Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion

[CLT2014]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/development/article152025622.html

 

Some updates on the construction around the airport. One part that caught my eye: 
"The new gates will be connected to Concourse A with moving walkways. Carriers besides American Airlines (which accounts for more than 90 percent of Charlotte’s daily flights) will move into Concourse A North, and American Airlines will backfill their gates. After that, Charlotte Douglas plans to start expanding Concourse A North, which will eventually total about two dozen gates."

Sounds like rather than getting 9 new gates for the airlines boxed into Terminal A to expand and provide competition, we are just going to get a shift of Delta and United over to Concourse A North and still box in the low cost carriers like Southwest and Frontier into four gates on Concourse A. With American backfilling though, welcome relief for mainline gates to Concourse B and C will be provided. Net - net though, this doesn't provide more gates for airlines that aren't American to expand until Phase 2 of Concourse A North.

 

-- I'm guessing the only reason American even signed off on the expansion of A North is they will still be able to limit the gates for the other airlines and get more gates for themselves. 

Edited May 23, 2017 by CLT2014

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

2 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/development/article152025622.html

 

Some updates on the construction around the airport. One part that caught my eye: 
"The new gates will be connected to Concourse A with moving walkways. Carriers besides American Airlines (which accounts for more than 90 percent of Charlotte’s daily flights) will move into Concourse A North, and American Airlines will backfill their gates. After that, Charlotte Douglas plans to start expanding Concourse A North, which will eventually total about two dozen gates."

Sounds like rather than getting 9 new gates for the airlines boxed into Terminal A to expand and provide competition, we are just going to get a shift of Delta and United over to Concourse A North and still box in the low cost carriers like Southwest and Frontier into four gates on Concourse A. With American backfilling though, welcome relief for mainline gates to Concourse B and C will be provided. 

 

-- I'm guessing the only reason American even signed off on the expansion of A North is they will still be able to limit the gates for the other airlines and get more gates for themselves. 

The expansion of A will be a welcome terminal improvement for those carriers, though. I could even see Delta adding a Sky Club. The 24 or so gates in the A north Concourse will be much larger gates than the old A gates, and much nicer. There will also eventually be a mid field terminal where the current diagonal runway currently sits, so other airlines may eventually grow into those. As the city grows rapidly, there will be more demand from other carriers to expand. The first thing to look for is larger jets on Delta and United, as they now will have larger gates in A north and increased local traffic. 

[CLT2014]

4 minutes ago, CarolinaDaydreamin said:

The expansion of A will be a welcome terminal improvement for those carriers, though. I could even see Delta adding a Sky Club. The 24 or so gates in the A north Concourse will be much larger gates than the old A gates, and much nicer. There will also eventually be a mid field terminal where the current diagonal runway currently sits, so other airlines may eventually grow into those. As the city grows rapidly, there will be more demand from other carriers to expand. The first thing to look for is larger jets on Delta and United, as they now will have larger gates in A north and increased local traffic. 

Indeed, it definitely will be a big improvement to the flying experience and eventually we will get more gates on A North, just going to have to wait even longer. I guess in the short term it it disappointing that the non-AA airlines won't be able to expand to many more flights than they have today, but someday Southwest might be able to get some more gate space. It would be great to hopefully see less CRJ's from Delta and UA at CLT and a move to ERJ-170 and larger aircraft once the new A north phase 1 is done. 

Edited May 23, 2017 by CLT2014

[caterpillar2]

1 hour ago, RiverwoodCLT said:

Westin at Denver    Check out photos - last one is a great picture as you go up to the airport.

https://www.reservationcounter.com/hotels/show/613df46/westin-denver-international-ap-denvre-co/?cid=sem::TPRC::AW::PT-P01::CoS(USA)-ST(Colorado)::B-Name(The-Westin)-City(Denver)-DID(613df46)-M(BP)-AGT(A04-B001-C01)::+Westin-+Denver::Broad&creative=174578798060&device=c&AdPos=1t2&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=+Westin-+Denver&utm_campaign=CoS(USA)-ST(Colorado)&landingpage=&gclid=CL_svI_uhtQCFQwQgQodN5YPlQ&gclsrc=aw.ds&landingpage=savings

 

I stay at the Hyatt airport Boston. On one side I have the airport and on the side where I stay, I have the skyline and harbor views plus the boat shuttle that goes from the hotel dock to the docks of uptown Boston. Great place. Charlotte Hyatt airport will be the same but without the harbor or shuttle boat. 

[LKN704]

The midfield hammerhead terminal will replace Concourse E and is planned to be used for regional flights only-but that could always change. 

