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Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion


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27 minutes ago, TCLT said:

CLT-ELP (El Paso, TX) also starting at the same time.

and El Paso is home to Fort Bliss the  2nd largest military base in the USA. at 1.12 M acres.  Plus this 3 state 2 country metro area includes 2.7 M people on both sides of the border and in the 3 states TX NM and Chihuahua.  

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Will be interesting to see what other secondary markets in the western part of the US, like an El Paso, that will start seeing nonstop flights to Charlotte.  Really feel like air travel in the 3rd quarter of the year will really start taking off again -- and I can't wait to start traveling for work again lol

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34 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

CLT-ELP is an interesting add seeing as Tucson and Albuquerque have both been attempted before and neither have been successful, and I have always viewed both as stronger markets as both have more tourism. 

I could see AA trying both ABQ and TUS again sooner rather than later.  I feel that CLT Is reaching the critical mass as a hub where those routes could be successful at good yields.   (TUS would be on try #3 though).  I feel ABQ could be successful if tried properly (very short lived the first time around shortly after the AA/US merger).  I also think will see San Jose, CA again.  Sooner rather than later.  Especially at the rate Charlotte's economy is growing.  I wonder if we see Ontario, CA (ONT) extended past 8/16.

 

The recent adds of Lafayette, LA (LFT), Alexandria, LA (AEX), and now Columbus and El Paso seem to be aimed at markets where Delta has traditionally controlled Southeastern traffic via Atlanta.  Valdosta, GA (VLD) filed for a SCASD grant specifically targeted at CLT flights.  It will be interesting to see if this comes to fruition.   I could also see Dothan, AL (DTH) being on AA's radar.

Edited by CltFlyer
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El Paso will be an evening departure from CLT and an early morning return from ELP.  

Columbus, GA will be 2x daily on a CR7.

In other news Ontario, CA has gone from ending on August 16th to being added for the rest of the current schedule (year round)!  It will start this week along with Honolulu.

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One thing I forgot about Ontario is its proximity to the Desert Resort Cities. 

I was in Palm Springs this past weekend and it's both ridiculously expensive and challenging to get to from the East Coast. Ontario is only an hour away, with much cheaper flights and rental car prices. California's Resort Cities are becoming very popular/more well-known with the East Coast crowd I have noticed, and a good chunk of my friends on the East Coast have either been to Palm Springs/Joshua Tree or have plans to do so. 

AA attempted PHL-PSP this past Winter. I don't know how it performed, but I wouldn't be surprised to see AA try CLT-PSP this coming Winter. PSP has a cool airport, the entire airside terminal is outside, just like in Hawaii. 

 

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On 4/29/2021 at 2:55 PM, LKN704 said:

CLT-ELP is an interesting add seeing as Tucson and Albuquerque have both been attempted before and neither have been successful, and I have always viewed both as stronger markets as both have more tourism. 

ELP is one of the biggest border distribution points to Mexico so it makes sense.  We have a warehouse there and I would expect a lot of other NC based companies have warehouse space down there as well.  It is/was huge PITA getting down there from here and took longer (about 6hrs) than getting to our office in silicon valley. 

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1 hour ago, CltFlyer said:

A PSP flight would not surprise me.  I could also see Vail, CO (EGE) being added this winter.

I noticed that ELP has been changed from a 738 to a Airbus 319.  The original must have been a misfile.  The 319 makes more sense IMO.

Speaking  of Hawaii I’m actually in Honolulu right now.  I flew in from DFW but I will be on one of the first HNL-CLT flights on 5/8!

The open air terminals provide for some great photo ops.  Here is one of an American 787 I took after arriving.  I didn’t even see the rainbow in the background until after I took the picture.

Vail would technically be a resumption as US did it with a 757.  Unsure why it hasn't been added, although EGE traffic from the East Coast is predominately South Florida/NYC-focused, so maybe AA feels that service from MIA/JFK/LGA/PHL is sufficient. Traffic to other ski resorts in the West seems to be much more spread out along the East Coast. 

Enjoy Hawaii. The flight back to CLT will be brutal (if in Y) without any morsel to munch on in flight sans the packet of 15 or so pretzels. Don't think they have announced the resumption of meal service on Hawaii-CLT/ORD/DFW in the back yet. 

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5 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

Vail would technically be a resumption as US did it with a 757.  Unsure why it hasn't been added, although EGE traffic from the East Coast is predominately South Florida/NYC-focused, so maybe AA feels that service from MIA/JFK/LGA/PHL is sufficient. Traffic to other ski resorts in the West seems to be much more spread out along the East Coast. 

