Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion

[BarrenLucidity]

7 hours ago, CLTramper said:

I'm not 100 percent sure but has the E concourse expansion gone vertical?

E expansion is going to be a bit elevated to allow for larger planes and jetways. I would guess 319s are gonna be shuffled down there... A lot of CLT flights are going to be upgauged by AA. 

[LKN704]

13 hours ago, BarrenLucidity said:

E expansion is going to be a bit elevated to allow for larger planes and jetways. I would guess 319s are gonna be shuffled down there... A lot of CLT flights are going to be upgauged by AA. 

I think the plan is to have all American Eagle flights operated by Embraer 175s to utilize the new "elevated" E gates. This would allow all Eagle operations to be under one Concourse, and all mainline operations to be on A/B/C/D. 

I could be wrong, but I don't think mainline flights can contractually be operated out of E because of staffing. IIRC, all agents/ops on the E concourse are handled by Piedmont Airlines, while all agents/ops on A/B/C/D are handled by mainline AA employees. 

[xapostrophe]

59 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

I think the plan is to have all American Eagle flights operated by Embraer 175s to utilize the new "elevated" E gates. This would allow all Eagle operations to be under one Concourse, and all mainline operations to be on A/B/C/D. 

I could be wrong, but I don't think mainline flights can contractually be operated out of E because of staffing. IIRC, all agents/ops on the E concourse are handled by Piedmont Airlines, while all agents/ops on A/B/C/D are handled by mainline AA employees. 

You are 100% correct.   

 

If anyone remembers years ago they tried to have the Mesa crj 900s on b/c Gates and that didn't last long.  The idea is to move all regional planes down to e.

[Miesian Corners]

Looks like LHR and MUC won’t be reinstated next month as planned. The U.S. government isn’t backing off reopening CBP offices in airports like CLT. 

[CLTaviation13]

Most of you won't care about this lol...but JetBlue will be flying an A320 next month from Boston(1x daily)

Me personally, hoping to see one of their special liveries come in. 

FDNY,  I heart NY,  JetBlue Vacation,  New York International  (Retro),  NYPD,  Brooklyn Nets,  Boston Bruins,  Boston Celtics, and Vets in Blue are still active. I may have missed a few but that should be most of them.

[BarrenLucidity]

2 hours ago, JetBlueCLT said:

Most of you won't care about this lol...but JetBlue will be flying an A320 next month from Boston(1x daily)

Me personally, hoping to see one of their special liveries come in. 

FDNY,  I heart NY,  JetBlue Vacation,  New York International  (Retro),  NYPD,  Brooklyn Nets,  Boston Bruins,  Boston Celtics, and Vets in Blue are still active. I may have missed a few but that should be most of them.

I'd quit AA in a heartbeat if I could book Mint direct from CLT. 

[CLTaviation13]

1 minute ago, BarrenLucidity said:

I'd quit AA in a heartbeat if I could book Mint direct from CLT. 

Mint is fantastic! Had a chance to fly it from JFK-LAX, amazing experience.  

[tozmervo]

TIL that jetblue has a premium class called "Mint."

[Miesian Corners]

LHR and MUC now scheduled to resume August 5. 

[LKN704]

I am assuming this is related to CLT not being designated as an approved port of entry for COVID screening. That said, I am confused about the "designated" screening airports for COVID. Are they strictly looking for inbound travelers arriving from Europe and Asia? 

Today at CLT, I see the following inbound international arrivals scheduled: 

1. AA737 from Cancun

2. AA895 from Cancun

3. AA9777 from San Salvador (I assume this is a maintenance repositioning flight)

4. AA5350 from Montreal

5. AA5665 from Toronto

6. AA2943 from Toronto

Granted the Canadian flights use preclearance at their departure airport and arrive as inbound US Domestic flights (though arrival airports are still required to have CBP, in case of an audit or issue, as happened on my YYZ-CLT flight years ago where officials thought someone was able to bypass CBP at Toronto and everyone had to be reprocessed upon arrival at CLT). But the Mexican flights will have to be processed at FIS in Charlotte. 

What is stopping someone from flying London-Mexico City and then transiting through to Charlotte? I'd imagine Mexico City (as most airports outside the US) allows for sterile international to international transit without clearing Mexican passport control. 

[CLT2014]

48 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

I am assuming this is related to CLT not being designated as an approved port of entry for COVID screening. That said, I am confused about the "designated" screening airports for COVID. Are they strictly looking for inbound travelers arriving from Europe and Asia? 

Granted the Canadian flights use preclearance at their departure airport and arrive as inbound US Domestic flights (though arrival airports are still required to have CBP, in case of an audit or issue, as happened on my YYZ-CLT flight years ago where officials thought someone was able to bypass CBP at Toronto and everyone had to be reprocessed upon arrival at CLT). But the Mexican flights will have to be processed at FIS in Charlotte. 

What is stopping someone from flying London-Mexico City and then transiting through to Charlotte? I'd imagine Mexico City (as most airports outside the US) allows for sterile international to international transit without clearing Mexican passport control. 

