St. Louis, Chinese Air Hub & Aerotropolis initiative

moorlander · PostJan 30, 2009#2262009-01-30T15:31+00:00

Friday, January 30, 2009

Editorial

Maybe

St. Louis Business Journal

The naming of a Midwest-China trade commission could appear, on its face, a paper tiger. Yet the fact that the Chinese Ambassador to the United States traveled to St. Louis to celebrate the Chinese New Year and the official kickoff of the commission has real significance.

It’s an indication that the Chinese government is giving more than a nod to St. Louis’ fledgling efforts to become a destination for Chinese cargo.

Given our location in the middle of the country and the capability of Lambert-St. Louis’ new runway, this notion is more than a pipe dream. It’s also far from reality, and there are many hurdles, some local, some not.

On the local level, differences with Southwestern Illinois and Mid-America Airport must be resolved. Mid-America’s current successful efforts to become a distribution point for flowers from South America (don’t forget those Valentine roses!) gives credibility to the concept that St. Louis can play a bigger role in international trade.

On the international stage, the challenges, starting with the current economy, are enormous but not insurmountable.

The ability of political leaders, especially Senators Christopher (Kit) Bond and Claire McCaskill, to grasp the significance and lend their visible bipartisan support to the effort is impressive.

This is a long process and one easily dismissed. But why not play this idea out? Maybe it will show us the possibilities of our airports and location. Maybe we’ll learn to develop bi-state, bipartisan initiatives. Maybe we’ll start dreaming bigger and succeeding more.

Maybe the region will grow.

http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... rial2.html

urbanpioneer · PostJan 30, 2009#2272009-01-30T15:45+00:00

Anyway, I hope this China deal goes through. Not only would it be great for the region from a business perspective, but maybe, just maybe, it would help us improve diversity and make us a true International City. After all, almost all World-Class cities are international in their make-up, and if we want to join that upper tier then we need to start attracting more people/business from around the world.

jcity · PostJan 31, 2009#2282009-01-31T23:15+00:00

i hope they do WHATEVER it takes. give them the land for free. this NEEDS to happen. open the floodgates for chinese immigrants to move to stl! could you imagine flights from STL to Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai!? dream big!

matguy70 · PostFeb 01, 2009#2292009-02-01T07:46+00:00

I wouldn't say that is a "bigh dream" at all. This hub also has details in passenger service with Air China too.

goat314 · PostFeb 01, 2009#2302009-02-01T21:15+00:00

Fleming says the hub would help to bring tens of thousands of new jobs to the bi-state region.

PostFeb 01, 2009#2312009-02-01T21:25+00:00

Videos on it!

10-intuition · PostFeb 02, 2009#2322009-02-02T06:56+00:00

I really hope this does happen!

This really will boost the local economy and make St. Louis more well known around the world, especially in China. Many Chinese in China don't know of STL, many there think of the USA think of Los Angeles, San Francisco, NYC, or Las Vegas. Many of my friends complain that there aren't enough Chinese here. Also, I hope this will create a lot of jobs and bring a direct flight from here to somewhere in China. That will definitely help make my travel back yearly easier. Also, I hope that more chinese will come here.

stlcardsblues1989 · PostFeb 02, 2009#2332009-02-02T08:04+00:00

Getting a little excited now.

How will this affect the Mayoral race? If St. Louis gets this, it'll look good for Slay.

jmstokes · PostFeb 02, 2009#2342009-02-02T14:30+00:00

I would love to see some bigtime immigration to St. Louis. Get people, especially with manufacturing backgrounds, to come in and start some new businesses in the Mill Creek Valley, Kosciusko, etc. I'd love to see these places used.

This is very exciting.

moorlander · PostFeb 02, 2009#2352009-02-02T15:33+00:00

Won't this deal benefit StL county much more than StL city? The city owns the airport however much of the development will likely be in northpark or other county locations... Thoughts?

Bart Harley Jarvis · PostFeb 02, 2009#2362009-02-02T16:14+00:00

Moorlander wrote:Won't this deal benefit StL county much more than StL city? The city owns the airport however much of the development will likely be in northpark or other county locations... Thoughts?

