Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion

[uptownliving]

North Carolina will be out of range for their 737-MAX operation they will be setting up in the NE United States...so they would have to use the much larger 787 Dreamliner to service North Carolina...anything is possible but they will be servicing the larger markets first.

[cltbwimob]

On 12/8/2016 at 8:33 AM, CLT2014 said:

Amazon Prime Air's Charlotte operations have been postponed until the ABX Cargo (part of Air Transport Services Groupo) strike and labor dispute is resolved. Since late November, only 9 of the 16 Prime Air routes have been operating due to lost capacity from ABX Cargo. Prime Air's other partner, Atlas Air, has been operating normally but they are not operating out of CLT. While the judge has ordered pilots to return to work, ABX still looks to not be up to full capacity. Yesterday Amazon suspended their agreement with ABX as a freight forwarder. 

"We rebalanced capacity across our carrier partners and we are leaving the adjustments in place until we are certain there will be no further disruptions," an Amazon spokeswoman told Recode news last week.

http://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/51469-amazon-suspends-abx-air-ops-as-strike-threat-remains

It looks as if the Amazon operation is back at full strength.  They actually are using a larger plane on one of the routes now.

In other air cargo news, it looks as if FedEx has added an additional flight to Memphis as well as a flight to Raleigh, and it looks as if a small air cargo carriers, Ameriflight and USA Jet are now making routine stops in Charlotte.

(All info verified via flightaware)

Edited January 11, 2017 by cltbwimob

[KJHburg]

There is an article in the Triangle Business Journal about RDU trying to land a nonstop flight to China! This seems very unlikely to me given ATL or CLT two huge hubs don't have a nonstop flight. Any thoughts on Charlotte landing a flight to China with maybe one of AA's partner airlines. DFW has their relatively new flights to Hong Kong and Shanghai. With the Chinese investment in the southeast at least one flight would make sense I would think. 

Edited January 14, 2017 by KJHburg

[CLT704]

On 14/01/2017 at 3:58 AM, KJHburg said:

There is an article in the Triangle Business Journal about RDU trying to land a nonstop flight to China! This seems very unlikely to me given ATL or CLT two huge hubs don't have a nonstop flight. Any thoughts on Charlotte landing a flight to China with maybe one of AA's partner airlines. DFW has their relatively new flights to Hong Kong and Shanghai. With the Chinese investment in the southeast at least one flight would make sense I would think. 

If we ever get a flight to Asia it will be Tokyo.

Edited January 15, 2017 by CLT704

[Guest]

Were these posted on here??? I saw them on another site, wanted to make sure they had been seen. Looks world class. 

[CLT704]

^ I'm pretty sure they were. If only the rest of the airport looked like this!!

[deleted]

6 hours ago, CLT704 said:

^ I'm pretty sure they were. If only the rest of the airport looked like this!!

I recall all but the last one (might be wrong).  That is a beautiful building and I hope the final design on the terminal renovation/expansion looks more like this than previous renderings.  It's my impression that the airport for non-AA flights will look beautiful (and for AA flights, better but still utilitarian).  Really looking forward to when the expansion is completed, the people-mover is operating and the light rail reaches the airport and beyond...will I still be alive?

[LKN704]

Yeah, the renderings were out for a little over a year now. Always nice to post them again though as a refresher.

The OAL terminal (Terminal 1? Terminal 2?) is supposed to be world class. The OAL terminal will consist of:

-A dual-level facility consisting of 4 baggage carousels on level one, and 6 check-in aisles on level two, separated by a centralized security checkpoint in the middle.

In addition, terminal master plan (Alternative C4-B) consists of:

-Completely replacing Concourse E with a Hammerhead satellite concourse connected by an APM

-Expands the international arrivals level by adding additional baggage carousels. The high Concourse D gates will be demolished to taxiway improvements (shame because they are the nicest). Gates in Concourse C will be rebuilt to direct passengers directly to FIS.

[cjd5050]

11 hours ago, LKN704 said:

Yeah, the renderings were out for a little over a year now. Always nice to post them again though as a refresher.

