Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion

[CLT704]

As of today, this summer we're keeping CLT-London x2 and CLT-Munich; everything else- including Frankfurt to my surprise- has been cut. FRA returns in November. 

It would not surprise me if our summer schedule next year is LHR x2, FRA and MUC alone; MAD, CDG and DUB could be added back if demand springs back fairly quickly.

By the looks of it, with the exception of LHR and MAD, AA is selecting one hub to fly to Euro destinations: so CLT has been favoured for Munich and DFW for Frankfurt. Some destinations like Prague have been cut completely and the new flights won't start.

Edited April 2, 2020 by CLT704

[davidclt]

On 3/29/2020 at 8:25 PM, xapostrophe said:

Most of the passengers have been basic economy lately

Does this seem like something American Airlines would do?

American Airlines crammed the only 11 passengers on a flight into 3 rows because they only bought basic economy, report says
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-american-airlines-forced-3-rows-didnt-buy-upgrade-2020-4

[TCLT]

20 minutes ago, davidclt said:

Does this seem like something American Airlines would do?

American Airlines crammed the only 11 passengers on a flight into 3 rows because they only bought basic economy, report says
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-american-airlines-forced-3-rows-didnt-buy-upgrade-2020-4

That definitely wouldn't be an airline policy, but I could believe an overzealous agent could've told them that before other FAs on the flight allowed common sense to prevail. Remember that basic economy is not in any way tied to specific seat locations. The ticket could come with any main cabin seat.

[LKN704]

CLT-LHR/MUC returns 7 July, but 2x daily service to LHR doesn't resume until October 2020, if it ever comes back at all.

Other than PHX, LHR service resumes to all other stations (RDU included) on 4 June. 

I wonder if CLT-bookings were hit especially hard, or it just goes to show how weak CLT O/D demand is to Europe. A couple of years ago RDU had higher O/D levels to London than CLT did. 

PHL was hit especially hard, but I think that has more to do that it was designated as an official COVID screening port of entry more so than anything, just in case travel picks up but regulations don't change. I suspect that may have impacted CLT as well.

They haven't removed the second LHR flight and the A333 is still displayed in the system. 

Lot's of other goodness in this press release: http://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2020/American-Airlines-Announces-Summer-Schedule-Changes-to-Match-Reduced-Customer-Demand-Related-to-COVID-19-OPS-DIS-04/default.aspx

[CLT704]

^Sad but expected. On an interesting and confusing note, DFW-Munich is listed in both the resumption and suspended sections. 
 

The difference in dates re London is somewhat concerning. On LHR, any insight into whether the 333 retirements are with immediate effect? If so, I’d guess 332.
 

With the apparent low demand on LHR, a BA 787-8 might be a better fit on the second flight with only 214 seats compared to 291 on the 333 or 247 on the 332. Or an AA 787-8 with 234 might work? 

I personally don’t expect all the flights to come back next summer but who really knows. AA appears to imply that they will at least load all the expected flights into the system but we shall see where demand is at. 

 

Edited April 2, 2020 by CLT704

[LKN704]

^Given the lack of TATL flying this season, I would bet that the 332 covers all CLT flying from here on out. I doubt AA would want to introduce a new fleet type into CLT when they have spare A332s likely to go around. 

 

[CLT704]

6 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

^Given the lack of TATL flying this season, I would bet that the 332 covers all CLT flying from here on out. I doubt AA would want to introduce a new fleet type into CLT when they have spare A332s likely to go around. 

 

Yes, that’s what I initially said a few pages back.
 

More than enough for both CLT and Philly (especially when you throw in the 78s). Starting to feel like the good ol’ days with our one flight to London and one flight to Germany. 
 

Hey at least they can refurbish the FIS more easily now. 

[LKN704]

It looks like LH is showing CLT-MUC tentatively resuming on 4 May with a A346. I find that to be extremely optimistic and wouldn't be surprised if that gets pushed back and/or down-gauged. 

[15895]

Mistake me if I’m wrong, 

 

but looks like CLT AA flights are going down by nearly 70% (just a guesstimate on my behalf.)

 

I think I read only Dallas and Charlotte will be acting as hubs and the others (DC National, Chicago, Philly, etc)  will primarily Be hub to hub only flights? 

[CLT2014]

17 hours ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

Mistake me if I’m wrong, 

but looks like CLT AA flights are going down by nearly 70% (just a guesstimate on my behalf.)

I think I read only Dallas and Charlotte will be acting as hubs and the others (DC National, Chicago, Philly, etc)  will primarily Be hub to hub only flights? 

