Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion

[atlrvr]

Live streaming from packed concourse B.

 

[HopHead]

34 minutes ago, atlrvr said:

Live streaming from packed concourse B.

 

What pandemic??

[Temeteron]

1 hour ago, atlrvr said:

Live streaming from packed concourse B.

 

Is it maybe because they have some other terminals closed? Does anyone know which ones are still closed?

[BarrenLucidity]

3 hours ago, Temeteron said:

Is it maybe because they have some other terminals closed? Does anyone know which ones are still closed?

They were all in use last weekend

[Temeteron]

1 hour ago, BarrenLucidity said:

They were all in use last weekend

Hmm...I wonder why so many of the restaurants and stores are still closed though 

[LKN704]

I don't think any concourses at CLT were closed due to COVID. Concessions may have closed (and many are still) but I don't know what the determining factor for such closures are and I would guess closures would be the result of decisions by HMS Host, and not CLT. 

This summer, I have flown through CLT, CHS, DCA, BWI, DFW, AUS, SAT, SFO, ORD, PHL, LAX, and PHX.

ORD was busy (the United terminals), as was CLT, DFW, SFO (United terminal), AUS, SAT, and PHL. BWI was busy on the WN side, but twice I flew out on United and their concourse was empty (there were only 18 or so people on my UA BWI-LAX flight).

CLT and PHL more or less have the same layout for their AA domestic gates (small, narrow concourses connected by moving walkways) so what looks busy at CLT/PHL would probably not look busy at say Terminal D in DFW, for example.

The AA terminals at LAX were empty, as were the UA terminals. I know AA cut a significant number of flights ex LAX because of Covid. Driving through the LAX terminal loop on the shuttle bus the Southwest terminal looked busy there. 

PHX was empty. I don't really recall PHX ever being crowded though. DCA looks busier to me on the Weekends than on the weekdays. It's always hard to tell how busy DCA is because most people show up right at boarding time because security is so easy there. I do know AA cut back a significant portion of their DCA flights as well. 

[15895]

On 10/24/2020 at 10:34 AM, Temeteron said:

Is it maybe because they have some other terminals closed? Does anyone know which ones are still closed?

No. Charlotte is mad busy nearly every hour of the day in every terminal.

my flight yesterday, we were 4th in line to take off. I counted 12 planes also waiting. I’ve seen up to 18 planes waiting on another runway about a month ago. 
 

but it’s crazy because places like Boston, DC, JFK Etc. Are apocalyptic. It just so happens Charlotte is the worlds 3rd largest airline hub and tons of transfers are forced through there.

DC was busy because people fly TO Washington. Charlotte is busy because people fly THROUGH Charlotte. So whatever city loses service in the American system, it all gets funneled to Charlotte & Dallas. 
 

DC had a strong connecting hub for American. A couple weeks ago, it was all but dismantled as CARES ran out. Of course, Charlotte probably absorbed all of that capacity.

So it is kind of funny to see people rag on Charlotte for just being a transfer point and won’t be as durable as the large city airports play out opposite haha. 

 

Edited October 25, 2020 by AirNostrumMAD

[LKN704]

Rumor has it that AA will be loading 772 flights on CLT-PHX and LAX for December. If true, I think this is the first time CLT-LAX saw a widebody since around 2003. 

[KJHburg]

1 hour ago, LKN704 said:

Rumor has it that AA will be loading 772 flights on CLT-PHX and LAX for December. If true, I think this is the first time CLT-LAX saw a widebody since around 2003. 

Love that flight that leaves CLT in the morning and arrives in time for lunch at In N Out by the airport.  

[LKN704]

Now confirmed. Looks to start 2 December. Checked SJU/MCO/PHL/ORD/JFK/DFW/SFO/PHX/CUN/PUJ and no 777s were scheduled on any of those runs. MIA keeps its 772. 

[CltFlyer]

772  to LAS as well.  

[LKN704]

CLT-LAS is an interesting one. I don't think they have ever had widebody service from CLT.

So we will be seeing: 1x MIA, 1x LAS, 1x LAX, and then a Sun/Wed/Fri flight to LHR. I wouldn't be surprised though to see the LHR service suspended once more due to the new UK Lockdown. I've heard loads for the service were pretty abysmal, although closer-in bookings seem to be better. 

DFW-MCO gets a whopping 4x 77Ws/daily during December. 

Edited November 1, 2020 by LKN704

[CLTaviation13]

3 hours ago, LKN704 said:

CLT-LAS is an interesting one. I don't think they have ever had widebody service from CLT.

So we will be seeing: 1x MIA, 1x LAS, 1x LAX, and then a Sun/Wed/Fri flight to LHR. I wouldn't be surprised though to see the LHR service suspended once more due to the new UK Lockdown. I've heard loads for the service were pretty abysmal, although closer-in bookings seem to be better. 

