Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion

[LKN704]

I also wouldn't be surprised to see the number of airports with enhanced screening procedures increase. 

[CLT2014]

Lufthansa is officially suspending CLT and most destinations in the USA, consolidating to Newark, Chicago, and Washington DC.

https://newsroom.lufthansagroup.com/english/newsroom/all/lufthansa-group-airlines-continue-operating-to-the-usa/s/24099896-cc12-419f-86d4-3fd32dd3d337

The Lufthansa Group will continue operating flights from Frankfurt to Chicago and Newark (New York), from Zurich to Chicago and Newark (New York), from Vienna to Chicago, and from Brussels to Washington beyond 14 March, thus maintaining at least some air traffic connections to the USA from Europe. The airlines are currently working on an alternative flight schedule for the USA. Passengers will still be able to reach all destinations within the USA via the U.S. hubs and connecting flights served by partner airline, United Airlines.

In addition, all other U.S. flights will be suspended until further notice due to U.S. administration restrictions, including all departures from Munich, Düsseldorf and Geneva. The Lufthansa Group will continue to serve  all destinations in Canada until further notice.

[TCLT]

AA canceled the CLT-Germany flights from tomorrow. Tonight is the last departure.

[TCLT]

Latest schedule updates. Massive transatlantic reductions as expected plus suspension of Argentina and some other South America flying. CLT will be down to just LHR and I wouldn’t be surprised to see our frequency drop in the coming days/weeks.

http://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2020/American-Airlines-Announces-Additional-Schedule-Changes-in-Response-to-Customer-Demand-Related-to-Covid-19-031220-OPS-DIS-03/default.aspx

[Skyybutter]

As a former Flight Attendant that lived through 9/11 and UsAirways bankruptcies and furloughs..... this Corona virus could potentially throw a few airlines into bankruptcy or liquidation, not to mention the THOUSANDS of Pilot and Flight Attendants who will probably be furloughed anytime now. What a nightmare...

[a2theb]

5 hours ago, Skyybutter said:

As a former Flight Attendant that lived through 9/11 and UsAirways bankruptcies and furloughs..... this Corona virus could potentially throw a few airlines into bankruptcy or liquidation, not to mention the THOUSANDS of Pilot and Flight Attendants who will probably be furloughed anytime now. What a nightmare...

I think we will see some chapter 11s and restructures but I am under the assumption that the 3 legacy carriers would be propped up by government support should their situation get too dire. 

[Skyybutter]

6 hours ago, a2theb said:

I think we will see some chapter 11s and restructures but I am under the assumption that the 3 legacy carriers would be propped up by government support should their situation get too dire. 

I hope the management doesn't gut the F/A and Pilot pay that they have worked so hard to get back. Tragic if that happens. Your right about the legacy airlines and the government. 

[xapostrophe]

33 minutes ago, Skyybutter said:

I hope the management doesn't gut the F/A and Pilot pay that they have worked so hard to get back. Tragic if that happens. Your right about the legacy airlines and the government. 

That would be a rough time. 20 years later and we have the same dollar amount part rates we did in the late 90s. No adjustment for inflation.   This industry has taken an epic bath over and over and over.

[Skyybutter]

Lawyer up is my advice to all airline work groups. No doubt that Dave and Co. at AA will do their best to reverse everything back to America Worst times. Those poor AW folks had been whipped into submission to the point that they thought anything extra was a gift, when in reality the PHX fas were on food stamps. My heart goes out to Legacy US employees especially. I rest my case.

[gman430]

UK and Ireland ban to take effect. There goes my trip to London.  

[CLT2014]

Trump also alluded today to a domestic ban from "certain areas." San Francisco and Seattle I'd say would be first up, with NYC and Boston possibly sneaking in.

[kermit]

3 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

Trump also alluded today to a domestic ban from "certain areas." San Francisco and Seattle I'd say would be first up, with NYC and Boston possibly sneaking in.

going to be real interesting to see what that will look like...

[TCLT]

Further cuts from AA:
http://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2020/American-Airlines-Announces-Additional-Schedule-Changes-in-Response-to-Customer-Demand-Related-to-COVID-19-031420-OPS-DIS-03/default.aspx

CLT long haul is eliminated. AA’s long haul network as of 3/23 will consist of 1x daily DFW-LHR, 1x daily MIA-LHR, and 3x weekly DFW-NRT. Domestic capacity will be cut 20% in April and 30% in May.

