urbanSTL

Looks like AA will still have some connections through STL through Cape Air servicing Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Quincy and Marion, Ill.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financia ... OHS8O0.htm



Flew Southwest to Vegas this last weekend... Concourse E - Terminal 2 is definately crowded and Southwest will continue to add service to six more nonstop destination on May 9. A lot of connecting traffic through Terminal 2 Southwest these days.
Also flew in on Sunday evening and nice to see AeroMexico big plane sitting at Terminal 1 Gate E33 at International Customs area.

i haven't been there in a while, but it sounds like Concourse E is pretty busy nowadays. anyone think Southwest might outgrow Concourse E and cause some more of Concourse D to open up when the new flights start in May?

I think their is at least two or three unused gates for Southwest from what I can recall of my last trip (Been flying Delta a lot so spending most of time coming and going out of Concourse A). A bigger question is what does Southwest want? Ideally, Gov Nixon among others should have asked this question already. For all the effort Southwest has put into STL you think this is out there on the radar. If they have, I would love to know Southwest answer.

If I was Southwest, I would love to see Concourse D and what goes as the international gates of E demolished. This would tell me that Lambert is open to expanding the East Terminal in a fashion that I would desire as the number one carrier of STL.

I'm not sure what you are trying to say above.
But here is what I know:

Concourse E/Terminal 2 (East Terminal) was completed around 1999/2000 it is the newest terminal at Lambert STL and it was specifically designed for Southwest Airlines. Southwest uses a unique boarding procedure with numbers and their gate area is a bit unique in that fact. Right now E24 is used but with checkin at E22 - they have just installed a new checkin counter there though. E25 is unused but will become a Southwest gate with increased nonstop flights on May 9.
Gates E29-E33 are all International Flight capacity. Passengers arriving must go through Customs and Immigrations on Ground Level prior to entering the airport concourse/terminal. This is Lambert's international gateway for all flights arriving to the USA from Mexic and the Caribbean. Canadian arrivals on Air Canada arrive in Concourse A - but are not required to enter the USA through Custom/Immigrations. Forms are filled out onboard arriving Canadian flights. USA3000, Ryan International Airways, AeroMexico and Frontier Airlines (Cancun flights) utilize these gates.

As for Southwest - they will have more connecting traffic than ever coming through E Concourse and Terminal 2 come May 9. If traffic (both passenger, security and planes become increasingly larger and busier - I am sure Lambert and Southwest will explore additional gates and possibly utilize more of Concourse D (east end). One of the serious problems I am already seeing in Concourse E is the wait lines in the many restaurants and concessions/stores. They keep adding so many more - infact the whole terminal seems to be one big mallish/foodcourt thing now - but I waited in line for 30 minutes to get a sandwich the other day. I also had a hold at the gate for traffic and a hold on the tarmack as plane number 5 to take off - wow - it was like TWA days again in that regard. It was rush hour times though. On arrival back to STL (around 6:30 pm) we landed with another Southwest jet simultaneosly on the runways - next to each other - that was cool and we also had to wait 5 minutes for our gate. I am thinking that is all good and dandy though!

matguy70 wrote:I also noticed that the International Gates in E Concourse are busier than normal - here is just a morning schedule of flights:
Cancun USA 3000 1036
7:00 AM East-E31
Cancun Aeromexico 6809
7:30 AM East-E33
Punta Cana USA 3000 1085
8:45 AM East-E31

In fairness, it is spring break...not sure how specific "seasonal" flights get, but I'd bet that in a month, there wont be nearly as much Caribbean traffic.

In regards to Air Canada flight from Toronta you actually go through US Customs and Immigration while prior to boarding your flight in Toronto/Canada. US Cutsoms and Immigration are also present in Montreal and Halifax airports. Not sure as far as the rest of Canada's major airports.

It was different but nice to get it out of the way. Especailly when I had a connecting flight in US (Halifax to Boston to STL, etc). However, you really do have to be early for your flight.

in response to Dredger's earlier question, Southwest isn't going to "hub up" like Ozark or TWA did. it's simply not their style. They fly nothing but point to point with little connecting traffic. that's one of many reasons i'm still hoping a legacy carrier or jetblue or someone comes in and hubs up B/C/D again.

Dredger wrote:In regards to Air Canada flight from Toronta you actually go through US Customs and Immigration while prior to boarding your flight in Toronto/Canada. US Cutsoms and Immigration are also present in Montreal and Halifax airports. Not sure as far as the rest of Canada's major airports.

It was different but nice to get it out of the way. Especailly when I had a connecting flight in US (Halifax to Boston to STL, etc). However, you really do have to be early for your flight.

Most of the big ones in Canada do, plus a couple places in the Caribbean, and Shannon, Ireland. They've also got a nice biometric border crossing program between the US & Canada that turns that wait at customs into a 30 second thing. I used to cross weekly for months on end and that adds up.