DFW-MCO gets a whopping 4x 77Ws/daily during December. 

CLT-LAS saw a daily A333 earlier this year. 

[KJHburg]

CLT slowly gaining its passenger levels back thanks to American Airlines restoring much of their domestic service.   As many of you have mentioned CLT is one of the busiest airports in the country right now. 

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2020/11/20/clt-sees-gradual-rebound-in-passenger-counts.html

"""Passenger traffic in October was about 63% of where it stood a year ago, when 4.4 million or so people passed through the airport.  It's slowly rebounded over recent months, rising from 2.36 million in September, 2.12 million in August and a low of just 340,265 in April — the first full month that the pandemic's impact was felt.  Charlotte Douglas saw cargo remain steady last month. The 15,548 tons of cargo moved through the airport in October, essentially all of which came from domestic operations, was on par with the same month in 2019.""

 

[LKN704]

Honestly, I would expect traffic to be down significantly for November. 

When the CARES funding ended, AA slashed their flight schedules across the board and downgauged  a significant number of routes from mainline to regional jets and cut frequencies on others to match capacity to demand. Routes that used to see multiple mainline flights a day from CLT are now only seeing Eagle CR9s/175s with maybe one or two mainline flights sprinkled in. Eagle routes that used to feature CR9s/175s are now seeing 145s.

Granted, CLT wasn't hit as hard as other hubs, but you can still notice it. Albany, Columbus, Detroit, Harrisburg, Indy, Knoxville, Louisville, Melbourne, Milwaukee, Pensacola, Rochester,  Syracuse, Toronto, and Washington Dulles all look to have temporarily  lost their mainline service. Some of these cities only had one or two mainline flights a day, but others, like Albany, were exclusively mainline. 

Traffic is way down compared to as it was this summer and early fall. UA came out the other day and said cancellations/changes are increasing. 

Edited November 23, 2020 by LKN704

[15895]

lol Going from larger cities and traveling to  Charlotte and Atlanta is crazy. It’s not even night and day. It’s like being in different dimensions.
 

DCA, Dulles, Raleigh and Boston are apocalyptic still. Fly to Charlotte and it’s probably busier than Dulles or DCA has ever been.
 

Does anyone have experiences of other airports?? 

[xapostrophe]

11 hours ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

lol Going from larger cities and traveling to  Charlotte and Atlanta is crazy. It’s not even night and day. It’s like being in different dimensions.
 

DCA, Dulles, Raleigh and Boston are apocalyptic still. Fly to Charlotte and it’s probably busier than Dulles or DCA has ever been.
 

Does anyone have experiences of other airports?? 

This is pretty much how it is everywhere that isn't a major hub right now.  ORD in the AA terminals is vacant, but apparently the UAL terminals are fairly busy there.  PHL, was a ghost town, MIA too, though it was getting busier a while back.   Last time I was in SFO it was eerily quiet.  PHX was fairly busy, but not as busy a normal.  DEN was empty where AA parks, and TSA was scary quiet last time I was there.  literally nobody in line.

The smaller airports were all EMPTY.  Except in FL and TX.   Was in Spokane in Sept. and it was actually reasonably busy.  PVD was my last airport before furlough, totally quiet, no concessions open.  

[csweet]

12 hours ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

lol Going from larger cities and traveling to  Charlotte and Atlanta is crazy. It’s not even night and day. It’s like being in different dimensions.
 

DCA, Dulles, Raleigh and Boston are apocalyptic still. Fly to Charlotte and it’s probably busier than Dulles or DCA has ever been.
 

Does anyone have experiences of other airports?? 

FLL has been pretty busy, especially at peak hours. PBI, VPS, and MIA were all empty when I was there. I flew into STL and LGA last month and both were ghost towns. CLT is definitely the busiest that I have seen.

[gman430]

Passenger traffic is definitely increasing: 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/thanksgiving-travel-numbers-cdc-warning/

Edited November 23, 2020 by gman430

[LKN704]

I would not count an increase of travelers during what has been the traditionally the busiest time of year for air travel as a sign that passenger traffic is increasing overall. I'm sure this week will be one of the busiest for air travel since the pandemic began. 

UA/AA/WN are all reporting drops in bookings and an increase in cancellations:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/19/airline-bookings-drop-ahead-of-thanksgiving-as-coronavirus-infections-spike.html

https://www.wsj.com/articles/united-reports-slower-bookings-as-covid-19-cases-surge-11605797628

[LKN704]

I flew in last night from Dulles. 
 