What's good for the goose is good for the gander, right?

urbanpioneer · PostFeb 02, 2009#2372009-02-02T16:18+00:00

Moorlander wrote:Won't this deal benefit StL county much more than StL city? The city owns the airport however much of the development will likely be in northpark or other county locations... Thoughts?

Anything of this magnitude will inherently benefit both the city and county. While much of the development may be in the county, new business moving to the region will have some snowball effect impacting the city.

If this project brings immigrants to the region, then conceivably some (many?) will locate themselves in the city proper. Ultimately, generations later, the immigrants children will have moved throughout the region: city and county alike. Or another possibility would be a concentration in one area... St. Louis's own 21st century version of Chinatown?

In the long term, this would be great for both the city and county. One way or another, what's good for the region is ultimately good for the city.

At the very least, the city would benefit culturally from an influx of diversity.

publiceye · PostFeb 02, 2009#2382009-02-02T16:19+00:00

Won't this deal benefit StL county much more than StL city?

This will benefit whatever companies make things valuable enough to travel to China by air. (Think: companies like Solae.)

urbanpioneer · PostFeb 02, 2009#2392009-02-02T16:22+00:00

ricke002 wrote:
Moorlander wrote:Won't this deal benefit StL county much more than StL city? The city owns the airport however much of the development will likely be in northpark or other county locations... Thoughts?

What's good for the goose is good for the gander, right?

haha. I had that same phrase in my post but decided instead to modify it to "what's good for the region is ultimately good for the city. "

midcoaststl · PostFeb 02, 2009#2402009-02-02T17:28+00:00

Plus.

When some chinese company decides to move a NA HQ to STL, they will be coming from the Super dense cities in China and hopefully construct a tower or move into a tower in Downtown!

Hopefully if this thing goes through we will see some construction as the years progress of Class A office towers in DT. That way when a local or new company is looking to move they won't automatically move to clayton because Met SQ is still our newest building!

goat314 · PostFeb 02, 2009#2412009-02-02T18:07+00:00

People say the county will benefit more, but wont the city be collecting the revenue per flight that lands? Didn't Gone Corporate say something like that?

Didn't he also say something about many companies from outside the region may move to St. Louis to be closer to the hub?

Anyway this has the potential to increase our tax base by multi-millions if not billions.

stlcardsblues1989 · PostFeb 02, 2009#2422009-02-02T18:50+00:00

Maybe the wealth will shift from West County to North County.

survivor147 · PostFeb 02, 2009#2432009-02-02T18:56+00:00

I wrote this before but didn't hear anything...

...will this improve our airport? Maybe collect many more flights to cities/states we do not have direct flights to? Bring about international flights once more?

dredger · PostFeb 02, 2009#2442009-02-02T21:55+00:00

I would say it is tough sell that you would all of sudden you see international flights added. Not being a full blown hub in my mind hurts that prospect. However, I think commerce will benefit in the long run because of the infrascture to ship direct. In time, you might see added warehouse and manufacturing capacity built here instead of Chicago or Memphis, ect. I think Air China sees possibilities in a central location, underused highway and rail infrastructure, plenty of developable land next to the airport and surrounding metro area.

My question to add. Will this help in getting the taxiway improvement grants that the city had put in its stimulus wish list? I believe the City was looking for another $100 million for taxiway improvements. Not sure if the taxiways are simply rebuilds, rebuilds to accomondate heavier planes or additional taxiway reconfiguration.

matguy70 · PostFeb 02, 2009#2452009-02-02T22:39+00:00

I would say that STL INternational is definately able to accommodate with capacity - especially with the new runway.

As for connections... STL is still better than most peer cities - AA still offers STL some 60 plus cities direct/non-stop, and is still AA's 4th largest hub. Southwest connections are numerous and several airlines like USA3000 offer direct/non-stpinternational flights to Mexico and the Carribbean.

Now, if Air China begins passenger service at their new hub in STL from China (which is also part of the deal eventualy) many Chinese love the Carribbean and connections are avaiable. Chinese also will have many daily non-stops to Chicago, NYC, Washington, and L.A. and even connections into Toronto direct/nonstop on Air Canada from STL.

