urbanSTL

matguy70 wrote: Hints: Watch for British Air nonstop EU service soon.

BA has been announcing new international routes 6-9 months in advance.

If BA is going to start service to STL, it wouldn't be until Spring 2017 with an announcement in late summer. Nothing imminent, in my opinion.

Greg

What seems to have quiet has been the Cargo Facility proposal that was going to include a lease and rebuild of the old McDonald Douglas @ $70 million dollars or so. I believe the Airport commission approved or recommended the lease approval but final agreement had to signed off by the city BoA. Anyone know what happened? or what is suppose to happen? I think I got the story somewhat right

matguy70 wrote:Good question!
Here's why...

Concourse C can accept 787 planes but currently can only board / depart international flights.
Reason: all international arriving flights MUST utilize Lamberts custom/immigration arrival gates in Terminal 2 E-gates. They have the secured jet ways that lead to Lamberts newer Customs/Immigration center on the lower level from those gates.

All international flights now depart from Concourse C but all arrive in E for.processing.

That was what I was thinking. They could drop them off there then move to C, that way it also doesn't use up that gate in E for long. Also with Southwest building out those gates, makes me wonder if they might start some Mexico/Caribbean service from here in the near future as well. Not surprised they are doing this, since I've heard from coworkers they have been having to wait on the tarmac on arrival more recently, and with a sizable increase this summer, the need is there. Does this also make proposals to demolish D much harder now since any future Southwest growth beyond this will go into D

Did see that recent months has shown around a 10% in traffic year over year.

And there it is....Some of you airline savants have said one of the remaining markets not served by Lambert is Jacksonville, FL and Allegiant just announced it out of Mid-America starting in May.

sirshankalot wrote:And there it is....Some of you airline savants have said one of the remaining markets not served by Lambert is Jacksonville, FL and Allegiant just announced it out of Mid-America starting in May.

Sorry but twice weekly service which lasts for 2 1/2 months doesn't really excite me.

Greg

New York Times Article

Using Apps to Ease the Headache of Navigating Airports
By JANE L. LEVEREMARCH 28, 2016


Brett Fox, an American Airlines frequent flier, at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Credit Whitney Curtis for The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/29/busin ... .html?_r=0

My anecdotal observations: Terminal two appears to be hopping - SWA is driving a ton of traffic through STL. From personal experience and what I hear from others is that Terminal 1 continues to be underutilized; those I've heard flying into or from Lambert who aren't using SWA comment often that the airport feels barren, empty.

I know overall the numbers show Lambert, though still nowhere near the TWA salad days, is busier than it's been since 2001. But i've gotten the distinct impression from those going through terminal 1 that it's getting worse, not better.

-RBB

rbb wrote:My anecdotal observations: Terminal two appears to be hopping - SWA is driving a ton of traffic through STL. From personal experience and what I hear from others is that Terminal 1 continues to be underutilized; those I've heard flying into or from Lambert who aren't using SWA comment often that the airport feels barren, empty.

I know overall the numbers show Lambert, though still nowhere near the TWA salad days, is busier than it's been since 2001. But i've gotten the distinct impression from those going through terminal 1 that it's getting worse, not better.

-RBB

Within Terminal 1, I think Concourse A stays pretty busy. I flew out of Concourse C for the first time in long time last week and it wasn't that busy, but did have enough traffic to warrant filling the storefronts. Worst part of the experience was that we had to wait about 45 minutes for checked baggage. That can't be normal, right?

I always wait longer for baggage at Lambert than anywhere else, it's ridiculous.

STLEnginerd wrote:I tend to think Lambert would be more appealing as a hub airport, if the security checkpoints were moved to the upper level so you could connect from Concourse A to Concourse B & C and then through D to E without exiting and re-entering security.

I realize that's a major undertaking but i tend to think it'd be worth it if we want to get more traffic through Lambert. I would think it would be especially appealing to international carriers.

Any thoughts from those more familiar with the industry?

I would be surprised if STL would become a hub again without re-configuring Terminal 1. I don't see much of a need for STL to be a hub for any of the legacy carriers right now. If JetBlue / Virgin merge then I think STL could work as a good midwest hub for them. That would give them STL, LAX, SFO, BOS as hubs and DAL and a few Florida airports as focus cities. That's pretty good coverage.