Dulles always seems empty to me (no matter the time of day) except for maybe the trailers (I mean concourses) that United uses. It’s always nice to see the lineup of international carriers there...on the ground there was a Qatar A359, Air France 77W, BA A35K, a TAP A321 Neo, and an Austrian 763. I looked on FlightAware and it seemed that United resumed most of their European services, almost all with 787s, although nowhere with the frequency they once were. It was kinda sad to see signage at the ticketing lobby and on the terminal directory road signs for airlines that probably will never fly to Dulles again (Cathay Pacific, there was also a ticketing area for Swiss who was supposed to resume service to Dulles this year but never did). 

CLT was dead I thought, and I arrived in the middle of the evening rush. Some shops were open, while others looked closed (some like the Mac cosmetics shop looked permanently closed). We parked at one of the outdoors E gates (E35b) that required a 5 minute walk to the terminal building and then an additional 10 minute walk or so to exit the sterile area. 
 

I was somewhat annoyed as it seemed there were plenty of E gates that were open and weren’t serving any upcoming flights, so I don’t get the logistical reasoning by essentially pushing all departing flights to E20-E35. 
 

[xapostrophe]

On 11/25/2020 at 8:55 AM, LKN704 said:

I flew in last night from Dulles. 
 

Dulles always seems empty to me (no matter the time of day) except for maybe the trailers (I mean concourses) that United uses. It’s always nice to see the lineup of international carriers there...on the ground there was a Qatar A359, Air France 77W, BA A35K, a TAP A321 Neo, and an Austrian 763. I looked on FlightAware and it seemed that United resumed most of their European services, almost all with 787s, although nowhere with the frequency they once were. It was kinda sad to see signage at the ticketing lobby and on the terminal directory road signs for airlines that probably will never fly to Dulles again (Cathay Pacific, there was also a ticketing area for Swiss who was supposed to resume service to Dulles this year but never did). 

CLT was dead I thought, and I arrived in the middle of the evening rush. Some shops were open, while others looked closed (some like the Mac cosmetics shop looked permanently closed). We parked at one of the outdoors E gates (E35b) that required a 5 minute walk to the terminal building and then an additional 10 minute walk or so to exit the sterile area. 
 

I was somewhat annoyed as it seemed there were plenty of E gates that were open and weren’t serving any upcoming flights, so I don’t get the logistical reasoning by essentially pushing all departing flights to E20-E35. 
 

When I flew for PSA, if a plane was terminating for the night it almost always parked at the E35/36/38 etc gates.  Either way I tend to agree with the usage of those gates, at least they are finally building that terminal extension to fix that issue.     As far as the walk goes, it normally took me about 10 minutes from those gates to the curb.  You must be a slow walker (JK).   I never understood why the small extension by E14  was the priority over the larger and more important extension.  At least most gates will have jet bridges now.

[LKN704]

I'm a pretty fast walker! It was 15 minutes from the plane to the curb (walk on tarmac to covered walkway, covered walkway to terminal building, gate E35 to D/E Connector, D/E Connector to Terminal curbside). 

I flew out yesterday back to DC and the airport was much busier. Centurion Lounge was relatively busy as well. My flight to DCA departed from gate D2 and D1/D2/D3 are all looking pretty rough IMO. I forgot how confusing the layout of those gates are. D1/D2 essentially share the same gate area and boarding door. The boarding door leads to a two separate jet bridges (D1/D2) and then the roped off walkway down to the tunnel to FIS. Numerous announcements were made to not go past the rope and instead go through the open door (the jet bridge) which made me think there are frequent incidents of people wandering to FIS. 

I was able to find the names of the artists that will be commissioning work for the landslide terminal renovation. 

This artist has quite a few never-before-seen renderings of the terminal: http://www.danielleroney.com/portfolio/meridian/

While we can't see their work for the project yet, this artists work will be on the FIS area wall and seems nice and fitting with the rest of the art that has been put up in C/B: https://www.dixiefriendgay.com/publiccommissions

Not a fan of this artist's work though (http://vigilism.com/filter/Drawings/). Looking around his website, they remind me of the utopian-style art that was present in subway systems/public works projects in the 1970s/1980s that don't age well. 

[Miesian Corners]

12 hours ago, LKN704 said:

gate D2 and D1/D2/D3 are all looking pretty rough IMO. I forgot how confusing the layout of those gates are. D1/D2 essentially share the same gate area and boarding door. The boarding door leads to a two separate jet bridges (D1/D2) and then the roped off walkway down to the tunnel to FIS. Numerous announcements were made to not go past the rope and instead go through the open door (the jet bridge) which made me think there are frequent incidents of people wandering to FIS. 

D will be the last concourse to be refurbished. And I agree; the old D gates look rough (and have for about a decade).

[csweet]

15 minutes ago, Miesian Corners said:

D will be the last concourse to be refurbished. And I agree; the old D gates look rough (and have for about a decade).

I wish that they would expand D to be a much more attractive international terminal. I understand that there really is not anywhere to expand, but there has to be a way to allow for more widebodies in the future.