Yes, the restriction is largely applicable to Europe, Asia, and Brazil. There are no exceptions for non-American citizens that have been in those locations. However, there is an exception for Canada and Mexico where certain "essential" travel reasons are permitted, hence there are still some flights between those destinations and the USA.

For customers doing an international to international connection, the airline is responsible for re-booking that passenger. Air Mexico for example should not be selling that itinerary right now and is responsible for removing those routes from their reservation system or the TSA / CBP will contact them in advance of the flight.
“To minimize disruptions to travelers, TSA, CBP, and air carriers are working to identify qualifying passengers before their scheduled flights. These passengers will be rerouted to one of the 15 airports by their airline at no cost to them.”
https://www.dhs.gov/coronavirus/protecting-air-travelers-and-american-public

Edited June 4, 2020 by CLT2014

[kermit]

58 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

What is stopping someone from flying London-Mexico City and then transiting through to Charlotte? I'd imagine Mexico City (as most airports outside the US) allows for sterile international to international transit without clearing Mexican passport control. 

They were just tweets but I certainly heard a bunch about people flying from China to Mexico and then into the US (without any questions when entering) when the China flight ban was initially implemented.

[LKN704]

Landed in CLT from DC this afternoon. CLT seems busier than two weeks prior. You couldn't exit the Sterile area from the B Checkpoint last time, but this time that exit has reopened. The atrium was pretty well packed and front the looks of it most food locations were open. Still though, my flight arrived at B11 and the concourse was relatively clear until you got to B1-B3. Some of the food locations on the concourse had reopened as well. Admirals Club is still closed but I think will be opening within the next few weeks. 

I noticed that they had started to change some of the signage around the airport in non-renovated areas to match the new signage present on A/B/C, particularly in the baggage claim area. While I doubt it, I do hope they keep the large compass signs somehow at the entrance to the Concourses, it is part of the CLT branding experience for me. 

Bathrooms in B were absolutely disgusting and smelly, so I used the app to complain. Most of the mirrors seemed to have scratchitti etched into it. Guess its why we can't have nice things. To be fair though, the only airports that I have ever seen nice bathrooms were all in Asia. Europe on the other hand....the bathrooms both in the Frankfurt and Geneva Airport make the public restrooms at Carowinds look like the Ritz...

[15895]

8 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

Landed in CLT from DC this afternoon. CLT seems busier than two weeks prior. You couldn't exit the Sterile area from the B Checkpoint last time, but this time that exit has reopened. The atrium was pretty well packed and front the looks of it most food locations were open. Still though, my flight arrived at B11 and the concourse was relatively clear until you got to B1-B3. Some of the food locations on the concourse had reopened as well. Admirals Club is still closed but I think will be opening within the next few weeks. 

I noticed that they had started to change some of the signage around the airport in non-renovated areas to match the new signage present on A/B/C, particularly in the baggage claim area. While I doubt it, I do hope they keep the large compass signs somehow at the entrance to the Concourses, it is part of the CLT branding experience for me. 

Bathrooms in B were absolutely disgusting and smelly, so I used the app to complain. Most of the mirrors seemed to have scratchitti etched into it. Guess its why we can't have nice things. To be fair though, the only airports that I have ever seen nice bathrooms were all in Asia. Europe on the other hand....the bathrooms both in the Frankfurt and Geneva Airport make the public restrooms at Carowinds look like the Ritz...

I’ve been flying DCA-CLT every 3 weeks. DCA is still so dead, CLT has been picking up. The airport is still pretty busy despite the massive cuts. Probably busier than Raleigh before Covid. 
 

right now, it’s so amazing to go to Charlotte and have some sense of normalcy. I’ve gone to Carolina Beach, ate at Fahrenheit and other favorites, Hot Taco, some breweries. Go back to DC, still pretty much completely shut down, then We had curfew starting at 7pm for a couple nights. Ugh! I swear, between Covid shutdowns, government shutdowns, protest, this city stays shut down 

 

Edited June 5, 2020 by AirNostrumMAD

[LKN704]

17 minutes ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

I’ve been flying DCA-CLT every 3 weeks. DCA is still so dead, CLT has been picking up. The airport is still pretty busy despite the massive cuts. Probably busier than Raleigh before Covid. 
 

right now, it’s so amazing to go to Charlotte and have some sense of normalcy. I’ve gone to Carolina Beach, ate at Fahrenheit and other favorites, Hot Taco, some breweries. Go back to DC, still pretty much completely shut down, then We had curfew starting at 7pm for a couple nights. Ugh! I swear, between Covid shutdowns, government shutdowns, protest, this city stays shut down 

 

Yeah the difference between DC/Charlotte is like night/day.

Today and last week everyone had masks on at DCA, whereas no-one really had masks on in CLT. When I landed at DCA last week my flight from CLT was the only one arriving for the next couple of hours. It was quite sad to see how dead the usually-busy National Hall at DCA was.

