Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion

[LKN704]

The C Renovation was complete in 2019 IIRC. 

The "split" you refer to on the E Concourse is essentially AA's shoddy way of crowd control. Instead of everyone waiting at each individual gates, some gates now have a central waiting area with the old gate areas now closed/off limits with stanchions. Once your flight has started boarding you proceed through the stanchion into the now off-limits gate area and to your gate. 

First-generation regional jet concourses (Pittsburgh's Concourse E, Cincinnati's Concourse C, the old E Gates in Salt Lake City, etc) operated like that. United Express gates in Dulles and Houston still operate like that...there could be more. In all of these instances everyone had to wait in a central waiting area (like an upmarket bus station). Then once boarding was called you scanned your boarding pass and proceeded through a door which led to a long corridor where you were essentially on your own to find another door which would lead to your plane. 

[LKN704]

Anyone know what gate this is...is it a hardstand gate?  The CLT website also shows as A34 arrival gate while AA just doesn't list the gate.

Edited April 7, 2021 by LKN704

[CLT2014]

Where is gate A34? The north gates are A21 - A29

Seems like a glitch where the gate from DFW got populated as the gate at CLT as well. 

Edited April 7, 2021 by CLT2014

[Skyybutter]

On 3/16/2021 at 10:07 AM, turbocraig said:

Speaking of California, AA is adding service to Ontario, CA:

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article249945979.html

 

US Airways had service to Ontario CA 15yrs ago. No t sure when it ceased operation. Nice to see it back.

[Skyybutter]

Charlotte would be half the city it is were it not for,

1-Piedmont opening a hub in Charlotte and beginning service to London in the 80s.

2-US Air maintaining Charlotte as a hub city after buying Piedmont,  absorbing Eastern and the Trump Shuttle in the late 80s-early 90s.

3-AmericaWest maintaining Charlotte as a hub city after buying US Airways while that airline was in Bankruptcy. The US AIRWAYS name was used due to its legacy carrier status. Service to Central and South America,  as well as Europe added in 2000s.

4-American and US AIRWAYS merging and WOW, Charlotte is the merged airlines 2nd busiest hub!! 

  You all know the rest.

  Southwest, Spirit, Frontier, JetBlue(for 20yrs now) , Allegient(Concord hub) I remember when none of these were flying into Charlotte. I'm glad they are. Competition is good!

BUT, as so many have already noted, Charlotte has a low o/d %(have been hearing this since the CSA was under 2million, surely that % has increased since the CSA is 2.8million?) 

   The city has no choice but to kiss AA a** for at LEAST another 15-20yrs. By then the County will have over  1.5million people and the CSA will be over 3.5million. Those are numbers that will give the Airport and city some room to stop bending over for AA.

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

3 hours ago, Skyybutter said:

Charlotte would be half the city it is were it not for,

1-Piedmont opening a hub in Charlotte and beginning service to London in the 80s.

2-US Air maintaining Charlotte as a hub city after buying Piedmont,  absorbing Eastern and the Trump Shuttle in the late 80s-early 90s.

3-AmericaWest maintaining Charlotte as a hub city after buying US Airways while that airline was in Bankruptcy. The US AIRWAYS name was used due to its legacy carrier status. Service to Central and South America,  as well as Europe added in 2000s.

4-American and US AIRWAYS merging and WOW, Charlotte is the merged airlines 2nd busiest hub!! 

  You all know the rest.

  Southwest, Spirit, Frontier, JetBlue(for 20yrs now) , Allegient(Concord hub) I remember when none of these were flying into Charlotte. I'm glad they are. Competition is good!

BUT, as so many have already noted, Charlotte has a low o/d %(have been hearing this since the CSA was under 2million, surely that % has increased since the CSA is 2.8million?) 

   The city has no choice but to kiss AA a** for at LEAST another 15-20yrs. By then the County will have over  1.5million people and the CSA will be over 3.5million. Those are numbers that will give the Airport and city some room to stop bending over for AA.

There will always need to be a second massive hub in our part of the country to compete with ATL. Its not coincidental. We are within 80% of the population with a 2.5 hour flight, and our airport is the only place with the reasonable ability to pull it off.

[thenewkage95]

Boeing 777 departing from CLT and headed for London Heathrow LHR yesterday. The airport was EXTREMELY busy yesterday with planes lined up back to back ready to take off. It was amazing watching them hold short of takeoff to allow other planes to land. Reminds me of how traffic at the airport used to be.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KJHburg]

From CLT Twitter   Photo by David Oppenheimer

[CltFlyer]

Over the weekend American extended the Charlotte-Honolulu season to now end on January 3rd, 2022.  It was originally only flying through Labor day.  So this is quite the extension!  

Loads seem to be quite promising.  It would be nice to see this transform into a consistent flight to Honolulu post-Covid.

[LKN704]

I would look for the route to be extended again in the next couple of months until March 2022. The stop date just after Christmas doesn't necessarily make sense because it ignores Spring Break and mid-Winter Break (Northeastern school systems give kids a week off in February during President's Day week), although I am guessing AA wants to see how the route's performance is before extending it further. 

With international traffic down as it is, I would say the route is probably safe regardless of its performance given the slack in the widebody fleet. 

[CLT2014]

The airport has released the draft environmental assessment that covered noise of the new fourth parallel 10,000 foot runway (that would replace the airport overlook). The plans also covered the expansion of Concourse B and C by 180,000 square feet each, adding 10-12 gates to each concourse.