The other airlines don't really lose anything but AA taking over some of the Concourse A gates.

As once the entire 24-gate expansion is complete, the concourse will likely be re-designated as Terminal 2, Concourse F. All non-AA/Oneworld (that is if we ever get another Oneworld carrier!) flights will be moved to this terminal, which will also house all OAL check-in and baggage claim. Delta/Frontier/Southwest/Air Canada/Via Air/United/JetBlue all get a brand new terminal to themselves while AA takes over all of Terminal 1. That isn't a bad trade off, IMHO.

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

17 hours ago, CarolinaDaydreamin said:

The expansion of A will be a welcome terminal improvement for those carriers, though. I could even see Delta adding a Sky Club. The 24 or so gates in the A north Concourse will be much larger gates than the old A gates, and much nicer. There will also eventually be a mid field terminal where the current diagonal runway currently sits, so other airlines may eventually grow into those. As the city grows rapidly, there will be more demand from other carriers to expand. The first thing to look for is larger jets on Delta and United, as they now will have larger gates in A north and increased local traffic. 

I think there is a lot of room for Delta at CLT. It will never have a huge presence due to ATL obviously, but many other regional airports like Nashville and RDU have many more flights. CLT should eventually have LAX and SLC Delta flights at least. Delta is adding many more Embraer and 737 next gens, and you will start seeing them into CLT after the A north completion.

[CLT2014]

4 minutes ago, CarolinaDaydreamin said:

I think there is a lot of room for Delta at CLT. It will never have a huge presence due to ATL obviously, but many other regional airports like Nashville and RDU have many more flights. CLT should eventually have LAX and SLC Delta flights at least. Delta is adding many more Embraer and 737 next gens, and you will start seeing them into CLT after the A north completion.

Delta is once daily to SLC currently on an A319. Flight departs CLT at 7:45AM ; the return flight departs SLC at 5:30PM and lands in CLT at 11:28PM. 

[tozmervo]

6 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

Delta is once daily to SLC currently on an A319. Flight departs CLT at 7:45AM ; the return flight departs SLC at 5:30PM and lands in CLT at 11:28PM. 

I just flew this route back from SLC. The plane was far nicer than most AA flights I'm on out of CLT. 

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

6 hours ago, tozmervo said:

I just flew this route back from SLC. The plane was far nicer than most AA flights I'm on out of CLT. 

Delta planes usually are much nicer than AA planes lol.

[Miesian Corners]

On 5/24/2017 at 4:48 PM, CarolinaDaydreamin said:

Delta planes usually are much nicer than AA planes lol.

Delta's average fleet age is 17 years. AA, by contrast, is only 10.5 (and getting younger by the day). 

[LKN704]

It's worth noted that Delta is really the only legacy carrier left at this point that seems committed to actual in-flight entertainment (in the form of TV monitors) on domestic flights. AA and UA are no longer adding monitors, and AA will be removing monitors from its planes, in favor of streaming entertainment.

[saam14]

6 hours ago, LKN704 said:

It's worth noted that Delta is really the only legacy carrier left at this point that seems committed to actual in-flight entertainment (in the form of TV monitors) on domestic flights. AA and UA are no longer adding monitors, and AA will be removing monitors from its planes, in favor of streaming entertainment.

I would have no problem with streaming entertainment but the problem is the movie options are so much less than what they offer on the in flight entertainment system. At this point I have watched almost every movie they offer for their streaming option. Whereas for the planes that have the in flight entertainment system they have a section for "In Theaters Now" which is great. 

[cjd5050]

7 hours ago, LKN704 said:

It's worth noted that Delta is really the only legacy carrier left at this point that seems committed to actual in-flight entertainment (in the form of TV monitors) on domestic flights. AA and UA are no longer adding monitors, and AA will be removing monitors from its planes, in favor of streaming entertainment.

Isn't this just anticipating improved wifi connections to personal devices?  Once they are able to ditch the long term contracts to Gogo and connectivity improves I don't see users using at all the in flight system.  They will just use whatever device they use to watch video elsewhere.  That and the cost savings by not having all of those monitors and moving to lighter seats....makes sense to me.  

I'd rather watch something from my library or Netflix account than being forced to pick from 5 crappy movies or flip channels.  Just my 2 cents.

[stiluvclt]

The irony is....the possibility that airlines are not going to allow you to bring tablets and laptops aboard. What happens then?

