, Richmond ect. but seems like theres enough W. MI connections that it could support a return. The new customs would be necessary for Cancun though and of course other future possibilities like Montego Bay or Punta Cana and maybe eventually Europe (Amsterdam!)

Noticed some updates on the airport website so pulled these cool construction pics (none are mine) https://www.grr.org/news/elevatecontractors-1