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Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion


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7 minutes ago, saamh said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article224298985.html

The aviation museum is needing to move from its current location... how great would this museum be if they found a way to move it uptown, what a great tourist attraction it would be. Gets about 70,000 visitors annually 

Uptown would be so awesome. I realize getting aircraft into Uptown would be really expensive compared to being on the airport runways, but maybe some of the aviation businesses in the Carolinas could sponsor the museum and get free publicity on their impact to the Carolinas. I'm looking at you Collins Aerospace, Curtiss-Wright, Honeywell, Boeing (787 plant in Charleston), Honda Aircraft Company (Greensboro), GE Aviation, etc... The parade of moving the aircraft through the Uptown streets could be a good advertising opportunity for businesses as well. 

Edited by CLT2014
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1 hour ago, CLT2014 said:

Uptown would be so awesome. I realize getting aircraft into Uptown would be really expensive compared to being on the airport runways, but maybe some of the aviation businesses in the Carolinas could sponsor the museum and get free publicity on their impact to the Carolinas. I'm looking at you Collins Aerospace, Curtiss-Wright, Honeywell, Boeing (787 plant in Charleston), Honda Aircraft Company (Greensboro), GE Aviation, etc... The parade of moving the aircraft through the Uptown streets could be a good advertising opportunity for businesses as well. 

I totally agree with everything you said, what an amazing opportunity it would be to have this amazing museum in uptown 

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54 minutes ago, xapostrophe said:

Why is the museum moving?  

Need more room for general aviation.  It will move somewhere on airport property no way it will go uptown.  Of course all the Levine land in 1st Ward would be big enough but seriously they need runway access. 

Edited by KJHburg
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15 hours ago, elrodvt said:

Why do they need runway access? I don't think the nice one in Denver has it although there was an airport there. You can truck in planes. Most museum planes aren't going to fly in anyway. Although I would sure love to fly some of those suckers!

Runway access isn't 100% necessary, it just makes it a lot easier and less expensive to acquire aircraft that are larger and still air worthy. For example, the Lockheed EC-130 on the tarmac of the Carolina Aviation Museum has a 132.6 foot wingspan. When the museum acquired this as part of the collection it just had to be flown in and parked for good at the museum. If it was moved away from a runway, you would have to fund raise a big initiative to remove the wings, get it on a truck, and move a 97.75 foot long fuselage and 38.8 foot tall tail through the streets of Charlotte, avoiding power lines, overpasses, and traffic lights along the way with roads shut down. 

In effect, the museum might be discouraged from taking on some larger air worthy aircraft exhibits simply due to the cost of getting the aircraft into an Uptown location. 

Edited by CLT2014
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19 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

In effect, the museum might be discouraged from taking on some larger air worthy aircraft exhibits simply due to the cost of getting the aircraft into an Uptown location. 

Reminded of one of my favorite visuals ever, Endeavour traveling from LAX to the California Science Center 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdqZyACCYZc

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Not CLT news but Raleigh announced today that Spirit will begin service to/from RDU to Baltime, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans, Orlando all on May 2nd... RDU already has Allegiant and Frontier.

It would be great if CLT could attract Spirit to bring prices down and I hope they don’t fly out of concord like Allegiant does

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53 minutes ago, rancenc said:

Information on the aviation industry in NC.  Surprised with the amount passengers at Concord Regional Airport

https://www.ncdot.gov/divisions/aviation/Documents/state-of-aviation.pdf

 

I was leary of taking Allegiant but they changed my mind on a quick trip to Tampa last month.  You park 50' from the front desk.  Check in was pretty quick.  Security was not "fast" but never frustrating. No worry about luggage getting lost as they only have one flight at a time.  Board was quick and painless.  No worry about 15 flights in front of you and sitting on the tarmac for no reason.   Both to/from arrivals were early.   Already looking a booking them for another weekend trip to Tampa in a the spring.   Our flight (although this was the start of winter break) was completely booked. 

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1 hour ago, rancenc said:

Information on the aviation industry in NC.  Surprised with the amount passengers at Concord Regional Airport

https://www.ncdot.gov/divisions/aviation/Documents/state-of-aviation.pdf

It's one thing to know, obviously, that CLT is the biggest airport in North Carolina. It's shocking by how much. CLT carries more passengers than all other NC commercial airports combined, PLUS another 16 million.

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Competition would sure be nice though. The fares from  CLT are very high. Of course they'll eventually decide to drop fares to grind Allegiant into the dust then raise them again. Ironically at small BTV airport when Jet Blue came in early in their expansion the prices dropped, the big guys matched, and it's stayed low since. Don't know why other than they didn't want to mess with a good feeder? Airline fare pricing is such a mystery.

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Delta brought the brand new A220 on proving runs yesterday!  It looks like we will be seeing these at CLT sooner rather than later! 

Also, unrelated.  Has anyone heard of any updates on the Smash Burger coming to A Concourse North?  I've read they have been closing various locations around the country, I wonder if they are re-thinking the CLT airport location?

Edited by CltFlyer
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32 minutes ago, CltFlyer said:

Delta brought the brand new A220 on proving runs yesterday!  It looks like we will be seeing these at CLT sooner rather than later! 

Also, unrelated.  Has anyone heard of any updates on the Smash Burger coming to A Concourse North?  I've read they have been closing various locations around the country, I wonder if they are re-thinking the CLT airport location?

Wow. That is the first A220 for Delta. It can't carry passengers until the FAA approves the use of the aircraft (as it is the first used in the US). Presumably that can't happen until the government opens.

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Does anyone remember the time frame for CLT's Centurion lounge opening up?  AMEX recently announced some changes to their protocol which only allows access to the lounge for departing guests (excludes connections).  Basically, if you just flew into SFO, Seattle, etc, you won't be able to access the lounge.  Not really a big deal, because I usually just want to get out of the airport once I'm at my destination, but one example that may mess with are those flying into Vegas and want to stop by the lounge for drinks before heading out.  A few other restrictions were placed 3hr limit, 2 guests period...guess there is a problem of overcrowding in these lounges.  I'm happy CLT is getting one though....looks like it will be one of the largest Centurion's in the system.

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^ It won't open until 2020

I'd expect most people won't be impacted by the lounge policy changes. People have a lot of free time if they decide to get to the airport more than 3 hours before their flight or want to hang out in an airport lounge after arriving at their final destination. This is most likely designed to discourage the guy in jeans shorts and flip flops, with six plates of food, and five drinks who is "really into free stuff" and keeps talking about "how incredible this lounge is" from hanging out at the lounge all day to fulfill their gluttony. 

Edited by CLT2014
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