PHL, ORD, MIA, and PHX will maintain some connectivity as well. Los Angeles, Washington DC, and New York were basically cut to spokes.

For the next 30 days, American is only operating 13 flights to the entire New York area, with 4 of those flights to CLT (from AA below):

LGA, JFK and EWR will only operate from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET as turn-only operations with no aircraft or crews remaining overnight at these
three airports. The limited number of flights we will operate will have capacity restrictions in place to maintain social distancing onboard each
aircraft. These flights will be crewed by those from bases outside of New York and will require fewer of our New York colleagues on the
ground to serve customers and colleagues during this suspension period.

Here is an overview of the temporary schedule:
• LGA: Two daily flights to CLT and DFW. One daily flight to BOS, ORD, MIA and DCA.
• JFK: One daily flight to DFW, CLT and MIA.
• EWR: One daily flight to DFW and CLT. EWR - ORD service will be suspended on April 9.

Edited April 6, 2020 by CLT2014

[urbanlover568]

United States and Canada Are About To Announce The Shutdown Of Their Airspace

 

https://www.fliegerfaust.com/airline-news---2645648431.html

[gman430]

4 minutes ago, urbanlover568 said:

United States and Canada Are About To Announce The Shutdown Of Their Airspace

 

https://www.fliegerfaust.com/airline-news---2645648431.html

According to sources huh? Lol. I highly doubt any of that article is true. Probably written by somebody who thinks the virus is caused by 5G cell phone towers.

Edited April 7, 2020 by gman430

[urbanlover568]

1 minute ago, gman430 said:

According to sources huh? Lol. I highly doubt any of that article is true. Probably written by somebody who thinks the virus is caused by 5G cell phone towers.

Here we go with some more "fake news" bs.  

[CLT2014]

The airlines would probably love this. Part of the stimulus funds going to airlines has required them to maintain at least one flight, 5 days per week to each domestic destination. This is requiring them to fly empty planes to qualify for bailout money. An airline can meet this requirement by cutting a destination (say Greensboro for example) from flights to Dallas, Charlotte, Chicago, and DC and cut it to 1 flight, five times per week to Charlotte to maintain Greensboro as a destination in the network. 

This scenario is exemplified by American's "part-time" hub schedule below to meet minimum service requirements at many airports. There is still some room to cut which will probably happen as they get a better idea of how bad the May bookings are gonna be.

AA May schedule by hub
Core hubs in May, 7 days a week
DFW: From 9 banks to 5, 900+ flights to just 415 per day
CLT: From 9 banks to 4, 700 flights to just 315 per day

Reduced to part-time hubs to meet stimulus req:
MIA: 150 flights 6 days per week, 31 flights per day 1 day a week
ORD: 159 flights per day 5 days a week, 25 flights per day 2 days a week
PHL: 126 flights per day 5 days a week, 25 flights per day 2 days a week
PHX: 85 flights per day 5 days a week, 22 flights per day 2 days a week

De-hubbed temporarily:
JFK: 11 flights per day
DCA: 31 flights per day
LAX: 31 flights per day
LGA: 25 flights per day

Edited April 7, 2020 by CLT2014

[gman430]

1 minute ago, CLT2014 said:

The airlines would probably love this. Part of the stimulus funds going to airlines has required them to maintain service at least one flight, 5 days per week to each domestic destination. This is requiring them to fly empty planes to qualify for bailout money. An airline can meet their requirement by cutting a destination (say Greensboro for example) from flights to Dallas, Charlotte, Chicago, and DC and cut it to 1 flight, five times per week to Charlotte to maintain Greensboro as a destination in the network. 

Frontier is doing something like that here at GSP. Lol. They took away Denver and now fly five days a week to Orlando only. 

[csweet]

20 hours ago, CLT2014 said:

The airlines would probably love this. Part of the stimulus funds going to airlines has required them to maintain at least one flight, 5 days per week to each domestic destination. This is requiring them to fly empty planes to qualify for bailout money. An airline can meet this requirement by cutting a destination (say Greensboro for example) from flights to Dallas, Charlotte, Chicago, and DC and cut it to 1 flight, five times per week to Charlotte to maintain Greensboro as a destination in the network. 

This scenario is exemplified by American's "part-time" hub schedule below to meet minimum service requirements at many airports. There is still some room to cut which will probably happen as they get a better idea of how bad the May bookings are gonna be.

