St. Louis Lambert Int. Airport [airline/hub/operations/info]

RockChalkSTL · PostJan 05, 2023#75762023-01-05T18:41+00:00

I hear the situation in Denver is even worse. They have loads of people that don't have their luggage yet.

Southwest is looking really bad right now, and that might not be a good thing for Lambert. Both St. Louis and Kansas City have Southwest as 3-4X more prevalent than any other airline at their airports.

jshank83 · PostJan 06, 2023#75772023-01-06T02:48+00:00

matguy70 wrote: ↑
Jan 03, 2023
KMOX Total Information AM (at 8:05 / 9:05 news) had a segment on Lufthansa's success in STL. "St. Louis embraces EU Flights"
Rhonda was interviewed and she confirmed that June/July/August/Sept/October were all over 90 percent full flights outbound and inbound. November/December was 86-88 percent full. She expects Lufthansa will increase flights in Spring.
Of the travelers on the first 7 months: approximately 12% of passengers per flight inbound are connecting onto United in Terminal 1 in STL. Over 50% outbound passengers are connecting to other destinations in EU/other when landing in FRA. Approximately 20 percent inbound STL passengers are foreigners coming to STL.
Rhonda also said the Lufthansa is selling Business Class out consistently (which on the A330-300 now has two areas) and STL is seeing the largest volume of Business class bookings than other US Markets.

Side note: We booked BIZ Class both ways this last week (both flights were completely sold out on Dec 25 and Jan 1). Lufthansa is the nicest airline I have ever flown (internationally I have flown all the legacy US carriers as well as Iberia, AirEuropa, BritishAir, FinAir, El Al, and the defunct Alitalia). The food, service impeccable and planes clean and well appointed. Another note: when boarding in EU or any other country in the world for that matter, airlines (including US carriers) have horrible boarding "rules"... your group boarding number means nada... everyone crams up and just starts going on - even if you are 1st/biz class or member class - I hate it! BUT, Lufthansa (like all all Germany) follows the rules - you line up in their lines - they are methodical and organized like you wouldn't believe. It was amazing (both in FRA and in MADRID on both connections). Kudos to Lufthansa.

Side note #2: Will STL see another carrier line up for service to EU or other international cross TATL service? We will see.

https://www.audacy.com/stations/kmox/sh ... uCEAAAA%3D

Around 7:13 and 8:05

Basically what you said except they said half dozen people not 12% change terminals for connections with united. Doesn't say anything about more flights. Says getting another route comes down to incentives (which is obviously the case)

matguy70 · PostJan 06, 2023#75782023-01-06T05:09+00:00

jshank83 wrote: ↑
Jan 06, 2023
matguy70 wrote: ↑
Jan 03, 2023
KMOX Total Information AM (at 8:05 / 9:05 news) had a segment on Lufthansa's success in STL. "St. Louis embraces EU Flights"
Rhonda was interviewed and she confirmed that June/July/August/Sept/October were all over 90 percent full flights outbound and inbound. November/December was 86-88 percent full. She expects Lufthansa will increase flights in Spring.
Of the travelers on the first 7 months: approximately 12% of passengers per flight inbound are connecting onto United in Terminal 1 in STL. Over 50% outbound passengers are connecting to other destinations in EU/other when landing in FRA. Approximately 20 percent inbound STL passengers are foreigners coming to STL.
Rhonda also said the Lufthansa is selling Business Class out consistently (which on the A330-300 now has two areas) and STL is seeing the largest volume of Business class bookings than other US Markets.

Side note: We booked BIZ Class both ways this last week (both flights were completely sold out on Dec 25 and Jan 1). Lufthansa is the nicest airline I have ever flown (internationally I have flown all the legacy US carriers as well as Iberia, AirEuropa, BritishAir, FinAir, El Al, and the defunct Alitalia). The food, service impeccable and planes clean and well appointed. Another note: when boarding in EU or any other country in the world for that matter, airlines (including US carriers) have horrible boarding "rules"... your group boarding number means nada... everyone crams up and just starts going on - even if you are 1st/biz class or member class - I hate it! BUT, Lufthansa (like all all Germany) follows the rules - you line up in their lines - they are methodical and organized like you wouldn't believe. It was amazing (both in FRA and in MADRID on both connections). Kudos to Lufthansa.

Side note #2: Will STL see another carrier line up for service to EU or other international cross TATL service? We will see.
https://www.audacy.com/stations/kmox/sh ... uCEAAAA%3D

Around 7:13 and 8:05

Basically what you said except they said half dozen people not 12% change terminals for connections with united. Doesn't say anything about more flights. Says getting another route comes down to incentives (which is obviously the case)

Thanks for finding this my friend. I was thinking I dreamed it... I also was trying to pull out my recollection of it while I caught it while navigating rush hour.

