Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion

[HopHead]

Interesting... I was looking at USAirways's site to price out a trip to Austin and San Antonio for when direct flights out of here start up. Flights to Austin are almost half of what flights to San Antonio are. About $300 vs. $550. Wonder why that would be? I thought they'd at least be close to each other.

[AMZIE]

Cats already has funding for an enhanced bus line to the airport, they are in the planning stages now, it will replace #5 bus and also have nicer stops that can hopfully be use for future Street Car stops.

[CLT]

It looks like Midwest is already pulling out of CLT. The last day of service is 4/3/08.

I wonder if this is a business decision of the new owners of Midwest (TPG) or if the route never pulled in enough business passengers? Too bad, we need all the competition we can get!

[HopHead]

It looks like Midwest is already pulling out of CLT. The last day of service is 4/3/08.

I wonder if this is a business decision of the new owners of Midwest (TPG) or if the route never pulled in enough business passengers? Too bad, we need all the competition we can get!

Not overly surprising. I was kind of surprised when they started service in the Charlotte market. Wasn't the only destination to Milwaukee? I guess not everyone was up for drinking beer there With all this news of USAirways expanding their service here, I'm hopeful that other airlines step up service in some of those markets to provide more competition... preferably JetBlue and Airtran.

[Miesian Corners]

Not overly surprising. I was kind of surprised when they started service in the Charlotte market. Wasn't the only destination to Milwaukee? I guess not everyone was up for drinking beer there With all this news of USAirways expanding their service here, I'm hopeful that other airlines step up service in some of those markets to provide more competition... preferably JetBlue and Airtran.

Milwaukee is its hub. I think Midwest offers connections to 30 or so cities from MKE. They are a great airline; sad to see them go. Edited February 14, 2008 by Miesian Corners

[atlrvr]

Hooray...in a big win for Charlotte, or for those who care about planes, Lufthansa is upgrading their CLT-Munich service to an A340-600. Previously they used a A340-300, which is a shorter version of the plane. The A346 is the longest passenger plane in the world, and it will be the second largest in terms of capacity that Lufthansa flies after their 747s. Additionally, the plane will be configured in Lufthansa's most premium 3-class layout for this plane, which indicates they must be getting strong demand for business class seats.

The upgrade is due to an increase in customer demand.

[Raintree21]

This is a monster of a plane holding 380 passengers in the 3-class seating arrangement.

Edited February 14, 2008 by Raintree21

[kickazzz2000]

This is a monster of a plane holding 380 passengers in the 3-class seating arrangement.

I heard the 346 doesnt fit on CLT's jetways...a couple times they subbed in the 346 for the regular 343 and the passengers had to deplane via stairs...is this true?

BTW, the 346 is one BIG momma! Will be nice to see in our skies...

Edited February 15, 2008 by kickazzz2000

[monsoon]

.... Additionally, the plane will be configured in Lufthansa's most premium 3-class layout for this plane, which indicates they must be getting strong demand for business class seats......

Isn't this a standard layout for international service? I don't think I have ever been on an overseas flight with just 2 classes of service.

[CltFlyer]

The Usairways Website shows it as a a340-311 but the LH website shows it as a346. WHich one is right?

[Raintree21]

I heard the 346 doesnt fit on CLT's jetways...a couple times they subbed in the 346 for the regular 343 and the passengers had to deplane via stairs...is this true?

BTW, the 346 is one BIG momma! Will be nice to see in our skies...

I was gonna ask the same thing about required runway length. I know the new runway will be definitely be long enough but that's still a few years away.

The Usairways Website shows it as a a340-311 but the LH website shows it as a346. WHich one is right?

It's not USAir that's doing the flight right? So I would assume that the correct one is the 346 on the Lufthansa site.

[Miesian Corners]

I heard the 346 doesnt fit on CLT's jetways...a couple times they subbed in the 346 for the regular 343 and the passengers had to deplane via stairs...is this true?

BTW, the 346 is one BIG momma! Will be nice to see in our skies...

