Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion

[CLT2014]

Given the poor global economy relative to the American economy, we can't expect many adds to Europe from any US-based airline. Domestic flights are doing much better due to less competition and smaller stage lengths compared to European flights. American continues to connect Mid-west cities to the Charlotte mega-hub and we should expect more going forward. While more European destinations would be glamorous, domestic traffic is driving the profits at American Airlines right now, and this is true at many of the hubs.

SNA would be a great add, but American has 18 slots at Orange County, of which they use 9 to Dallas-Fort Worth, 5 to Phoenix, and 4 to Chicago. The problem for Charlotte is these three cities have strong demand from Orange County and Dallas offer many of the same connections Charlotte can offer. Not sure if they would want to sacrifice the frequency to be competitive on business travel from SNA to those three cities for two flights per day to Charlotte that would be largely connections. We have 5 - 6 flights per day to LAX and 2-3 to San Diego, which American probably would prefer O&D corporate travelers utilize between Southern California and CLT. 

SJC would be a great add for connecting Silicon Valley to CLT. I could see two flights per day being added in 2016 once they have the aircraft. 

 

Edited December 14, 2015 by CLT2014

[LKN704]

US actually proposed flights from SNA to both CLT and PHL a couple of years back, IIRC. Both flights were to be operated with a 752 and the CLT flight was to be a redeye I believe and the PHL flight was supposed to be during the day. Ultimately US never got the slots to operate the flight. SNA would likely need to be flown with a 757.

I also wonder if we will ever see the resumption of EGE (Vail, CO). US flew the route for a few years before and after the HP merger before discontinuing it in 2007.

[cltcane]

For those with connections to AA... What are the chances CLT gets one of 20 daily flights to HAV (or one of 10 to the 9 other international airports in Cuba) now that the US and Cuba have reached a deal to allow the resumption of regularly-scheduled commercial flights?  With conditions for travel still in place, I assume most flights will be to and from Florida and NYC where there are large Cuban populations, but does CLT have a chance of landing a flight(s) to serve the non-VFR tourist traffic?

[CLT2014]

The 20 daily flights to HAV are going to be divided among all the airlines. American might get 4 or 5 of the slots if they are lucky. Delta, United, Spirit, Jet Blue, and Southwest will definitely want flights as well. AA has already made it clear Miami and Florida in general will be the main focus (see article below). If American gets enough slots, I would say we have a 10% chance of a flight from CLT. After the Miami flights, AA might try LAX, ORD, and PHL. The problem is the VAST majority of Cuban-American's live in the Miami area. The Miami MSA has over 1 million Cuban-Americans. The next 19 metropolitan areas COMBINED only have 555,000 Cuban Americans and 7 of those 19 MSA's are other cities in Florida. 

"American Airlines said in a release that it will submit a United States-Cuba service proposal to the U.S. Department of Transportation and wants to introduce flights as soon as possible in 2016, and in a media call on Thursday, Howard Kass, the airline’s vice president of regulatory affairs, said that the government is expected to approve 20 flights a day to Havana and 10 daily to each of the other Cuban cities.  He added that service from Miami will be a priority for the airline. “Miami is the center of the Cuban diaspora and a big market for us with our charter flights,” he said.

American has offered charters to Cuba since 1991 and will have operated approximately 1,200 such flights by the end of this year; it currently has flights from Miami, Tampa and Los Angeles to the Cuban cities of Camagüey, Cienfuegos, Havana, Holguin and Santa Clara"

 

[LKN704]

I doubt we will have flights to HAV in the near future, but I can see flights to Varadero and other beach cities from CLT.

[cltcane]

I have no doubt that a substantial majority of US-Cuba flights will be to and from MIA (I lived in Miami for four years during college and still travel there frequently, so I know very well that it is the epicenter of Cuban America), but with the US DOT allocating the slots, I wonder if it would be beneficial for AA to propose adding service from other hubs (or cities like Tampa with large FF bases that already have charter flights) in addition to MIA, especially since other carriers are also likely to propose adding flights from MIA and FLL? I could be wrong, but I imagine the government is going to want to see as many cities served by as many different carriers as possible.  I do agree that it is likely CLT gets a flight to one or more of the Cuban beach cities first since those flights will be more tourist heavy than VFR-heavy flights to HAV and SCU.

 

[dcharlotte]

If AA were to get a few flights I would assume they would want to spread them between MIA, JFK and DFW or ORD with the limited number of flights. DFW and ORD have strong connections which would be great for vacationers. 

[ChessieCat]

Charlotte nears new lease with American Airlines

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article51963560.html

 

[kickazzz2000]

lol, the CLT haters are goin wild tonight on A.net

 

freaking out about the CLT is the most profitable hub comment

[Deleted.]

8 minutes ago, kickazzz2000 said:

lol, the CLT haters are goin wild tonight on A.net

 

freaking out about the CLT is the most profitable hub comment

Saying that AA has said nothing about CLT being profitable, despite the fact someone posed where they could find the comment by AA.