AA May schedule by hub
Core hubs in May, 7 days a week
DFW: From 9 banks to 5, 900+ flights to just 415 per day
CLT: From 9 banks to 4, 700 flights to just 315 per day

Reduced to part-time hubs to meet stimulus req:
MIA: 150 flights 6 days per week, 31 flights per day 1 day a week
ORD: 159 flights per day 5 days a week, 25 flights per day 2 days a week
PHL: 126 flights per day 5 days a week, 25 flights per day 2 days a week
PHX: 85 flights per day 5 days a week, 22 flights per day 2 days a week

De-hubbed temporarily:
JFK: 11 flights per day
DCA: 31 flights per day
LAX: 31 flights per day
LGA: 25 flights per day

Honestly though, this is a good look for CLT. In these times, being in the top 2 AA hubs is great news. 

[CLTaviation13]

We should be very thankful for the level of service AA is providing in these harsh times. Quite frankly, CLT/DFW are the best hubs to keep operating to an extent due to the myriad of destinations the combined hubs cover. 

Keeping my fingers crossed LH  comes in on May 4th to get some pictures!

Edited April 8, 2020 by JetBlueCLT

[U_R_]

On 4/6/2020 at 9:02 AM, CLT2014 said:

PHL, ORD, MIA, and PHX will maintain some connectivity as well. Los Angeles, Washington DC, and New York were basically cut to spokes.

For the next 30 days, American is only operating 13 flights to the entire New York area, with 4 of those flights to CLT (from AA below):

LGA, JFK and EWR will only operate from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET as turn-only operations with no aircraft or crews remaining overnight at these
three airports. The limited number of flights we will operate will have capacity restrictions in place to maintain social distancing onboard each
aircraft. These flights will be crewed by those from bases outside of New York and will require fewer of our New York colleagues on the
ground to serve customers and colleagues during this suspension period.

Here is an overview of the temporary schedule:
• LGA: Two daily flights to CLT and DFW. One daily flight to BOS, ORD, MIA and DCA.
• JFK: One daily flight to DFW, CLT and MIA.
• EWR: One daily flight to DFW and CLT. EWR - ORD service will be suspended on April 9.

That's surprising how much AA is reducing its schedule in NY. Does anyone know why this is a lot more than Delta's reduction?

[CLT>]

On 4/2/2020 at 6:24 PM, LKN704 said:

CLT-LHR/MUC returns 7 July, but 2x daily service to LHR doesn't resume until October 2020, if it ever comes back at all.

 

October is the date that LHR gave airlines to leave their slots unprotected, if they don't fly their slots they lose them beginning again in October, but I'm sure that's subject to change as well. It took a while for Heathrow to relent and let carriers stop flying empty 'ghost flights'

[gman430]

The Transportation Security Administration screened just 97,130 people at U.S. airports on Tuesday, a record daily low and the latest sign of near-absent travel demand because of the coronavirus pandemic and measures to contain it like stay-at-home orders. 

The decline in air travel is giving whiplash to an industry that was boasting record numbers of travelers last year. Tuesday’s figure is down 95% from a year ago, TSA says.

[TCLT]

That's surprising how much AA is reducing its schedule in NY. Does anyone know why this is a lot more than Delta's reduction?

The most likely reason is that delta simply hasn’t done it yet. I’d say wait until the end of the weekend when schedule updates are published before seeing this as anything other than timing.

[U_R_]

1 hour ago, TCLT said:

The most likely reason is that delta simply hasn’t done it yet. I’d say wait until the end of the weekend when schedule updates are published before seeing this as anything other than timing.

I’m pretty sure Delta has updated their schedule, but they might increase the severity of the cuts. I think right now they have around 50 flights scheduled to all of the NYC airports so they could very well reduce the number of flights.

[TCLT]

I’m pretty sure Delta has updated their schedule, but they might increase the severity of the cuts. I think right now they have around 50 flights scheduled to all of the NYC airports so they could very well reduce the number of flights.

Oh absolutely they have each weekend for the last couple weeks and each time pulling more out. AA also pushed their May updates this past weekend but then made the additional NYC pull down for April on Sunday night. All I’m saying is that I doubt Delta is done making cuts. At the very least expect them to continue to do significant day of cancels over and above the scheduled cuts like all the airlines have been doing.

[U_R_]

2 hours ago, TCLT said:

Oh absolutely they have each weekend for the last couple weeks and each time pulling more out. AA also pushed their May updates this past weekend but then made the additional NYC pull down for April on Sunday night. All I’m saying is that I doubt Delta is done making cuts. At the very least expect them to continue to do significant day of cancels over and above the scheduled cuts like all the airlines have been doing.

It seems like Delta has been zeroing out flights then cancelling them them which has caused a few delays  in past schedule updates. 

[a2theb]

Any clue where I can find the 3 major's route cuts online in some sort of open data source?