Last time I came into St Louis from Toronto there were a few guys from CBP waiting by the jetbridge. I guess there was someone special on that flight they wanted to nab.

American Airlines ends St. Louis service to 20 cities
St. Louis Business Journal

American Airlines ended its nonstop service in St. Louis to 20 cities after Monday's flights.

This move was part of American's larger plan announced in September to "eliminate unprofitable flying."

The airline cut St. Louis service to Atlanta; Austin; Des Moines; Indianapolis; Jacksonville, Fla.; Madison, Wisc.; Milwaukee; Minneapolis; Nashville; Newark, N.J.; New Orleans; Norfolk, Va.; Oklahoma City; Orlando; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Richmond, Va.; San Francisco; San Antonio; Washington, D.C., and Wichita, Kan

Link

St. Louis on the Air has Lambert's new director on his show today, KWMU (NPR) @ 90.7 FM.

Fox 2 story on Lambert

http://www.fox2now.com/news/ktvi-foxfil ... 2444.story

Lambert to cut a dozen firefighters, one unit of three gone.....

http://www.kmox.com/Lambert-Airport-to- ... rs/6750284

^^ I found this part VERY surprising

But changing the look of Lambert is only one of several changes considered critical to its future.

The mayor of St. Louis wants to change the way Lambert is governed. His proposal is to jointly operate it with St. Louis County, creating a transportation authority that eventually could include all local airports.

Of all the plans under discussion, the idea city leaders seem most excited about would affect passengers the least. It's a plan to once again make Lambert a hub, but this time for Chinese cargo.

The concept is simple, creating a cargo hub makes the region a better place to do business, which creates the one thing all airports needs to succeed: business travelers.

Cargo may not be sexy, but the economics of it are tantalizing, because airport landing fees are based on weight.

In the case of Lambert, the revenue from landing just one large cargo jet per day could make up for losing all those lighter weight regional flights being canceled by American.

Four Chinese airlines are now conducting feasibility studies of doing business at Lambert.

Officials believe with a little luck, by the end of the year, Lambert's cargo idea could be cleared for take off.

DOGTOWNB&R wrote:Lambert to cut a dozen firefighters, one unit of three gone.....

http://www.kmox.com/Lambert-Airport-to- ... rs/6750284

No actual layoffs but positions lost. I don't know enough about airport economics to judge this one. Of course, you never need firefighters until you need them.

A Lambert airport mole reports that officials with Delta Airlines paid a visit there last week (thinking about taking over concourse C?). .

http://bergersbeat.com/

Moorlander wrote:A Lambert airport mole reports that officials with Delta Airlines paid a visit there last week (thinking about taking over concourse C?). .

http://bergersbeat.com/

Seems somewhat like an odd choice with all of their already established hubs/mini-hubs, no? Minneapolis, Detroit, Memphis, Cincy, Atlanta & Salt Lake City all within a short flight from here. I get our central location between all of those hubs, but wouldn't a west coast (further than SLC) hub make much more sense? Would be great if it came to fruition, none the less.

Couldn't agree more that Delta would be more interested in consolidating their multiple Hubs/Mini-Hubs then finding more gates. Don't forget they also have a big presence in JFK. I listened to a story on Marketplace last week on how Cleveland could lose its minihub status if United merged with Continental.

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/disp ... -bad-hubs/

You could easily have filled in the story with St. Louis, TWA and AA before STL lost its hub status. I think this story could easily be replaced with Memphis or Cincy, NWA and Delta. Memphis and Cincy are very much in the position that STL was a couple of years ago.

i doubt this would be the case, but they might be looking to consolidate some of their midwestern hubs/minihubs at Lambert. much more likely that they'd just consolidate to a pre-existing hub though. plus, i'd feel kinda bad for destroying those airports. i'm ticked at O'Hare for takin all our flights, don't wanna do it to someone else, even if it means being re-hubbed.

I think the chances of Delta opening a new 'hub' or consolidating DTW/MEM/CVG/MSP at Lambert are next to none.

Perhaps they will open up a point-to-point route or two, but why close (or shrink) operations in cities where you have a built market presence to try to do so in a city where you don't?

Not going to happen.

Greg

Don't forget that Delta doesn't have much economic incentive to move out Memphis for the simple fact that FEDEX probably pays for the place outright. Memphis probably has some of the cheapest gate fees in the country.

On another note, interesting to think what or if any possiblities if the Southwest/WestJet deal went through. Pictured a flight to Calgary or Edmonton from STL trying to pull in some business flyers out of Wood River refinery (where a major upgrade is going to use Canadian oil). Still hoping for a Southwest/Mexican airline deal. Might bring us a Mexico City or Montery Flight.