[Silicon Dogwoods]

1 hour ago, Piedmont767 said:

Saying that AA has said nothing about CLT being profitable, despite the fact someone posed where they could find the comment by AA.

I don't understand the Charlotte hate over there, so I stopped going.

[DEnd]

4 hours ago, Silicon Dogwoods said:

I don't understand the Charlotte hate over there, so I stopped going.

Jealousy.  It's the same reason we hate on NYC, because it's amazing.

I don't really get it either...  Dude on there was all like oh there's nothing special about the southeast and Charlotte and then went on to list several reasons that actually do make the area special.  Large population and economic base, low labor cost, low debt levels, central location in the mega region, etc...  The only major issue that Charlotte really has is low O&D numbers compared to similarly sized airports, but it's O&D numbers are probably higher compared to similarly sized cities and the only places that can meet or beat us in the Region is RDU and Atlanta.  Both of those have negatives for those O&D numbers, RDU is not as centrally located in the Mega Region, and Atlanta is higher cost with direct competition from Delta. 

[southslider]

Would RDU really beat CLT in O&D numbers?  Bank fees likely support a lot more business travel than R&D subsidies.

[CLT2014]

13 minutes ago, southslider said:

Would RDU really beat CLT in O&D numbers?  Bank fees likely support a lot more business travel than R&D subsidies.

Raleigh-Durham is not among the top 25 O&D markets in the country. Charlotte ranks 23rd - right in line with our CSA population rank. We outperform against Pittsburgh and St. Louis that are more populous than us, but under-perform against a few smaller or similarly sized cities that are tourist destinations like Orlando, Las Vegas, and Honolulu. We also are going to have less traffic relative to isolated cities in the western portion of the country that are extremely dependent on air travel to go to other cities. Charlotte is less than a day's drive from many cities in the Southeast, so our airport competes with driving. Salt Lake City - you best by flying.

O&D passengers per day from ALL commercial airports in a metro area (So New York stats include JFK, LGA, EWR, etc...)

1) New York: 245,750

2) Los Angeles: 184,296
3) Miami: 131,265
4) Chicago: 127,776
5) San Francisco: 120,382
6) Washington DC: 120,201
7) Las Vegas: 91,114
8) Orlando: 89,108
9) Dallas: 83,053
10) Boston: 74,834
11) Houston: 71,060
12) Phoenix: 67,863
13) Atlanta: 61,943
14) Seattle: 60,539
15) Denver: 54,610
16) Philadelphia: 49,178
17) Minneapolis: 46,362
18) San Diego: 45,297
19) Detroit: 43,113
20) Honolulu: 42,039
21) Tampa: 41,991
22) Portland: 32,116
23) Charlotte: 29,540
24) St. Louis: 28,035
25) Salt Lake City: 27,434
 

Edited December 30, 2015 by CLT2014

[cltbwimob]

4 minutes ago, southslider said:

Would RDU really beat CLT in O&D numbers?  Bank fees likely support a lot more business travel than R&D subsidies.

At one point RDU had slightly higher O&D numbers (2007 timeframe I believe); however those numbers have since declined and Charlotte's numbers have continued to climb.  If memory serves me correctly, I believe we have ~1.25-1.5 million more O&D pax than RDU including international.  

Our O&D numbers actually aren't that bad.  The airport has approximately 11 million O&D pax per year.  I think once we hit the 15-16 million mark-roughly the size of Philly's O&D numbers-the airport will be positioned well in terms of O&D.

[Silicon Dogwoods]

4 hours ago, DEnd said:

Jealousy.  It's the same reason we hate on NYC, because it's amazing.

I don't really get it either...  Dude on there was all like oh there's nothing special about the southeast and Charlotte and then went on to list several reasons that actually do make the area special.  Large population and economic base, low labor cost, low debt levels, central location in the mega region, etc...  The only major issue that Charlotte really has is low O&D numbers compared to similarly sized airports, but it's O&D numbers are probably higher compared to similarly sized cities and the only places that can meet or beat us in the Region is RDU and Atlanta.  Both of those have negatives for those O&D numbers, RDU is not as centrally located in the Mega Region, and Atlanta is higher cost with direct competition from Delta. 

I don't hate on New York. I lived on the banks of the Hudson in New Jersey and commuted into Manhattan for 6 years; maybe that's why. But the PABT was not a very nice place to commute through every day, I must admit.

I've lived a lot of places and I've ended up loving them all. Some suited me better than others and all had their pluses and minuses. I've even made my peace with Raleigh. In our newly conservative era, Charlotte and Raleigh should be allies, not antagonists.

[CLTaviation13]

Anet drives me up a wall. 

[Deleted.]

8 hours ago, JetBlueCLT said:

Anet drives me up a wall. 

Please go on anet, and post the link to the investor call where we say CLT is one of the most profitable hubs.

[CLTaviation13]

On December 31, 2015 at 6:16 PM, Piedmont767 said:

Please go on anet, and post the link to the investor call where we say CLT is one of the most profitable hubs.

I saw who posted the details from the Q3 investor call, but not a link for it.