As for international... that's a hard sell until STL is a hub. But, if STL is a hub, then it's not a bad international base. On a 777 or 787 out of STL you can get almost anywhere in the world, except extreme southeast Asia (i.e., Singapore) and Oceania.

I'd like to see STL start courting Virgin/Blue. I doubt any of the legacy carriers will signifigantly step up their presence in STL.

MarkHaversham wrote:I always wait longer for baggage at Lambert than anywhere else, it's ridiculous.

I checked bags for the first time and I was shocked with how slow it was.

I fly to Vietnam somewhat regularly and lately I've always checked bags. I'd say it's gotten a bit slower and less friendly now that things are more self service. Doubtless this is no big deal if you fly every few weeks, but if you fly once a year or so it's kind of a pain to figure out the system. Everyone seems understaffed these days, which makes service slow and overworked employees are doubtless more standoffish. Especially at the obscene hours of the morning my flights usually leave. And St. Louis isn't the only place. I've noticed the same thing in Shanghai and Saigon, at least. Bright, fancy, busy airports like Hong Kong and Seoul/Incheon flow more smoothly, but St. Louis isn't alone. I'd say the main terminal has slowly gotten busier and better, but it's still pretty grim. Brighter now, and cleaner, but still pretty empty. On the other hand, I've been in and out of that airport since Ozark days, so I'm a little biased. Throughout my youth I figured airports must always be under construction, there was so much expansion going on.

KevinAdams wrote:If JetBlue / Virgin merge then I think STL could work as a good midwest hub for them.

Sounds like it'll end up being a Virgin / Alaska merger, which could be preferable to a JetBlue merger since Alaska already flies to St. Louis with a daily to Seattle. Seems more likely that Alaska would leverage their gate/existing presents than JetBlue+Virgin opening up in an entirely new market.

^ Agree, think its a way for Alaska Air to access some east coast markets like Philly, DC, etc while at the same time to have more access into SFO. Be curious if they try to build upon their Virgin American SFO base or if it a way to add flight to the east coast markets from Seattle or LA.

In long term, I always wondered if it made sense for Frontier to start building up through St Louis or if Frontier/Spirit will be the merger of the ultra cheap bare bones airline. Maybe JetBlue will look hard at Frontier now. I don't see many airlines left being regional in nature nor wanting too.

Alaska is buying Virgin America for $4B ($57/share).
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/04/alaska-a ... erica.html

Hopefully this makes STL an appealing quasi-hub to help tie their new, larger, national footprint together.

Would love to someday have Seattle, Portland, SFO and JFK flights.

^@wabash: We currently have nonstops to SEA, PDX, and SFO. JFK is the only one missing on your list.

I also see Delta able to indirectly broaden its reach with the Alaska Air & Virgin American deal and wondering if Delta was expressing some support to Alaska Airlines to go forward on this. Heck, Delta might even see this as a future takeover opportunity. If not mistaken, believe Delta and Alaska Airlines code share. Believe Delta also code shares with Aeromexico as well as and was exploring buying or maybe already owns shares. You would get even more international destinations on one stop if Delta would go with a STL to JFK direct and if Areomexico can add a STL to MEX

Randy wrote:^@wabash: We currently have nonstops to SEA, PDX, and SFO. JFK is the only one missing on your list.

Yeah, I meant Seattle, Portland, SFO and JFK flights from Alaska/Virgin specifically. Basically, I think SFO and JFK are the two most likely destinations that an Alaska/Virgin combination would add.

^That's a good point about the Alaska - Delta code share, kind of makes a JFK flight make more sense since it could feed International Delta flights out of JFK.

dredger wrote:I also see Delta able to indirectly broaden its reach with the Alaska Air & Virgin American deal and wondering if Delta was expressing some support to Alaska Airlines to go forward on this. Heck, Delta might even see this as a future takeover opportunity. If not mistaken, believe Delta and Alaska Airlines code share. Believe Delta also code shares with Aeromexico as well as and was exploring buying or maybe already owns shares. You would get even more international destinations on one stop if Delta would go with a STL to JFK direct and if Areomexico can add a STL to MEX

Alaska codeshares with both Delta and American.

Delta's expansion in Seattle is rapidly ending their friendship. I fully expect Alaska to drop the codeshare as soon as contracts allow.

Delta (nor any of the big 4 airlines) will not be able to buy Alaska in the future. There is simply too little competition at the current time.

Delta (and American) used to fly STL-JFK but both airlines have dropped that service.

Greg