The sheer difficulty of rebuilding T1 airside while maintaining all service would add significant costs and lengthen the construction time by a lot. I understand that this is all fantasy land and nothing of this magnitude will likely change at STL in the next few decades. Yet, I find fun in speculating how a brand new terminal at STL would make it ideal IMHO.jshank83 wrote: ↑Apr 18, 2018I'm also not sure how just rebuilding T1 airside is going to be more expensive than rebuilding an entire terminal. T1 landslide doesn't need replaced in my opinion.
I would say nothing REALLY needs replaced (besides maybe a airside extension and parking garage extension in T2). It won't lead to more service, just more fees. But all this is fun to speculate what each person thinks they should do to make it ideal.
^ Outside of some logistics, I really don't see how building a new linear T1 concourse is much more difficult than anything else in terms of construction or any other airport. You could literally build a new T1 security access and the initial gates where concourse B (Currently used as an event space) without disrupting one single gate/flights. On top of it, Lambert has the luxury of too many gates and so phasing would be relatively easy as got an underutilized Concourse C and plenty of unused D gates to shuffle passengers around all leading back to the same baggage carousel, parking, curbside facilities.
But as everyone noted, fun to speculate a future. At some point you have to replace infrastructure
But as everyone noted, fun to speculate a future. At some point you have to replace infrastructure
Those are some good points that I was unaware of. Maybe we should make our own Urban STL Lambert 30 Year master plan. 
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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There actually was a midfield terminal planned at one point. (At the same time as W-1W, which became runway 11-29.) You can see reference to it (and a bit of a diagram) in this paper from 2007. Take a look at p. 11:
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It's been considered. Just not needed right now. But the space is there. It won't go away. And phased redevelopment and reconfiguration of the concourses is also possible.
It's been considered. Just not needed right now. But the space is there. It won't go away. And phased redevelopment and reconfiguration of the concourses is also possible.
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Yep. I've been harping on that midfield terminal for ages lol. I think it would accommodate something around 110 gates to start out with (it might be 110+ with expansion)? It's been a while since I've looked over that paper and its associated PowerPoint presentation.
New security line is open in T2. Sounds like it is primarily going to be TSA pre, although they mention they can move people around.
https://www.flystl.com/newsroom/stl-new ... terminal-2
https://www.flystl.com/newsroom/stl-new ... terminal-2
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I love the 2nd plan with the one new long concourse served by underground tram from the terminals, and a single combined parking and rental structure that one could ride to or walk to from the terminal. No van rides needed. Similar to Minneapolis or Ft. Lauderdale direct access to cars.shadrach wrote: ↑Apr 17, 2018Wow!! Going to repost these images (created/posted back in July 2016)matguy70 wrote: ↑Apr 16, 2018This may have been posted sometime here - but this is an expansion plan for STL and their model ideas from 2015/2017 reports.
http://www.gatewaystreets.org/2017/visi ... t-airport/
Full-boat enhancements:
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^ It should be pointed out that, unless you plan on decommissioning runway 12R/30L, the 2nd plan there is impossible. Only a single taxiway between the runway and the extra-long concourse that would be blocked by any aircraft pulling in/pushing out of a north side gate.
Duel ADG 3 Taxi ways would be the minimum required.
Dude, knock it off with them negative waves...And yeah, I totally expected something like that when I pushed the concourse north.
If they ever get around to these plans, I hope they might repurpose T1 as a TWA hotel.
I wonder if the folks behind the TWA hotel in JFK have that in the back of their mind or even the idea of pitching a TWA hotel at Lambert if they are successful (whether its part of T1 or not). Can picture a chain of retro hotel airport themes across the county, maybe an Ozark theme hotel for STL instead or Eastern on East Coast/Florida, or maybe Northwest Airlines theme hotel at MSP, so on
WOW starting a "business class"
I put it in quotes for a reason. I would compare it more to a domestic first class product seat wise, still no wifi/entertainment. But it is cheaper than legacy airline business class and better than their economy so it will be interesting to see how it does.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/airl ... 00554.html
I put it in quotes for a reason. I would compare it more to a domestic first class product seat wise, still no wifi/entertainment. But it is cheaper than legacy airline business class and better than their economy so it will be interesting to see how it does.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/airl ... 00554.html
If you are flying Southwest over the next couple weeks keep an eye on your flight. They have been canceling them to do inspections. Looks like mostly flights to/from big stations (Orlando, Dallas, Phoenix) today, so far. Which makes sense because they have plenty of other flights throughout the day to put people on to those cities.
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Wonder if this is in part to lighten the overall plane load to help with range issues going west in winter? Also could this be why schedules this winter aren't loaded yet is due to the seat configuration issue and this announcement? Since the headwinds in winter is something that will be a concern to here due to depending on plane used will be hitting edge of range.jshank83 wrote: ↑Apr 20, 2018WOW starting a "business class"
I put it in quotes for a reason. I would compare it more to a domestic first class product seat wise, still no wifi/entertainment. But it is cheaper than legacy airline business class and better than their economy so it will be interesting to see how it does.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/airl ... 00554.html
The new configuration will have more seats, going from 200 to 208, so I don't think it has anything to do with load. I think it is just about offering another product to try to get another subset of travelers.imperialmog wrote: ↑Apr 23, 2018Wonder if this is in part to lighten the overall plane load to help with range issues going west in winter? Also could this be why schedules this winter aren't loaded yet is due to the seat configuration issue and this announcement? Since the headwinds in winter is something that will be a concern to here due to depending on plane used will be hitting edge of range.jshank83 wrote: ↑Apr 20, 2018WOW starting a "business class"
I put it in quotes for a reason. I would compare it more to a domestic first class product seat wise, still no wifi/entertainment. But it is cheaper than legacy airline business class and better than their economy so it will be interesting to see how it does.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/airl ... 00554.html
Looks like United is messing with the SFO nonstops. No more ~5pm to SFO until June, and the morning flight is moving to a 737/A319 in June as well. Really surprised they dropped the 5pm for a while, I fly it a lot and it's packed.
