Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion

[davidals]

Yeah I think that CLT getting that China flight is a far out possibility...but BofA does have a 9% stake in China Construction Bank, and Lenovo's HQ is in RTP...so who knows.

The China flight is going to go out of Philadelphia. CLT should push for a future China route - don't really have much of a need just yet, but we will, and it would only be a plus for in-state businesses...

[kickazzz2000]

I don't know if this has been discussed before, but has anyone noticed how amateur the Douglas Airport website is? It's so dull and governmental. Its almost as if the website was viewed as an afterthought rather than a marketing tool. Its not very passenger friendly, not aesthetically appealing, and has way too much clutter. Stuff like open bids for contracts needs to be on back pages.

I looked at some of CLT's peers and there are examples of modern, 2007 era websites.

www.flydenver.com

www.rdu.com

www.flypdx.com

www.orlandoairports.net

www.bwiairport.com

juss sayin'

[Miesian Corners]

Kickazzz, I couldn't agree more. I have mentioned this to city of Charlotte and airport personnel before to no avail. Seems placing the CLT website in the 21st Century isn't a priority.

[uptownliving]

I agree that the format of the CLT website needs an update, and considering that they just did an update a few months ago...doesn't say much for the current design. Information wise it has what you are looking for in most cases...it just isn't intutive, nor does it look good. A 5th Grader could do a better web design than the current CLT airport website.

[A2]

If the airport is such a vital part of the Charlotte economy, why is not more demanded in the way of technology improvements? It seems real silly that the Mayor, J.Orr, and all of the other cronies in Gov't make such a fuss as to how the airport is so critical to the continued growth of Charlotte and the region, but want put up any investment dollars in improving their web site. This is simple maintaince that can go a looooong way. This lack of maintence is just spill over from all of the other projects that seem to be so neglected that the airport looks like it was designed in the 1970's and never got an upgrade.

A2

[uptownliving]

I think a lot of it deals with where the airport is getting its money from. For the past 20 years most of the people using the Charlotte Airport are not local passengers, they are just connecting...and for the past 20 years that is where most of the money has gone at the Charlotte airport to what they call the "airside" of the terminal. The past 20 years have seen almost constant renovation and/or expansion of the airside of the terminal whereas it has just been in recent years that they renovated/expanded the ticketing and baggage claim areas. Now that the local passenger traffic has expanded even more we are starting to see more focus on things that affect local traffic, such as more parking decks, talk of relocating the rental car facilites and expanding/renovating the ticket lobby once again. The website is one of those things used by local traffic passengers, so I would expect to see more focus on the website with the exploading local traffic....

A note to Jerry Orr or one of the Airport Advisory Cmte members would help in expiditing the matter.

[kickazzz2000]

I think a lot of it deals with where the airport is getting its money from. For the past 20 years most of the people using the Charlotte Airport are not local passengers, they are just connecting...and for the past 20 years that is where most of the money has gone at the Charlotte airport to what they call the "airside" of the terminal. The past 20 years have seen almost constant renovation and/or expansion of the airside of the terminal whereas it has just been in recent years that they renovated/expanded the ticketing and baggage claim areas. Now that the local passenger traffic has expanded even more we are starting to see more focus on things that affect local traffic, such as more parking decks, talk of relocating the rental car facilites and expanding/renovating the ticket lobby once again. The website is one of those things used by local traffic passengers, so I would expect to see more focus on the website with the exploading local traffic....

A note to Jerry Orr or one of the Airport Advisory Cmte members would help in expiditing the matter.

I have to disagree with you on one of your points...maybe I am just anal, but if I am connecting through a new airport, I will most certainly check out their website to get a good feel for their terminal layout, what amenities (read:FOOD) are available and where, etc etc etc.

The website is/can/should be a valuable tool to connecting passengers through CLT as well as local passengers.