There were plenty of planes lying around at CLT today, but I likely arrived in the "valley" of AA's departure banks, which explains how quite it was.

I had dinner with my parents at this place by their house and it appeared to be business as usual. Meanwhile I went out to eat in Woodley Park in DC the other day and it was outside seating only with everything disposable (the menus were also printed on copy paper and they trashed them after people left) and we weren't allowed to go to the bathroom inside. 

[LKN704]

Didn't see any of these virtual tours of the Ticketing Lobby expansion  posted, so I thought it would be a good idea to share:

Domestic Arrivals (looks like they will be installing the automatic exit gates commonplace in Europe which eliminate the need for a TSA Agent to staff the exit area): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg8zL3jSpuk

West Terminal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gSS_bWjtbk

Central Lobby (notice the British Airways ticket counter, which I am sure they had to get rights to use): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HloRVMSTv0Q

East Terminal (appears the Lufthansa ticketing area will be relocated towards the current Checkpoint E): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AelJjrCEy0

Pedestrian Bridges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEHMNmDizRQ

Bag Claim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j774vHtEC8

Curbside: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdZIfqq_OPs

Queens Court: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTbVqngNhNI

 

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by LKN704

[LKN704]

At CLT waiting to go back to DC. 

Concourse C is pretty packed. It looks like they added the 8p-9p bank back, because I don’t remember seeing my 9pm DC flight scheduled a couple of weeks ago. 

My flight appears pretty empty, but by the amount of gate lice present at the other gates on the Concourse it looks like loads are starting to pick by up. I overheard an announcement saying that they were looking for volunteers for an Omaha flight. 
 

I didn’t realize that renovations weren’t completed for the C gates. A lot of ceiling tiles are still missing and the low C gates still don’t have the new seating with power outlets. 

[CLT2014]

American's average load factor at CLT has hit ~70% in June so the data definitely backs up the terminal starting to come back to life. This % is higher than systemwide as AA focuses on routing a bigger percentage of their traffic through DFW and CLT than ever. PHL for example is only posting ~50% loads in June.

Edited June 12, 2020 by CLT2014

[videtur quam contuor]

I drove to the airport overlook Sunday afternoon and saw there was steady traffic heading south on 180 runway, incoming and outgoing. There was a line of craft to depart on taxiway. It was more than I had expected. They have done some work in the overlook area with a curb around an island in the gravel lot and some horticultural planting to give it a less drab appearance. It also steers traffic flow.

[LKN704]

Have a connection in CLT today.

Everyone at CLT seems to be wearing masks (more so than at DCA this morning), and for the first time ever I saw families all suited up wearing Tyvek plastic coveralls and full-blown 3M respirators. Airport seems to the busiest I have seen it in the past month, and it seems that more international flights seem to be operating. At a quick glance, I saw flights to Los Cabos and Montego Bay. 

There were some "CLT Security" guards stationed throughout the Atrium, I am guessing to ensure mask compliance? They weren't armed or anything, just we wearing a black polo shirt with a uniform vest and a walkie talkie.

They have these new-ish announcements that were likely added in anticipation of the RNC from Vi Lyles playing welcoming folks to the "15th largest city in the country" that is a "big city with a small town feel" that is "home to the Carolina Panthers and the newest MLS team". 

[Matthew.Brendan]

"15th largest city in the country" Charlotte is so freaking insecure.

What a nonsense thing to boast? about. Quick who's 14? 13th? 12th? Does it even matter?

It's the very definition of what the kids call "cringe" these days.

[LKN704]

There's apparently an AA international route announcement coming soon.

I would expect there to be suspensions, resumptions, and additions. 

[KJHburg]

American is growing back its network quicker than its peers and this is good for CLT and the region.   From Forbes

""Why American Airlines Is Growing Twice As Fast As Delta And United""

https://www.forbes.com/sites/willhorton1/2020/06/28/why-american-airlines-is-growing-twice-as-fast-as-delta-and-united/#40bb194d2c6c

Edited June 28, 2020 by KJHburg

[TCLT]

There's apparently an AA international route announcement coming soon.
I would expect there to be suspensions, resumptions, and additions. 

It’s probably an announcement of what the summer 2021 international schedule is expected to look like. I would expect CLT to have no transatlantic until 2021. With the EU ban on Americans, continued low demand, and the fact CLT isn’t an approved entry airport, transatlantic from CLT isn’t likely to be viable for a while. We should continue to way outperform on domestic traffic though. AA’s recovery is entirely based on expanding DFW and CLT.

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

On 6/2/2020 at 7:11 PM, JetBlueCLT said:

Most of you won't care about this lol...but JetBlue will be flying an A320 next month from Boston(1x daily)

Me personally, hoping to see one of their special liveries come in. 

FDNY,  I heart NY,  JetBlue Vacation,  New York International  (Retro),  NYPD,  Brooklyn Nets,  Boston Bruins,  Boston Celtics, and Vets in Blue are still active. I may have missed a few but that should be most of them.

There is a New York Jets A320 parked at PBI