The OAL terminal (Terminal 1? Terminal 2?) is supposed to be world class. The OAL terminal will consist of:

-A dual-level facility consisting of 4 baggage carousels on level one, and 6 check-in aisles on level two, separated by a centralized security checkpoint in the middle.

In addition, terminal master plan (Alternative C4-B) consists of:

-Completely replacing Concourse E with a Hammerhead satellite concourse connected by an APM

-Expands the international arrivals level by adding additional baggage carousels. The high Concourse D gates will be demolished to taxiway improvements (shame because they are the nicest). Gates in Concourse C will be rebuilt to direct passengers directly to FIS.

Where is the best source to get the full details on this?  Found some overview stuff on cltairport.com but nothing to the detail you're covering.  

[LKN704]

I'm sorry, but the cltairport.com website is a POS. With my basic web-building experience from college, I'm fairly sure I could build a better website. Other airports have beautiful websites that go into great detail regarding the airport's master plan. Cltairport.com doesn't even have a decent terminal map nor does it list the concessions that operate in the terminal. Completely bizarre.

Anyway, I got the information from this link: http://www.cltairport.com/AboutCLT/Documents/Development Master Plan/CLT ACEP 02232016 - FINAL.pdf

It has tons of juicy airport details.

[cjd5050]

55 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

I'm sorry, but the cltairport.com website is a POS. With my basic web-building experience from college, I'm fairly sure I could build a better website. Other airports have beautiful websites that go into great detail regarding the airport's master plan. Cltairport.com doesn't even have a decent terminal map nor does it list the concessions that operate in the terminal. Completely bizarre.

Anyway, I got the information from this link: http://www.cltairport.com/AboutCLT/Documents/Development Master Plan/CLT ACEP 02232016 - FINAL.pdf

It has tons of juicy airport details.

thank you

[CLT2014]

Which of the non- American airlines are moving to the new north concourse's 9 gates and which are staying behind in the older part of the concourse? I hope Delta adds a Sky Club lounge and moves to the new concourse. They have similar departures even today at CLT as Milwaukee and Nashville where they have lounges. Perhaps the north Concourse becomes 6 gates for Delta and 3 for United. 

[CLTaviation13]

Would love to see Alaska start flying here once more gates are available. 

[LKN704]

From my understanding, only DL and WN will be moving. IIRC, there will be space for a lounge in the concourse.

[ssh214]

4 hours ago, LKN704 said:

From my understanding, only DL and WN will be moving. IIRC, there will be space for a lounge in the concourse.

I personally hope they put a Centurion Lounge for that spot...

[uptownliving]

American has added Charlotte to its select list of cities that it offers Cadillac transfer service for it's Concierge Key members. This is notable because this service is not offered in Miami or Chicago. What this means is that there are enough high dollar or celebrity customers in Charlotte to warrant this service offering.

[ssh214]

15 minutes ago, uptownliving said:

American has added Charlotte to its select list of cities that it offers Cadillac transfer service for it's Concierge Key members. This is notable because this service is not offered in Miami or Chicago. What this means is that there are enough high dollar or celebrity customers in Charlotte to warrant this service offering.

Yea this is the exact service that Delta offers in their hubs... very nice to see in Charlotte. 

Random note: I was just on the flight from Sacramento to Charlotte red-eye last night that arrived this morning... you would not believe it but the flight was PACKED. Just a good sign on a route you wouldn't expect to be full.

Question: Does anyone have any updates on the new control tower? Have they started construction? 

[xapostrophe]

1 hour ago, saamh said:

Yea this is the exact service that Delta offers in their hubs... very nice to see in Charlotte. 

Random note: I was just on the flight from Sacramento to Charlotte red-eye last night that arrived this morning... you would not believe it but the flight was PACKED. Just a good sign on a route you wouldn't expect to be full.

Question: Does anyone have any updates on the new control tower? Have they started construction? 

Ya they started. Huge crane South of the airport.   Changed the minimums on most of the approaches for it.   They also began the econ construction.   Still haven't started the renovations... So much for fall of 16.