I don't think that Air China passenger connections are a problem in STL with the rate of non-stop flights from STL... I do believe that it will make STL more marketable for AA and others with non-stop flights from STL to China. More people flying across seas from STL. Asia is a hard place to fly from the USA - especially anywhere off the coasts. I also think AA and other airlines may accommodate / coordinate flights in/out of STL for Air China flights...

this is all hypethetical - but, I don't think, far fetched even now.

jcity · PostFeb 07, 2009#2462009-02-07T22:40+00:00

holy crap. If we could become a hub for Air China, that would be the best thing that could happen to the region. They should do WHATEVER it takes to make that happen.

How about we open the flood gates to Chinese immigrants to the city? become the Toronto of the Midwest. Perhaps we could also turn all of these vacant city schools into Chinese/American schools. we'll see how fast those neighborhoods repopulate.

marc buxton · PostFeb 08, 2009#2472009-02-08T01:56+00:00

I would bet that many of the older taxiways need replacement to take on a fully loaded A-380. The new runway is fine. Probably why taxiway replacement is included in the local economic stimulus package.

I hope that whatever is built does not supercede the potential to build a new terminal midfield (between old & new runways) as spelled out in the wish-list masterplan. The new terminal may be decades in the future, but it would be short sighted to eliminate the possibility.

Where exactly within the Lambert footprint would this facility be built?

matguy70 · PostFeb 08, 2009#2482009-02-08T23:31+00:00

Air China cargo flies:

Boeing 747-200F

Boeing 747-400F

Tupolev 204-120CE

They do not have any A-380's and no plans on purchasing any in near future.

This is what is on order by Air Chna right now:

Aircraft orders

Air China has signed agreements with:

Airbus, on July 21, 2005, for the purchase of 20 Trent 700 powered Airbus A330-200 aircraft, scheduled for delivery from May 2006.

Boeing, on August 8, 2005, for the purchase of 15 Boeing 787 aircraft for delivery from mid-2008 to end 2010. Sources also report that Air China may even become the 2nd carrier to take delivery of the Boeing 787-8, shortly after All Nippon Airways.

Airbus, on June 2006, for the purchase of 24 Airbus A320s. These aircraft are to be delivered between 2007 and 2010. However, Air China has no plans to order the Airbus A380 in their fleet, because they think that it just makes more sense by using one kind of Jumbo jet. Before, Airbus has stated that Air China were to be the next few customers to order the A380, however, it may order the A380 superjumbo since they did not have a plan to rule out purchases of the big Airbus plane in the future.

Airbus, Again in 2008, Air China bought 20 Airbus A330 aircraft, scheduled to be delivered in 2011 - 2014 to meet expected growth and demand. This will expand its capacity up to 16.5% and to replace their Boeing 767s.

Boeing, On July 16, 2008, purchase of 45 Boeing aircraft consisting of 15 Boeing 777-300ERs and 30 Boeing 737-800s, scheduled for delivery in 2011-2015 for a capacity expansion of 35%.

While Boeing's orders page for 2006 reflects this order, there have been no formal news releases indicating the following:

Boeing, on January 17, 2006, for the purchase of 10 Boeing 737-800 aircraft for delivery from end 2007 to end 2008.

Airbus, on November 14, 2008, for the purchase of 20 Trent 700 powered Airbus A330-300 aircraft.

Boeing, On November 14, 2008, for the purchase of additional 30 Boeing 737-800 and 15 777-300ER aircraft.

goat314 · PostFeb 09, 2009#2492009-02-09T05:30+00:00

Wouldn't that suck if the stimulus package actually has a negative effect on something that could be very stimulative to our local economy?

This is a really tough issue......Buy American and help the country (but potentially piss off our biggest trade partners and hurt our chances at landing the China Air Hub) or screw our brothers in Pittsburgh and buy tons of cheaper foreign steel (potentially speeding up the trade deal with China).

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/s ... enDocument

jcity · PostFeb 10, 2009#2502009-02-10T05:58+00:00

"Buy American" is Obama's answer to the failed Smoot Hawley Tariff of the 1930's. bad idea jeans.

If this project brings immigrants to the region, then conceivably some (many?) will locate themselves in the city proper.

sadly, they seem to be locating in the county, not the city more and more. perhaps i'm wrong, but by offering the abandoned school buildings to different immigrant groups, perhaps they can repopulate these quickly evaporating neighborhoods. where did all the Bosnians move? Affton. better schools.

St. Louis, Chinese Air Hub & Aerotropolis initiative

Choose Display Mode