Good stuff.

PostJan 06, 2023#75792023-01-06T05:14+00:00

RockChalkSTL wrote: ↑
Jan 05, 2023
I hear the situation in Denver is even worse. They have loads of people that don't have their luggage yet.

Southwest is looking really bad right now, and that might not be a good thing for Lambert. Both St. Louis and Kansas City have Southwest as 3-4X more prevalent than any other airline at their airports.

Southwest is a legacy carrier at this point in time and the largest domestic passenger airline int the USA.
They had a downfall / blip due to staffing issues (everyone does right now... no cook no food = no pilots or crew / no flight.
I much rather have an airline that has more economic/profitable successes overall and one that has the best safety record out of the legacies than any other investing and offering a "hub" now at our airport.

jshank83 · PostJan 06, 2023#75802023-01-06T06:19+00:00

matguy70 wrote: ↑
Jan 06, 2023
jshank83 wrote: ↑
Jan 06, 2023
matguy70 wrote: ↑
Jan 03, 2023
KMOX Total Information AM (at 8:05 / 9:05 news) had a segment on Lufthansa's success in STL. "St. Louis embraces EU Flights"
Rhonda was interviewed and she confirmed that June/July/August/Sept/October were all over 90 percent full flights outbound and inbound. November/December was 86-88 percent full. She expects Lufthansa will increase flights in Spring.
Of the travelers on the first 7 months: approximately 12% of passengers per flight inbound are connecting onto United in Terminal 1 in STL. Over 50% outbound passengers are connecting to other destinations in EU/other when landing in FRA. Approximately 20 percent inbound STL passengers are foreigners coming to STL.
Rhonda also said the Lufthansa is selling Business Class out consistently (which on the A330-300 now has two areas) and STL is seeing the largest volume of Business class bookings than other US Markets.

Side note: We booked BIZ Class both ways this last week (both flights were completely sold out on Dec 25 and Jan 1). Lufthansa is the nicest airline I have ever flown (internationally I have flown all the legacy US carriers as well as Iberia, AirEuropa, BritishAir, FinAir, El Al, and the defunct Alitalia). The food, service impeccable and planes clean and well appointed. Another note: when boarding in EU or any other country in the world for that matter, airlines (including US carriers) have horrible boarding "rules"... your group boarding number means nada... everyone crams up and just starts going on - even if you are 1st/biz class or member class - I hate it! BUT, Lufthansa (like all all Germany) follows the rules - you line up in their lines - they are methodical and organized like you wouldn't believe. It was amazing (both in FRA and in MADRID on both connections). Kudos to Lufthansa.

Side note #2: Will STL see another carrier line up for service to EU or other international cross TATL service? We will see.
https://www.audacy.com/stations/kmox/sh ... uCEAAAA%3D

Around 7:13 and 8:05

Basically what you said except they said half dozen people not 12% change terminals for connections with united. Doesn't say anything about more flights. Says getting another route comes down to incentives (which is obviously the case)
Thanks for finding this my friend. I was thinking I dreamed it... I also was trying to pull out my recollection of it while I caught it while navigating rush hour.

Good stuff.

I’m glad you heard it and alerted me to it. Nice to hear November numbers were strong for them also. You never know how much winter drop off happens.

PostJan 18, 2023#75812023-01-18T03:40+00:00

July International Loads

Southwest Montego Bay 95%
Frontier Punta Cana 94%
Southwest Cancun 93.5%
Lufthansa Frankfurt 91%
Frontier Cancun 87.5%
Air Canada Toronto 86%
Viva/Apple Cabo 79.5%
Viva/Apple Puerto Vallarta 64%
Viva/Apple HUX 50%

matguy70 · PostJan 24, 2023#75822023-01-24T03:17+00:00

New "Grab My Bag" Service Company begins in February 2023. The company is also based in STL

https://www.travelagentcentral.com/tran ... claim-woes

jshank83 · PostJan 25, 2023#75832023-01-25T00:20+00:00

Final STL numbers for 2022

13,665,517 passengers
32% higher than 2021
Down 13.9% from 2019

https://www.flystl.com/uploads/document ... -FINAL.pdf

I was in line in front of Rhonda today boarding my flight. She said the melt down took 100-200K off our number, I can't remember exactly what she said at the moment.

symphonicpoet · PostJan 26, 2023#75842023-01-26T09:04+00:00

^Totally jelly. Got some pics from C that I will post later. Man, it was surreal being back in there for literally the first time since TWA. Was briefly in D when American moved there after the tornado, but since then I hadn't flown AA or any other C carrier until last week. Man, it brings back some memories.

jshank83 · PostFeb 01, 2023#75852023-02-01T21:06+00:00

Commission meeting notes:

Peacemaker Lobster and Crab/4Hands will replace pasta house/schlafly in T2.