[monsoon]

In terms of the website, I believe there is a county/city policy that requires departments to go through the Char/Meck portal charmeck.org and that is why it is so lackluster. They are not able to go and create their own websites. So even if Orr wanted to do more with it, he is bound by what the IT department would support. I have heard this mentioned at a CATS meeting when someone questioned why ridetransit.org was so lackluster and why there was never timely information posted on these rail proposals. The CATS official said this was the reason.

[uptownliving]

The website is/can/should be a valuable tool to connecting passengers through CLT as well as local passengers.

I agree and just like you I tend to check out connecting airport's websites when I travel too.

[Miesian Corners]

Just got back from the CLT airport. FIDS monitors are not working...AGAIN!!! On a positive note, all US Airways kiosks are now working.

[TransCorpTech]

I don't know if this has been posted yet but there's FREE WIFI at CLT Douglas now...

[uptownliving]

The (London) Observer recently reported that bmi (British Midland Airways) is considering starting service from Charlotte to London Heathrow. This is all contingent on the US-UK Open Skies agreement getting ratified and service would start Spring '08 at the earliest. This is still a far out possibility but its nice to know that the CEO of a foreign flag carrier is seriously looking at Charlotte.

Article

[moving uptown]

The (London) Observer recently reported that bmi (British Midland Airways) is considering starting service from Charlotte to London Heathrow. This is all contingent on the US-UK Open Skies agreement getting ratified and service would start Spring '08 at the earliest. This is still a far out possibility but its nice to know that the CEO of a foreign flag carrier is seriously looking at Charlotte.

Article

i would love heathrow service! how exciting but the only reason bmi is interested in clt is because of the star alliance membership. we are the southern hub for star alliance in the usa. nevertheless, bring it on (it would be awesome to see the bmi livery in clt)

[uptownliving]

The airport's newest 3,000 space parking deck will open in the next few weeks at a cost of $40M+. This afternoon in a presentation to City Council, Airport Director Jerry Orr stated that they plan to start work on another parking deck. This one will be located at the intersection of Wilkinson and Harlee Ave. It will have 4,000 spaces and will cost about $50M to build. Work is expected to begin this summer on the new deck.

So to summurize in about a 5 year time frame the airport will have added 10,000 parking spaces at a cost of about $120M. I find that stat to be staggering.

Edited March 27, 2007 by uptownliving

[monsoon]

So to summurize in about a 5 year time frame the airport will have added 10,000 parking spaces at a cost of about $120M. I find that stat to be staggering.

I find that to be pretty disappointing. $120M should have been spent in building better transit to the Airport. With just some creative thinking this money could have been leveraged with federal and state funds to go ahead and build some kind of passenger rail to downtown.

[dubone]

That is an unbelievable amount of parking. How much was the estimated cost of the West line? It seems it would be small potatoes given that amount of money for parking. Does that number include the total cost of the new deck that will include the rental cars? I assume there will be reimbursement for most of that from the rental companies.

I must say that I am pleased with the new plan to scrap the people mover within the airport in exchange for having a sizeable percentage of the current shuttle riders walk to their destination. Having a big deck with all the rental car companies a short walk from baggage claim will cut out a lot the shuttle traffic. Granted, it is still a shame that they are walking to collect a rental car, rather than going to their destination by transit. However, I suspect that most people going to a Charlotte destination within 5 or 6 miles would use a cab (a lesser form of transit) rather than rent a car.

[atlrvr]

The arguement about reducing shuttle bus traffic, by bringing the car rental lots inside the deck has seemed an enigma to me. Wouldn't having 1 shuttle bus replaced by 3-4 rented cars actually increase the congestion near the terminal? Perhaps they will be creating a new dedicated exit for the rental cars, but I would think that adding more vehicles driven by people not familiar with the city would be a negative.

[uptownliving]

Does that number include the total cost of the new deck that will include the rental cars? I assume there will be reimbursement for most of that from the rental companies.

