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Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion


uptownliving

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I beleive that MAH4546 on SSP said it best:

"The market between South Florida and the Caribbean is an airline's dream market: fares are very high and the flights are short. Airlines charge an average fare of around $225 for a less than 300 mile flight between South Florida and Nassau, and get strong cargo yields to boot. That's a great market. On the Miami-Central America market, airlines sometimes charge as much as it costs to get to Europe, yet the flight is one-fourth the length, using much smaller, fuel efficient planes, and simply brings in a greater profit."

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Not looking good:

"US Airways and its pilots union broke off talks on reduced pay and benefits, the Bloomberg news service reported today.

US Airways is seeking concessions to avoid a bankruptcy filing. The pilots union had agreed to take the latest company proposal to its leaders this week.

Negotiations broke off, Bloomberg reported, after a weekend of meetings during which US Airways said the pilot's Aug. 17 offer had a "substantial gap" with its requested $295 million reduction.

In a message to its members, the union said its top council will consider the plan at a meeting Wednesday.

US Airways said in May it may seek bankruptcy protection unless it gets concessions by the end of September from the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents 3,000 active pilots, and other work groups.

US Airways expects to hear from the union "soon," spokesman David Castelveter said in a statement."

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The Charlotte City Council tonight authorized the Charlotte Airport to put out $215M in bonds to build the 3rd Parallel Runway, build a 6,000 space parking deck, and enlarge Concourse E to 50 gates.

Airport Director Jerry Orr stated that there would be enough revenue just from the local traffic to pay off these bonds. However if we retain the hub...then the revenue will be more than twice as much as necesary to pay off the debt.

For the parking deck he justified it by saying that currently they are over capacity for parking at the airport and whether or not the hub stays there will be a need for more parking. He made the point that if the hub leaves there will be an even higher need for more parking as the local fares would decrease and local traffic would increase.

For the 3rd Parallel runway he justified by saying they have been trying to build it for 25 years and it will be needed if the hub remains or not. He also pointed out that the Feds will be paying for 75% of the new runway.

For the expansion of Concourse E he said if the hub remains they will move forward with the expansion of this concourse...if the hub pulls out, then they would put the expansion on the back burner.

Sounds good to me.

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This does sound like a good plan. Parking is definately an issue that needs to be taken care of. Mass transit to the airport is pretty much held in a dream world right now it seems, especially any form of rail. 3rd runway I'm unsure about, I know they've been trying to get it built for a while but losing UsAir will ease traffic will it not? Though...with new carriers on the way regardless we may indeed need it...especially for the long haul.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Looking worse for USAir:

"The union representing pilots for US Airways has declined to send the carrier's latest proposal to its members for a vote, union officials said."

Full article can be found at http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/liv...vel/9597542.htm

This is crucial for them to accept the terms, otherwise the company will almost certainly fail.

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No its not wonderland...Its smart management....these flights are being added to Charlotte to make up for the PIT hub closing. PIT was charging too much for them to fly there...so they are now going to fly the planes through CLT where they can make some money on them.

Its either this or let them collect dust in the desert.

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No one is going to argue that what managment thought was going to work a few years ago obviously didn't work. It should also be noted that USAirways is not the only major air carrier that is in financial trouble.

My point was that I think it was smart for them to close the PIT hub and redeploy those planes to PHL, CLT and FLL. However at this point it might just be rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

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No its not looking good at all. At this point it is going to take a miracle for them to avoid bankruptcy. The Pilot Reps from PIT and PHL blocked a vote on the new contract. All the other pilots are extremely pissed off at the PIT and PHL reps. Don't be surprised if some heads roll in the next few days.

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So Delta is in trouble too and closing their dallas hub? Did I hear that on the news correctly?

You heard correctly. Delta's going from 254 flights/day to 69 destinations at Dallas to 21 flights/day to 3 destinations (Atlanta, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, all Delta hubs). However, in that announcement was news that they're starting several new flights including many to NC:

Asheville - Orlando --- 1 additional Flight/Day --- Total of 1 F/D on Delta (not flown by any other airline)

Charlotte - New York (JFK) --- 2 additional F/D --- Total of 2 F/D on Delta (not flown by any other airline)

Greensboro - Fort Lauderdale --- 2 additional F/D --- Total of 2 F/D on Delta (not flown by any other airline)

Greensboro - New York (JFK) --- 1 additional F/D --- Total of 3 F/D on Delta (not flown by any other airline)

Greensboro - Tampa --- 2 additional F/D --- Total of 2 F/D on Delta (not flown by any other airline)

Raleigh - Boston --- 1 additional F/D --- Total of 4 F/D on Delta (also flown by American)

Raleigh - Ft. Lauderdale --- 3 additional F/D --- Total of 5 F/D on Delta (also flown by American and US Airways)

Raleigh - Orlando --- 1 additional F/D --- Total of 6 F/D on Delta (also flown by American, Southwest, and US Airways)

Raleigh - Tampa --- 2 additional F/D --- Total of 2 F/D on Delta (also flown by Southwest)

I hope they'll be around long enough to actually run these flights.

Edited by TravisNC
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I am glad that Delta will start flying the CLT-> JFK route since USAirways stopped flying it sometime ago. Even though JFK is a horrendous airport it is still the International hub airport, and its nice to have a direct connection to it again.

This is also a premptive strike by Delta as I am sure that this is the route that jetBlue would like to start flying soon.

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