Enjoy Hawaii. The flight back to CLT will be brutal (if in Y) without any morsel to munch on in flight sans the packet of 15 or so pretzels. Don't think they have announced the resumption of meal service on Hawaii-CLT/ORD/DFW in the back yet. 

HNL is considered an IPD route (international premium destination) out of CLT. It will be similar to CLT-Europe service.

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(Re)Inaugural flight to Honolulu inflight now: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL569/history/20210506/1550Z/KCLT/PHNL

https://twitter.com/CLTAirport/status/1390311232637394945?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet

There was a nice celebration in the gate area (A Concourse) before departure and everyone received a plastic lei. CLT's Instagram account has some nice images and videos of the plane pushing back. 

Also highly unrelated, but why does CLT market themselves as "The Gateway to Gastonia and the world. Economic engine of the Carolossas." on social media? Am I the only one who finds it un-amusing/not funny, especially for an airport that should be trying to branding itself internationally? No one outside of the Charlotte area knows what/where Gastonia is. 

Edited by LKN704
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12 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

Also highly unrelated, but why does CLT market themselves as "The Gateway to Gastonia and the world. Economic engine of the Carolossas." on social media? Am I the only one who finds it un-amusing/not funny, especially for an airport that should be trying to branding itself internationally? No one outside of the Charlotte area knows what/where Gastonia is. 

 

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15 minutes ago, LKN704 said:

Also highly unrelated, but why does CLT market themselves as "The Gateway to Gastonia and the world. Economic engine of the Carolossas." on social media? Am I the only one who finds it un-amusing/not funny, especially for an airport that should be trying to branding itself internationally? No one outside of the Charlotte area knows what/where Gastonia is. 

Playing off hype from a Saturday Night Live episode. CLT's Twitter tries to stay relevant/ interesting by including some snark. 

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Yes this is the current tagline on the CLT airport twitter feed and no maybe fine for a tweet but not for this really.  This is a CITY owned business so I do think it should change.  Most and I mean most Americans would not even know what this means as they don't watch SNL.   I surely don't know but only heard of the skit.

CLT Airport
 
@CLTAirport
Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT): the Gateway to Gastonia and the world. Economic engine of the Carolossas. #SuperCarolina #KeepitRockin
Charlotte, North Carolinacltairport.comJoined November 2011
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In regards to the airport expansion, I was reviewing the "Purpose and Need" document in the most EA. A couple of things that stuck out to me:

1. The 4000ft long midfield access tunnel: Will this be a full-fledged APM bored-tunnel that is built and then mothballed until the need for the satellite concourse exists? Or is it simply just a plain-old tunnel to nowhere? It isn't that clear from the document. 

2. Concourse A North Phase II/OAL Terminal Landside: The document doesn't have any mention of these projects under than that they appear on the map as "in design/under construction". Given that the design for Phase II is finalized and so far along I would assume it will be built shortly once things stabilize?

I've posted links from this site before but we cannot physically look at them (they are behind a paywall) but still a couple of interesting notes:

-Concourse D Renovations: (https://www.construction.com/projects/dr-201700785649-clt-concourse-d-renovations-duplciate-report) Status Says "Abandoned" (Why abandoned?)

-Concourses B+C Expansion: (https://www.construction.com/projects/dr-201700785683-clt-concourse-b-expansion) Status Says "Pre-Design"

Both Concourse B and C expansion projects are valued at $460,000,000 which seems like an awful lot of money just for a simple gate addition. 

The site also brings up how Concourse A Phase II in the "design development" phase while Phase III is in the "planning schematics" phase, whatever the heck that means. I am assuming Phase III is the terminal landside?

52 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Yes this is the current tagline on the CLT airport twitter feed and no maybe fine for a tweet but not for this really.  This is a CITY owned business so I do think it should change.  Most and I mean most Americans would not even know what this means as they don't watch SNL.   I surely don't know but only heard of the skit.

CLT Airport
 
@CLTAirport
Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT): the Gateway to Gastonia and the world. Economic engine of the Carolossas. #SuperCarolina #KeepitRockin
Charlotte, North Carolinacltairport.comJoined November 2011

I agree. It's funny and all now that I have seen the skit but for a government-owned entity that should be tasked with increasing brand awareness for both the airport and the city it just seems...well, backwoods. 

Edited by LKN704
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