 

[caterpillar2]

A few drinks and I can stay focused on that radar scene on the back of the seat in front of me that shows the planes movement progress all the way to London or Rome. Movies end, the radar keeps working the whole trip. I'm about to fly to Rome. I anxiously look forward to mini bottles and scope. 

[HopHead]

12 hours ago, LKN704 said:

It's worth noted that Delta is really the only legacy carrier left at this point that seems committed to actual in-flight entertainment (in the form of TV monitors) on domestic flights. AA and UA are no longer adding monitors, and AA will be removing monitors from its planes, in favor of streaming entertainment.

That's strange. I've recently been on a few AA Charlotte to Denver flights (either A319 or A321, don't recall). On two of those flights, we had what looked to be brand new monitors in each of the seats complete with pretty much any movie or TV show you wanted. 

[hambone931]

On 5/23/2017 at 4:31 PM, RiverwoodCLT said:

Westin at Denver    Check out photos - last one is a great picture as you go up to the airport.

https://www.reservationcounter.com/hotels/show/613df46/westin-denver-international-ap-denvre-co/?cid=sem::TPRC::AW::PT-P01::CoS(USA)-ST(Colorado)::B-Name(The-Westin)-City(Denver)-DID(613df46)-M(BP)-AGT(A04-B001-C01)::+Westin-+Denver::Broad&creative=174578798060&device=c&AdPos=1t2&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=+Westin-+Denver&utm_campaign=CoS(USA)-ST(Colorado)&landingpage=&gclid=CL_svI_uhtQCFQwQgQodN5YPlQ&gclsrc=aw.ds&landingpage=savings

 

I took this picture at DEN over the summer. Directly above me is the new Westin and directly below me is the new light rail line.

[skymiler]

On 5/25/2017 at 7:19 PM, Miesian Corners said:

Delta's average fleet age is 17 years. AA, by contrast, is only 10.5 (and getting younger by the day). 

Age doesn't matter with Delta.  They've bought a lot of older Air Tran planes and upgraded them.  I'm sure this contributes to the avg. age of their planes.  Regardless,  I would much rather fly Delta than American.  A lot of that has to do with their fleet.

[eastsider]

Concourse A expansion

[cltbwimob]

A couple of airport related notes:

1.  Later this year, Southwest will begin offering a third daily flight from CLT to BWI.

2.  Air cargo is way up over last year in pretty much every respect.  If the pace continues, CLT may eclipse the 200k ton threshold. Pretty good considering just a few years ago, 130k tons was about the max.  Amazon and the extra Fed Ex flight have really boosted the cargo side of the airport.

[ChessieCat]

On 5/28/2017 at 10:20 PM, cltbwimob said:

2.  Air cargo is way up over last year in pretty much every respect.  If the pace continues, CLT may eclipse the 200k ton threshold. Pretty good considering just a few years ago, 130k tons was about the max.  Amazon and the extra Fed Ex flight have really boosted the cargo side of the airport.

The Antonov Ruslan visits a few times a year which certainly pushes up the cargo number!

(Siemens ships generator equipment all over the world from its plant on Westinghouse Blvd)

 

 

Edited May 30, 2017 by ChessieCat

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

Yesterday I saw a Qatar 777 on the tarmac while I was taking off. What was it doing at CLT?

[KJHburg]

59 minutes ago, CarolinaDaydreamin said:

Yesterday I saw a Qatar 777 on the tarmac while I was taking off. What was it doing at CLT?

I would expect some sort of freight delivery back to Middle East maybe Siemens 

[xapostrophe]

1 hour ago, CarolinaDaydreamin said:

Yesterday I saw a Qatar 777 on the tarmac while I was taking off. What was it doing at CLT?

Diversion from Atlanta.  Atlanta was ground stopped for a while due to weather.  

 

 

Separately anyone know what the construction just to the north of e concourse is all about?  they removed most of a hill. are they expanding the ramp area out that way? 

[LKN704]

CLT has the largest FIS of any airport near ATL and has the capability to handle multiple international diversions and process them if necessary. It is usually the alternate to ATL should weather turn sour. 

I've seen multiple BA 777 diversions, a TK A330, and an Air France 747 over the years divert to CLT from ATL. I think this has maybe been the first time a 77W has been to CLT. 

Anywho, one thing that has been on my mind lately is CLT trying to land an Asian flight. I know MIA/PHL/RDU have been vocal at trying to attract a nonstop to Asia. Why hasn't CLT. I'm surprised we don't have an air service development program trying to attract a nonstop. 

The takeoff distance at MTOW of the 787 is within 10,000 length of CLT's longest runway, and a 787 shouldn't have any problem doing CLT-Asia.