A second commercial airport for Charlotte?

[Cadi40]

I think investing in Concord is an excellent Idea, There are many Cities that around Concord that could benefit from it (Kannapolis, Huntersville, Concord, Morrisville) Concord itself is a huge tourist attraction, It has a mall (That attracts millions each year for what ever reason), A Great Wolf Lodge, NASCAR, Drag Races, A short drive from Carrigan Farms, And More! It would be dumb not to invest in that Airport, But First I think CATS / Lynx needs to invest in better transportation options in the Concord area. Just a thought - Build a Train loop around the 485 Loop, It would be able to connect to the blue line and it would take some Traffic off of the 485 Loop. It would be costly but a good idea.

[tozmervo]

10 hours ago, Cadi40 said:

I think investing in Concord is an excellent Idea, There are many Cities that around Concord that could benefit from it (Kannapolis, Huntersville, Concord, Morrisville) Concord itself is a huge tourist attraction, It has a mall (That attracts millions each year for what ever reason), A Great Wolf Lodge, NASCAR, Drag Races, A short drive from Carrigan Farms, And More! It would be dumb not to invest in that Airport, But First I think CATS / Lynx needs to invest in better transportation options in the Concord area. Just a thought - Build a Train loop around the 485 Loop, It would be able to connect to the blue line and it would take some Traffic off of the 485 Loop. It would be costly but a good idea.

Significantly, you need Cabarrus County to invest in better transportation options, not necessarily CATS. The minute a CATS vehicle leaves Mecklenburg County, the joining county has to pitch in.

[southslider]

^For the most part, a 50/50 cost-sharing agreement is required to extend CATS service outside Mecklenburg, which has a half-cent sales tax dedicated to transit. Exceptions include destinations just outside Mecklenburg, namely Carowinds, and soon with BLE opening, the Concord Mills area. The latter is not far from Concord Airport to later extend bus service just a bit farther, especially if scheduled around limited flight times.

[ssh214]

I think the conversation about allocating resources to extend CATS service to a second commercial airport exactly lends to the point that I tried to make. Why should dollars be spent towards a second airport when there are numerous dollars already being spent for transportation to CLT. 

On a separate point airfare does not go down at CLT because Allegiant offers service to Concord. For example, Allegiant flies from Concord to Fort Lauderdale. But you don't see airfare dropping on American Airlines between Charlotte to Fort Lauderdale.

Second airports are useful in cities with massive amounts of congestion. Charlotte is not one of those cities, and CLT still has more room to grow as evidenced by the new concourse A north.

Again, I could be wrong but this is just my opinion.

[caterpillar2]

Maybe we could land a cheap flight, i.e. Aer Lingus or Ryan Air since other airports don't want them. I believe there was an air service from Dublin that wanted to come here and offer cheap flight a few years ago. I wonder if that would be a possibility in the future?

[CLT2014]

1 hour ago, caterpillar2 said:

Maybe we could land a cheap flight, i.e. Aer Lingus or Ryan Air since other airports don't want them. I believe there was an air service from Dublin that wanted to come here and offer cheap flight a few years ago. I wonder if that would be a possibility in the future?

Ryan Air currently doesn't have plans to serve the United States or offer trans-Atlantic service. Aer Lingus would probably not try to take on American Airlines on the CLT-DUB route. They do not have a low enough cost structure to be offer bargain fares like Norwegian or WOW Air. Most of their US service, other than Boston, Hartford, and Orlando is to a United Airlines hub (their codeshare partner in the USA), where they pull resources to connect to each other's flights. They have largely avoided SkyTeam and OneWorld hubs in the USA.

WOW Air would be a great add for CLT based leisure travelers who are willing to make a stop in Iceland before onward travel to Europe and save on airfare. WOW Air seems to be targeting cities that are under-served across the pond right now like Cleveland and St. Louis that are mid size cities with 0 international flights (prior to WOW Air) and they can dominate the market. 

[kickazzz2000]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Aer Lingus rejoin oneworld at some point.  They are wholly owned by IAG, the parent company of BA and Iberia.  

[Cadi40]

Charlotte Douglas International Airport is a Airport I consider to have Major Congestion, Most times it takes about 30 - 60 Minutes just sitting on the Tarmac before I take off. Concord Airport is becoming more popular for Families flying into the Charlotte area because it's less cheaper and less crowded. I wouldn't suggest we spend any money on a transit line Directly to concord airport, I suggest we spend money on a line that goes stops at Concord Mills and Great Wolf Lodge, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Huntersville, Concord Regional Airport, and several popular areas.

[Popsickle]

1 minute ago, Cadi40 said:

Charlotte Douglas International Airport is a Airport I consider to have Major Congestion, Most times it takes about 30 - 60 Minutes just sitting on the Tarmac before I take off. Concord Airport is becoming more popular for Families flying into the Charlotte area because it's less cheaper and less crowded. I wouldn't suggest we spend any money on a transit line Directly to concord airport, I suggest we spend money on a line that goes stops at Concord Mills and Great Wolf Lodge, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Huntersville, Concord Regional Airport, and several popular areas.

I don't know about you but, I wouldn't take my three young kids on a city bus from an the Concord Airport to either my place of residence or a more convenient area to park.  I'd rather Concord Airport just be easy to get into and out of for long term parking.

Additionally, a line that stops at Great Wolf Lodge specifically is complete waste, Great Wolf isn't like Carowinds where people just go for the day.  At Great Wolf, you actually have to have a hotel reservation to have access to the water park, so there will not be magnitudes of people coming and going throughout the day.

[tozmervo]

As with Charlotte Douglas, Carowinds and other major destinations, transit often serves the employees far more than tourists.

[navigator319]

44 minutes ago, Cadi40 said:

Charlotte Douglas International Airport is a Airport I consider to have Major Congestion, Most times it takes about 30 - 60 Minutes just sitting on the Tarmac before I take off. Concord Airport is becoming more popular for Families flying into the Charlotte area because it's less cheaper and less crowded. I wouldn't suggest we spend any money on a transit line Directly to concord airport, I suggest we spend money on a line that goes stops at Concord Mills and Great Wolf Lodge, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Huntersville, Concord Regional Airport, and several popular areas.

In 5.5 years and 70+ round trips 85% of which are peak business travel hours. I have never had an issue at CLT.  I have not one negative memories of a long tarmac wait. 10/20 I would say is average. I don't consider that bad or aggravating. To say there is major congestion is an overstatement.  PHL on the other hand where 60% of my trips are to/from I just curse the world.