Don't think that's true. Both airplanes are the same width and height. There is no reason CLT jetways won't work on the 600. They work on 747s, 777's and the like. The only thing LH may have chosen to do is use airstairs to augment the deplaning process, as that's a lot of people to get off a plane at once. European cities do it all the time. They deplane using stairs in the rear and jetbridges in the front.

As for runway length, that's tied to weight. The 600 is lighter than the LH 747 that used to fly from CLT to FRA in the 90s.

[uptownliving]

Since the A340-600 is so long the pilots actually use cameras on the plane to make sure they make the turns on the taxiway instead of ending up off the pavement and getting stuck. I could be wrong but I think this is one of the few airplanes where pilots use cameras to make taxiway movements.

[CltFlyer]

I was gonna ask the same thing about required runway length. I know the new runway will be definitely be long enough but that's still a few years away.

It's not USAir that's doing the flight right? So I would assume that the correct one is the 346 on the Lufthansa site.

yeah i did further research on that...its the 340-600 i think its really too much plane for the route but thats just me.

[SentioVenia]

I was gonna ask the same thing about required runway length. I know the new runway will be definitely be long enough but that's still a few years away.

The new runway will actually be shorter than the existing runway 36L, which is 10,000 feet.

[atlrvr]

Isn't this a standard layout for international service? I don't think I have ever been on an overseas flight with just 2 classes of service.

Good ole US Airways only offers a 2-class layout for international.

As far as my comments about this particular Lufthansa. They offer three different configurations for their A340-600s....the one they are flying to Charlotte has the greatest number of 1st Class and Business Class seats (and fewest coach sits). That was what I meant by most premium configuration.

This plane will have 306 total seats, as opposed to 221 on the A340-300 that is currently flown.

[uptownliving]

The International Arrivals area is going to be swamped when the A340-600 arrives everyday this summer...especially the baggage claim area in FIS. A few years ago I flew the Munich flight on the A340-300 and even then the baggage carrosels in the International Arrivals area are WAY too small. They have to station an employee at the carosell whose sole job is to offload the bags on the carosell into a large pile so that room can be made on the carosell for the new bags coming down the shute. The end result is that you have to look over a carosel with about 100 bags on it and then look in a huge pile of about 100 bags to find your bag.

I really hope the airport adds additional baggage carosell capacity in the FIS area since the projections show we will only be getting more international service in the coming years.

[uptownliving]

Charlotte has really been on a roll so far in the past couple of months with new destinations:

Key West

Daytona

Austin

San Antonio

Gulfport/Biloxi

Fort Walton

Panama City

All of those are new US Airways Express destinations.

The latest rumor has US Airways mainline getting in on the act with new service to Sacramento, California.

[Appetite for Construction]

Link to Lufthansa press release for anyone that is interested ...

Press Release

Since high traffic in the summer months is specifically mentioned in the press release, it will be interesting to see if the demand here is such that the 346 capacity can be supported over the long term.

[monsoon]

Good ole US Airways only offers a 2-class layout for international....

When I flew them to London, they had first class, business class and coach. There is a diagram of it here

Business = envoy, First = envoy sleeper. Clearly 3 classes of seating.

[CltFlyer]

HMMM i was thinking think its possible to bring gate 13 over a double load the 346. just an idea

[monsoon]

Charlotte has really been on a roll so far in the past couple of months with new destinations:

.......

Midwest Airlines announced today that it is pulling out of Charlotte.

[uptownliving]

Midwest Airlines announced today that it is pulling out of Charlotte.

Midwest only served Milwaukee from Charlotte...this destination has been served nonstop by US Airways for many years from Charlotte. So no loss of destinations with the pullout of Midwest. Only thing that will be missing is free chocolate chip cookies.

[CltFlyer]

I was sorta surprised to see them come in..........i was hoping frontier would come in with new update.

[monsoon]

.. Only thing that will be missing is free chocolate chip cookies.

And of course choice. USAir is considered by many to be one of the most undesirable airlines in the country to fly on, and in Charlotte's case, also one of the most expensive. Losing access to the Midwest hub increases the costs for a lot of flights.