I noticed that they had cut it for April/May when I did my schedule spreadsheet. It usually has good loads so it surprised me. I don't know if they are having issues with regionals/pilots like Alaska. It did happen to go to 1x daily pretty much the exact same time Southwest added San Jose, so maybe that played a role as well. I am a little surprised they didn't keep the night one instead of the morning one since Southwest runs their SFO flight in the morning also. As you said it comes back in June.
Sidebar. There is work going on north of the airport where they are loading dirt into traincars (with covers). Does anyone know what that is about? It is south of Mcdonnell and north of the traintracks along Banshee. Google Maps has a pin at it that says SLAPS. It is close to coldwater creek but it doesn't look like they are digging contaminated soil out of it or anything.
EDIT: I found this on it. kind of interesting. I guess it was a waste site for Mallinckrodt during for uranium?
http://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/Missions/ ... SLAPS.aspx
Yes that’s the original location for all the nuclear waste, sat exposed to the elements for 10 years, 57-67, before being moved north to the Latty storage then mysteriously moved to Westlake...
Interesting. Thanks for the info. I just thought it all went to Westlake right away.
Speaking of Coldwater Creek it looks like the airport is spending 4 mil on emergency work on it.
https://www.flystl.com/uploads/document ... 5-2-18.pdf
https://www.flystl.com/uploads/document ... 5-2-18.pdf
Found a snippet in the transcript of ALK's quarterly earnings call that may be of interest to some here:
Don't count on AS/OO/QX being back on PDX-STL in the near future.Mike Linenberg [Deutsche Bank]
And then just Brad on that line about getting the network right, I mean, you did mention earlier in the call that with Horizon the pilot situation is now under control. And yet when I look at some of the route cancellations over the last, like call three to six months, there have been a lot of E175, longer-haul routes out of Seattle and Portland that have been cut. Is that – when I saw that, I thought that, that was either a combination of pilots and under-performance? But it sounds like it’s not pilots at all. It’s more about performance in getting the network right. Is that the right interpretation of those cuts?
Andrew Harrison [EVP & Chief Commercial Officer, Alaska Air Group]
Yes, Mike. This is Andrew. That’s exactly right. And I think we’ve had a lot of mid cuts of rounds stuff out of Portland just we’ve looked at that. And with rising fuel, we’ve decided to make changes.
I emailed the airport to ask about why it was cut a couple months ago and they said they were told it was a business decision, so I would agree with your thinking. It probably won't come back. If 85% loads weren't good enough then I'm not sure what would change things. I still don't really get bringing it back in March for 2 months then cutting it right before summer. I would have thought they would have waited til September or not brought it back at all, but oh well.
I'm curious to see if SAN does any better.
While load factor alone is never an indicator of profitability what I find compelling is if you go back to late 2015 the route was then deemed profitable in the first quarter of operations which is a significant achievement for a relatively long and thin route of this profile.jshank83 wrote: ↑Apr 29, 2018I emailed the airport to ask about why it was cut a couple months ago and they said they were told it was a business decision, so I would agree with your thinking. It probably won't come back. If 85% loads weren't good enough then I'm not sure what would change things. I still don't really get bringing it back in March for 2 months then cutting it right before summer. I would have thought they would have waited til September or not brought it back at all, but oh well.
I'm curious to see if SAN does any better.
My guess is the combination of their own acquisition of Virgin America, other more lucrative uses for their limited E-175 frames, new WN capacity in this market-coupled with a strong WN affinity and loyalty for the STL point of sale, along with the dimisnhed AA FFP partnership all compounded to take this route from a winner to a marginal underperforming market.
Q2 2015:
http://investor.alaskaair.com/static-fi ... b27d99f668Brad Tilden - Alaska Air Group, Inc. - CEO and Chairman
With respect to our schedule, earlier this month we launched new service from Seattle to both Milwaukee and Oklahoma City, and from Portland to St. Louis, with all of these being served with a new aircraft type, the Embraer E-175. The early returns on these markets are very good. We're looking forward to new service this fall to JFK, Raleigh, Charleston, Nashville, and Costa Rica. And finally, recognizing the customer preference and financial -- recognizing that the customer preference and financial success that we have today is due in part to our superior service, we're doubling down on service through a new series of workshops for our customer-facing employees. Ben is going to tell you a bit more about these in a moment.
Q3 2015:
http://investor.alaskaair.com/static-fi ... ec987b9828Second, we added Embraer 175s into our fleet this quarter, allowing us to enter markets too thin for 737s to serve profitably and too far for the Q400s. All three E175 markets are exceeding expectations with very high load factors consistently near 90% and achieving profitability in their first quarter of operation.
Towards the end of August United is putting a couple mainlines on the route to ORD. First time I have seen that in awhile. Obviously, that can change between now and then. As of last month there were no mainlines on United flying to STL at all. They now have some scheduled on STL-SFO/IAH/DEN/ORD at least for a few months at a time.