With this still escalating I doubt these are the end of the domestic cuts. The airlines are in crisis and it’s getting worse daily.

Edited March 15, 2020 by TCLT
fixed the link

[urbanlover568]

Wow

 

KLM lays off between 1,500 and 2,000 staff; drastically reduces capacity; phases out Boeing 747-400

 

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/air-france-klm-group/klm-royal-dutch-airlines/lays-off-between-1500-and-2000-staff-drastically-reduces-capacity-phases-out-boeing-747-400/amp/

[U_R_]

Delta will park as many as 300 planes and cut its seating capacity by 40% in the next few months as demand evaporates. That’s the biggest reduction in company history, including after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he said.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-03-13/delta-cuts-flights-coronavirus

[CLT704]

^ It is going to be interesting to see whether all of our TATL flight come back next year or at all. Whilst demand will return after coronavirus, it’s going to be a slow return- i.e. won’t spring back over night- so it’ll be interesting to see whether routes like Barcelona and Rome will return at all. London and the Germany flights will return but I think the others are up in the air. It’s so sad for the industry and for CLT airport

Edited March 15, 2020 by CLT704

[kermit]

3 hours ago, CLT704 said:

^ It is going to be interesting to see whether all of our TATL flight come back next year or at all. Whilst demand will return after coronavirus, it’s going to be a slow return- i.e. won’t spring back over night- so it’ll be interesting to see whether routes like Barcelona and Rome will return at all. London and the Germany flights will return but I think the others are up in the air. It’s so sad for the industry and for CLT airport

Its going to be interesting from a long-term economic perspective as well. I would guess that, in the aftermath of the virus, European firms will want to beef up their permanent overseas office staff rather than servicing global markets by parachuting in. As we know,  Charlotte would be a very competitive location for a new East Coast office, but that is only true  if European flights are available. While its a trivial concern now, I think CLT not being an ‘approved airport’ for international entry from Europe might be seen as a long-term flag for European businesses who may be more focused on the reliability of connections to the home office.

[I am not suggesting that its a horrible mistake that CLT was not chosen as an approved entry airport. I understand why that choice was made by DHS]

Edited March 15, 2020 by kermit

[Rufus]

I wonder if it's a blessing in disguise that we hadn't yet beefed up our TATL network since the AA merger. I would think CLT still benefits as domestic hub, which is still attractive to TATL routes, but maybe not a glamorous set. And, with the corporate presence here, I would say we are still guaranteed LHR, CDG, FRA, and MUC.

My hope is that AA and the airport still focus on building the airport per the masterplan just in case. While a limited TATL isn't great, being a massive throughput domestic hub means having an airport that optimizes connections. 

[LKN704]

Quite frankly I think for several weeks the current administration mistook COVID19 as a "Asian" disease, something that was going on "over there" and wasn't expected to grow and spread like the way it did. The screening program was only designed to screen arriving passengers from China/Korea, and not Europe. That's why you see the massive backlog at DFW today. An airport like PHL (or CLT) never had a screening program in place because those airports don't have any arrivals from Asia. 

I ended my trip in Hong Kong early just because I was concerned about getting stuck in Hong Kong. I decided to come to CLT to spend some time with my parents and family. The flight from LAX to CLT was PACKED and oversold. The Cathay flight attendants were wearing gloves and masks but the AA flight attendants were simply wearing their hideous new uniform. I didn't see any ridiculous-ness at the airport other than a family at the gate in LAX with two young children maybe 3&5, and the entire family was wearing surgical masks and gloves. They took the masks off and started eating Doritos but then kept their dirty gloves on whilst eating the Doritos and then when they were done eating THEY PUT THE SAME MASKS ON AND TOUCHED THEIR FACE WITH THE SAME DIRTY GLOVES. Crazy.  

I wiped down the tray table during all my flights and didn't eat anything on the LAX-CLT segment (for some reason I trusted Cathay to have a cleaner plane than AA) but in general I was more concerned about the people around me...the man in the aisle seat unfolded the tray table and slept right on it (without cleaning it) and the boy in the middle seat spilled half of the bag of AA pretzels on the table and proceeded to eat it.