That number just includes the 2 3,000 space parking decks built in recent years and the new one on Wilkinson due to start construction this summer.

To redo the parking decks for rental cars close to the terminal could cost close to $100M.

[uptownliving]

The arguement about reducing shuttle bus traffic, by bringing the car rental lots inside the deck has seemed an enigma to me. Wouldn't having 1 shuttle bus replaced by 3-4 rented cars actually increase the congestion near the terminal? Perhaps they will be creating a new dedicated exit for the rental cars, but I would think that adding more vehicles driven by people not familiar with the city would be a negative.

There would be a special exit and entrance for the Rental Cars in the bottom of the parking deck. They will not have to drive all the way up to the terminal to baggage cliam, which is where the traffic chokepoint occurs today. Getting rid of these shuttles will not make a dramatic improvement, but it will help. The shuttles won't be replaced by people driving rental cars...those people are driving the rental cars around the airport today...so the net effect is a loss of the shuttles and the same amount of rental car traffic we have today.

I have used this type setup at several airports in the US and Canada and have found it to be customer friendly. I prefer it over taking a shuttle to the terminal.

[RubberNecker]

I find that to be pretty disappointing. $120M should have been spent in building better transit to the Airport. With just some creative thinking this money could have been leveraged with federal and state funds to go ahead and build some kind of passenger rail to downtown.

Would Charlotte residents really take a connecting train to the airport when parking is only $3 a day? No way would I (living in South Charlotte), lug my family/luggage/etc on a train from South Charlotte to the airport. Takes me 20 minutes door to parking lot via 485 using the "back door" at Wilkinson.

I think a rail to downtown would be a great idea...for business people arriving in Charlotte with downtown as thier final destination. Until parking in Charlotte costs $15+/day (like ALT/PHL), people will continue to drive for thier outgoing flights.

[cltheel.sdl]

It would be great if they could build a monorail from uptown to the airport.

The only good thing about the parking is that the new parking decks look pretty sweet IMO.

Look:

I also think they won an architecture award. If you're gonna build a parking deck, that's the way to do it.

Edited March 27, 2007 by cltheel.sdl

[Miesian Corners]

Traffic on the upper and lower level roadways in front of the terminal has reached the critical point. Furthermore, the ticketing lobby is too narrow with the amount of passengers and new guidelines set forth by TSA. The expansion of ticketing out onto the existing roadway area along with the need for additional lanes for arrivals (baggage) and departures (ticketing) are the two projects I really want to see started ASAP.

In terms of the new parking facilities, I am dumbfounded by the fact they did not install automated pay stations. The fact we have to wait in line to pay a city employee for parking when the parking card already embeds a date/time stamp electronically is rediculous. Why Jerry Orr refuses to bring CLT into the 21st Century (hell, what am I saying...this is 1980s technology), is beyond me. As a point of reference, when the airport opened in 1983, it had auto pay for parking. We've gone backwards.

Edited March 27, 2007 by Miesian Corners

[moving uptown]

the observer picked up the story about bmi giving clt a flight to heathrow - bring it on. with that said i flew usair to gatwick 2 weeks ago and while it was full on the outbound, the return was 50% empty. the flight attendant said next month it would be high season and it would be a full flight. nonetheless, i dont know if we could handle a second daily flight even with our hub status

[Batou]

A few weeks ago when I went to the airport to newark airport (for going to nj and nyc) which is a crappy looking airport but has a cool monorail, I noticed the new parking decks and one of the first things was how cool and spaceage they looked to me. Anyone else think so? Also, the E concourse looks pretty cool and actually had one of those guys in the bathroom that hands you paper towels, do they have this in most of the bathrooms now or is this just in certain areas? And the free wifi is cool, at Newark you have to freakin pay for it

Edited March 28, 2007 by Batou

[atlrvr]

Which parking decks are you referring to? Charlotte's or Newark's? I like both, well, the new ones at each anyway.