[LKN704]

Apparently per todays' conference call, transatlantic performance hasn't been very stellar and AA will be cutting a number of routes after the summer season that are unprofitable.

[jtmonk]

20 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

Apparently per todays' conference call, transatlantic performance hasn't been very stellar and AA will be cutting a number of routes after the summer season that are unprofitable.

Were they talking about CLT specifically or the AA network as a whole? 

[CLT704]

42 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

Apparently per todays' conference call, transatlantic performance hasn't been very stellar and AA will be cutting a number of routes after the summer season that are unprofitable.

Well, for CLT, any TATL flight with the exception of LHR and FRA could be on the chopping board.

[LKN704]

^That wasn't the point...I get that. The point is the fact that they are saying that is troubling, considering that most of our transatlantic capacity is seasonal, consisting of roughly low yield routes.

That said, I would venture to say that CLT-CDG is probably safe as well, as is MAD. BCN/DUB/FCO, are all at risk of being cut, considering that AA is launching DFW-FCO and ORD-BCN as well.

Back to the conference call, the comment was made referring to the entire European network, not just CLT.

 

 

[CLT2014]

8 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

^That wasn't the point...I get that. The point is the fact that they are saying that is troubling, considering that most of our transatlantic capacity is seasonal, consisting of roughly low yield routes.

That said, I would venture to say that CLT-CDG is probably safe as well, as is MAD. BCN/DUB/FCO, are all at risk of being cut, considering that AA is launching DFW-FCO and ORD-BCN as well.

Back to the conference call, the comment was made referring to the entire European network, not just CLT.

I'd expect them to trim European routes throughout their network, not just at Charlotte. The Northeast actually has a lot of competition from low fare carriers that are starting to move into the market. Norwegian Airlines, Aer Lingus, Wow Air, etc.... serving airports like Boston, Philadelphia, New York, etc... I think secondary leisure destinations from Philadelphia and New York are on the chopping block as well as a route or two from CLT, DFW, and Chicago. Modern day American - US Airways might just end up having a trans-Atlantic network that looks a lot like old-American: only serving London, Frankfurt, Madrid, etc.. and avoiding leisure cities like Rome and Barcelona. 

American's labor costs are up 17% Year over Year now that the legacy US Airways crews have gotten their raise. The company has 3 - 5 times as much debt as United and Delta. Making quarterly profits of $289 million during low oil prices is not going to make a dent in $23 billion in debt. To think they went through bankruptcy and have still emerged with over $20 billion in debt is surprising. If oil prices go up, I wouldn't be surprised to see them in bankruptcy court again re-organizing. 

Also - American has decided all future narrow-body orders will not have seat back IFE and only have streaming to personal device.

Edited January 27, 2017 by CLT2014

[LKN704]

To be fair to AA, you really can't compare their debt to that of DL or UA. AA really just completed its merger last year. DL and UA each had a couple of years to get their house in order. AA deserves the same. I will say that their posting is somewhat troubling, and they had the smallest profit (yet highest revenue) of any major US carrier. AA still hasn't reaped the full benefits of the merger at present time. Cross-fleeting crew-wise (allowing both airline groups to work together on the same aircraft) has yet to occur. Other than a few odd routes in between the hubs (mostly CLT/PHX/DFW/LAX), we still haven't seen a lot of cross-fleeting schedule wise as well.

Personally, I don't think they will revisit Chapter 11 unless something catastrophic occurs or the economy tanks. I do see the following Atlantic routes on the chopping block:

-PHL-AMS (traditionally the weakest performing transatlantic route for US, I wouldn't be surprised if it still is for AA)

-PHL-LIS

-CLT-BCN

-JFK-ZRH

-DFW-AMS (Even though it hasn't started yet, I can't see it performing well)

[CLT704]

5 hours ago, LKN704 said:

-CLT-BCN

Maybe I'm just trying to reason with myself that we don't loose any TATL service, but BCN has been served for 3 whole summers now always on an A330. If it was unprofitable like LIS, BRU, MAN wouldn't AA have cut it?

Edited January 28, 2017 by CLT704