I didn't think CLT was any less busy or anything. 

My two cents is that the seasonal routes won't make an appearance this year. Going forward MUC I am not sure about given LH seems they are committed to the market and I doubt there is room for two carriers. I would bet that all seasonal markets come back during 2021. Americans have a short attention span and will likely to be just as eager to take grandma and the kids to Rome in June 2021. 

Edited March 15, 2020 by LKN704

[Hushpuppy321]

On 3/14/2020 at 1:28 PM, gman430 said:

UK and Ireland ban to take effect. There goes my trip to London.  

I feel your pain.  My trip to Paris next week is gone too.  No trip insurance......,

[TCLT]

Here is the latest from United and it is grim.

https://mobile.twitter.com/krisvancleave/status/1239363677087830016

 

In the letter, they say “even if it gets worse from here and demand temporarily plummets to zero.” To me that’s telegraphing (or at the very least mentally preparing their employees for) a complete shutdown of passenger air travel. I could see that happening by the end of this week. Whether that happens or not, CLT and all airports are going to be very quiet for quite some time and many thousands of people are going to be out of a job.

 

I expect we’ll hear more from American on Monday.

[urbanlover568]

8 hours ago, TCLT said:

Here is the latest from United and it is grim.

https://mobile.twitter.com/krisvancleave/status/1239363677087830016

 

In the letter, they say “even if it gets worse from here and demand temporarily plummets to zero.” To me that’s telegraphing (or at the very least mentally preparing their employees for) a complete shutdown of passenger air travel. I could see that happening by the end of this week. Whether that happens or not, CLT and all airports are going to be very quiet for quite some time and many thousands of people are going to be out of a job.

 

I expect we’ll hear more from American on Monday.

Pretty sure we will be looking at a recession very soon if not a depression as A2 noted if this continues. Prepare your households financially now.

[Matthew.Brendan]

"very soon" indeed. lol.

[Tyrone Wiggum]

A few observations from around the Intrawebs:

1) The recession is a foregone conclusion;

2) Most of the airlines will be in Chapter 11 Reorganization by early summer at the latest;

3) Airline travel may be permanently reduced (I guess nothing in business is "permanent," but for the foreseeable future) as the result of global growth no longer responding to monetary policy AND the potential for infection.

My question is: what does it mean for CLT?  Let's say we see a 10% reduction in air travel, annualized, for the next five years; what do?

[TCLT]

3 minutes ago, Tyrone Wiggum said:

A few observations from around the Intrawebs:

1) The recession is a foregone conclusion;

2) Most of the airlines will be in Chapter 11 Reorganization by early summer at the latest;

3) Airline travel may be permanently reduced (I guess nothing in business is "permanent," but for the foreseeable future) as the result of global growth no longer responding to monetary policy AND the potential for infection.

My question is: what does it mean for CLT?  Let's say we see a 10% reduction in air travel, annualized, for the next five years; what do?

I think it's obvious the recession has already begun. March alone is going to be enough to put the first quarter into contraction and there's not going to be relief in time to save Q2.

Just using United's numbers, which should be indicative of what everyone is seeing, their revenue for March is going to be $1.5 billion lower than last year. Demand hasn't even bottomed yet and flight restrictions haven't peaked. The losses are going to escalate month over month for probably the next quarter at least. The big 3 airlines generated about $11 billion in revenue per quarter last year so they're looking at somewhere in the region of 50% revenue decline and that's assuming the situation doesn't deteriorate further. That level of decline is clearly a shock that no business can prepare for. Chapter 11 is inevitable absent an unprecedented government intervention. Either way, demand is going to be so suppressed that mass layoffs aren't going to be avoided even if the government injects money.

I don't think we'll see passenger number match or exceed 2019 for at least 3 years. All of the airlines are going to come out of this smaller (both in terms of employees and aircraft) and with significantly more debt most likely. As far as the airport goes, there's a good chance any projects CLT hasn't started yet are deferred indefinitely (a.k.a. 4th parallel, B/C concourse extensions, A North phase 2). The growth that was forecast isn't coming and cash preservation is going to be paramount for the foreseeable future.