Construction on the runway to be complete by 2027 and the terminal expansion by 2028: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article250721749.html

https://www.airportprojects.net/clt-capacity-ea/documents-reports

Edited April 17, 2021 by CLT2014

[stiluvclt]

Can one of you nice UPers reprint that Observer CLT story.  I can’t seem to back-door my way in anymore.

 

[LKN704]

They don't seem very conservative with their timeframes. I would guess that the terminal expansion would not be open until 2032. Regardless, AA is planning around 650 departures from CLT this summer, which is almost near the 2019 peak of roughly 700 departures/day. 

Curiously, the Charlotte Observer says that 22 gates will be added to B, and 13 will be added to C. I am not sure if that is a misprint as I don't think it would be possible to add 22 gates to B. 

I do believe the concourses will also be widened as well. My gut feeling says that they will also figure out a way to physically "raise" the ceiling height somehow too. 

[BarrenLucidity]

3 hours ago, LKN704 said:

They don't seem very conservative with their timeframes. I would guess that the terminal expansion would not be open until 2032. Regardless, AA is planning around 650 departures from CLT this summer, which is almost near the 2019 peak of roughly 700 departures/day. 

Curiously, the Charlotte Observer says that 22 gates will be added to B, and 13 will be added to C. I am not sure if that is a misprint as I don't think it would be possible to add 22 gates to B. 

I do believe the concourses will also be widened as well. My gut feeling says that they will also figure out a way to physically "raise" the ceiling height somehow too. 

Both B and C will branch out in addition to being widened. Not sure about making the ceiling taller. I think the long term plan for FIS involves elevated walkways.

[LKN704]

50 minutes ago, BarrenLucidity said:

Both B and C will branch out in addition to being widened. Not sure about making the ceiling taller. I think the long term plan for FIS involves elevated walkways.

I know they are going to be branched out...what I am saying is I think the exact number of gates provided by the CO must be off. There is no way they can construct a finger at the end of B long enough to add 22 gates to the west of the concourse without significantly disrupting the taxiways around the area (unless of course that area will be reconfigured). I believe several carriers also park aircraft (RON) overnight in that space. 

The lower C gates will indeed eventually get a second level (somehow) containing a secure corridor that will lead directly into the present FIS area.

Edited April 18, 2021 by LKN704

[teeg]

6 hours ago, LKN704 said:

I know they are going to be branched out...what I am saying is I think the exact number of gates provided by the CO must be off. There is no way they can construct a finger at the end of B long enough to add 22 gates to the west of the concourse without significantly disrupting the taxiways around the area (unless of course that area will be reconfigured). I believe several carriers also park aircraft (RON) overnight in that space. 

I agree, and cannot find anything that backs up the Observer's 22-gate statement.  The airport's Destination CLT page says 8-10 (https://cltairport.mediaroom.com/destination-clt)

[LKN704]

It appears that the relaunch of the 2nd daily Heathrow service, Frankfurt, Dublin, and Madrid have all been pushed back until 17 August. 

[CltFlyer]

On 4/18/2021 at 5:45 AM, teeg said:

I agree, and cannot find anything that backs up the Observer's 22-gate statement.  The airport's Destination CLT page says 8-10 (https://cltairport.mediaroom.com/destination-clt)

I would suspect they mean that it will be 22-gates between both the B and C expansion. 

Also, note that they will be removing 4 gates from the end of D and 8 gates from E as part of the taxiway expansion.  The 8 gates from E will include the "dog leg" extension of gates 14 and 16 they added just under 2 years ago.  It's interesting to as how quick that will be demo'ed.

[csweet]

56 minutes ago, CltFlyer said:

I would suspect they mean that it will be 22-gates between both the B and C expansion. 

Also, note that they will be removing 4 gates from the end of D and 8 gates from E as part of the taxiway expansion.  The 8 gates from E will include the "dog leg" extension of gates 14 and 16 they added just under 2 years ago.  It's interesting to as how quick that will be demo'ed.

Definitely 11 additional gates for B and C. 

That is very interesting, is D still going to be the international entry point after this? 

[LKN704]

D will still be the primary international concourse. The new sterile gates that will be converted from the lower C gates will offset the lost gates in D. 

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

On 4/17/2021 at 6:21 PM, LKN704 said:

I am not sure if that is a misprint as I don't think it would be possible to add 22 gates to B. 

 

Both should be able to expand with runway 05/23 removed.  The concourses would be somewhat of an L shape.

[stiluvclt]

Hey, anyone going to CLT soon, how about snapping some up-to-date construction pics of Terminal & E. Just trying to keep up. Thanx!

[Urban Cowboy]

I've heard there's talk of a new admirals club going in above the atrium food court. TBD. 

[LKN704]

38 minutes ago, Urban Cowboy said:

I've heard there's talk of a new admirals club going in above the atrium food court. TBD. 

That would be interesting. I don’t know where the space would come from though. There is a USO Lounge up there, which itself used to be a British Airways lounge. 
 

A lounge there makes little sense IMO seeing as they already have a lounge on B and a lounge on C. They would be better off putting one on D or E. 

[CltFlyer]

5 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

That would be interesting. I don’t know where the space would come from though. There is a USO Lounge up there, which itself used to be a British Airways lounge. 
 

A lounge there makes little sense IMO seeing as they already have a lounge on B and a lounge on C. They would be better off putting one on D or E. 

I agree.  The aforementioned location doesn't seem logical, but Charlotte is in desperate need of a 3rd lounge and perhaps it is the only space available for the foreseeable future.

  Once DCA opens it's new AC in the new concourse.  Every other hub except for JFK (ORD, DFW, MIA, ORD, LAX, DCA, PHL, and PHX) will have at least 3 lounges (between standard Admirals Clubs and International Flagship Lounges).