[uptownliving]

I was reading the Autumn 2015 edition of Connections, which is the Airport's newsletter, and it has a nice summary of all the construction projects going on:

Inline Baggage System

Installation of the new inline baggage system on the eastside of the terminal is complete. The new
inline baggage system on the terminal’s westside became operational in February 2015.The new baggage system
contains 2.5 miles of conveyor that uses the latest technology. The old system contained 1.5 miles
of conveyor and was manually intensive. The new baggage system improves security screening technology and automates
the baggage handling process.

Cargo Ramp Expansion

Grading and paving is underway on the Airport’s cargo ramp expansion on the southeast side of the airfield.The ramp is being expanded
by 12,000 square yards to provide additional space to potential clients and CLT’s deicing operations.Construction will be completed
by end of the 2015.

Concourse A North

Demolition of the rental car buildings on Rental Car Road will begin at the end of 2015 and finish
in March. Once complete,construction will start this spring on A North – a nine gate expansion.
The total expansion of A North will encompass 24 gates for airlines currently located on Concourse A.

Elevated Roadway

Work on the elevated roadway is underway. Crews are in the process of moving utility lines and drilling
concrete pier foundations. CLT is planning to expand the traffic lanes in front of the terminal to 16 lanes
– eight lanes in Baggage Claim (lower level) and eight lanes in Ticketing (upper level).
Traffic flow will be reconfigured on each level. Commercial vehicles (taxis,hotel and airport shuttles)
will move to the three inside lanes and personal vehicles will occupy the five outside lanes.
Construction will have a minimal impact to passengers.The $40 million project will take 3.5 years
to complete.

Terminal Renovations

Terminal renovations are scheduled to begin in spring 2016 on Concourse A, parts of Concourse
D and in the Atrium. Crews will then move to Concourses B, C and E.The design concepts
have been finalized and approved.Each phase of renovations will take a year to 18 months
to complete. The makeover will consist of new ceiling tiles, carpet, wall panels,
seating and fresh coats of paint. Terrazzo also will be placed in the center walkway of concourses to better
accommodate rolling luggage. HVAC, electrical and sprinkler systems will be upgraded, as well.
The $55 million project will take approximately three years to complete. It will be the most extensive
terminal renovation in the Airport’s 33-year history.

East Terminal - Phase II

Construction of the East Terminal Expansion Phase II also is scheduled to begin this spring. It will include a food court and additional office space,as well as two new escalators
and elevators in the E Connector.

 

[Miesian Corners]

Not happy about the timeline for terminal renovations.  They've been saying all along the remodel of A, B, and C would take 18 months.  Now it's three years?!!? WTF?

 

[xapostrophe]

Seems like they added a few items to the reno.

 

Wasnt the D/E foodcourt and escalator supposed to be done years ago?   And I am fairly certain that we were told that the A reno was supposed to start in October?

 

and another thing how about some jet bridges on e concourse?   its embarrassing to drop off 76 passengers into the rain down there. the airline has made it clear to us that its the airport that isn't putting them in.   sickening.

Edited January 6, 2016 by xapostrophe
new ideas

[CLT2014]

Frontier Airlines is adding flights from Charlotte-Douglas again, appealing to leisure travelers with flexible schedules. 

On April 15th, service on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday will begin with $39 intro fares to Chicago O'hare and Orlando (MCO). Their seasonal flight to Philadelphia returns on April 15th as well. 

Competitors on Chicago O'hare service are American Airlines and United Airlines. Southwest Airlines offers service to nearby Chicago-Midway.Orlando (MCO) service is currently only by American Airlines. Allegiant offers service to Orlando-Sanford from Concord Regional Airport. Frontier competes seasonally against American Airlines on the Philadelphia route.

 

[CLTaviation13]

CLT-MCO is on an A321
CLT-ORD is an A320
CLT-DEN switched to a 7am dep with the inbound a redeye from DEN. Honestly thought that's what they should've done with DEN-CLT.
CLT-PHL is now an A321 too.
CLT-TTN comes back 3 weekly

[HopHead]

32 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

Frontier Airlines is adding flights from Charlotte-Douglas again, appealing to leisure travelers with flexible schedules. 

On April 15th, service on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday will begin with $39 intro fares to Chicago O'hare and Orlando (MCO). Their seasonal flight to Philadelphia returns on April 15th as well. 

Competitors on Chicago O'hare service are American Airlines and United Airlines. Southwest Airlines offers service to nearby Chicago-Midway.Orlando (MCO) service is currently only by American Airlines. Allegiant offers service to Orlando-Sanford from Concord Regional Airport. Frontier competes seasonally against American Airlines on the Philadelphia route.

 

Never thought I'd see the day where I was glad that CLT now has competition for Orlando flights. I noticed that among other airports, Frontier is adding more nonstop desitations for Cincinnati. They will have new flights to San Francisco and LA. Those will be 3x a week in addition to the daily flights Delta already has. I know this is beating a dead horse here, but would be great to see another airline, whether it's Frontier or someone else, offer more west bound destinations. Right now, I think Salt Lake City (Delta) and Denver (United) are the only places where American has competition.