No signed agreement with Southwest on new baggage at T2. Bonds have not been sold for that project yet.

Checkpoint numbers for January down 4% from January 2019

2022 connecting traffic on Southwest was 34%. Anticipate it will be higher this year.

quincunx · PostFeb 02, 2023#75862023-02-02T17:41+00:00

StlToday - St. Louis’ Lambert wants in on state funding for international flights

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/gov ... d98bc.html

shadrach · PostFeb 02, 2023#75872023-02-02T19:36+00:00

Use $5M of the NFL money. They make a good point which I agree with but in the end you can't rely on the state when it comes to helping out STL and they're probably of the mindset 'you already got your int'l flight, it's KC's turn.'

dbInSouthCity · PostFeb 02, 2023#75882023-02-02T19:47+00:00

Which nfl money? Why should STL city and county use it when the airport is used by everyone in the region

shadrach · PostFeb 02, 2023#75892023-02-02T20:04+00:00

Everyone uses it but the City owns it. And that’s where it gets wonky.

dbInSouthCity · PostFeb 02, 2023#75902023-02-02T20:24+00:00

shadrach wrote: ↑
Feb 02, 2023
Everyone uses it but the City owns it. And that’s where it gets wonky.

thats irrelevant, City has no benefit of owning the airport and 5% the traffic is by city residents.
which is why i wanted the city to sell it and take $2billion and if it fails it fails, let the region fix it.

RockChalkSTL · PostFeb 02, 2023#75912023-02-02T20:32+00:00

If the state is going to give Kansas City $5 million to lure an international flight, I don't know why they wouldn't also give St. Louis the same.

If the roles were reversed, you had better believe Kansas City would want their $5 million.

jshank83 · PostFeb 02, 2023#75922023-02-02T22:55+00:00

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑
Feb 02, 2023
shadrach wrote: ↑
Feb 02, 2023
Everyone uses it but the City owns it. And that’s where it gets wonky.
thats irrelevant, City has no benefit of owning the airport and 5% the traffic is by city residents.
which is why i wanted the city to sell it and take $2billion and if it fails it fails, let the region fix it.

The city is one of the only cities in the country that takes money from the airport every year. So it gets something.

dbInSouthCity · PostFeb 02, 2023#75932023-02-02T22:58+00:00

jshank83 wrote: ↑
Feb 02, 2023
dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑
Feb 02, 2023
shadrach wrote: ↑
Feb 02, 2023
Everyone uses it but the City owns it. And that’s where it gets wonky.
thats irrelevant, City has no benefit of owning the airport and 5% the traffic is by city residents.
which is why i wanted the city to sell it and take $2billion and if it fails it fails, let the region fix it.
The city is one of the only cities in the country that takes money from the airport every year. So it gets something.

*if* there is enough left over it can get up to $5m a year but after the airport bonds out $1-2b for new terminal I don’t think much will be left

matguy70 · PostFeb 02, 2023#75942023-02-02T23:00+00:00

100 percent true RockChalkSTL.

I have been following that incentive and wondering *WHY* STL was not getting any. The tax payers in Missouri are all going to pay it - but give it to one city? THAT is a problem. In addition, STL is the largest population in the state - most of KC's is in Kansas - and Missouri wants Missourians (most of which live in STL and the Missouri Metro side) to pay for an incentive for one city over the other. Seems like this was packaged into a safety bill that wanted to remain "secretive". Glad STL politicians and now STL International see there is a problem there.

In addition, I think this came to fruition because STL has another carrier ready to start service at Lambert and they want a piece of the pie.

gary kreie · PostFeb 03, 2023#75952023-02-03T00:51+00:00

Why are St Louis and KC metros treated the same by the state of Missouri when so much of the KC metro is in Kansas. KC makes up about 20% of Missouri economy and St Louis around 40%. Is our state subsidizing Kansas?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

shadrach · PostFeb 03, 2023#75962023-02-03T02:57+00:00

Because Kansas City is in Missouri and is the state's largest city. Sucks, but that's how stats and facts work. Just like how Lambert is owned by the City, irrelevant or not, it is.

sc4mayor · PostFeb 03, 2023#75972023-02-03T03:02+00:00

^ Couldn’t one say that Lambert is located in St. Louis County (the state’s largest county, by a significant amount)…to be fair didn’t STL pay for the FRA flight with local money? Why shouldn’t we get some state money?

shadrach · PostFeb 03, 2023#75982023-02-03T03:44+00:00

Lambert is in St Louis County but it’s owned by the City, IOW Lambert is an exclave. The money for the Lufthansa flight came from Greater St. Louis, Inc. which is funded/underwritten by corporations throughout the region.

Wonky.

sc4mayor · PostFeb 03, 2023#75992023-02-03T04:45+00:00

I don’t think it’s that “wonky.” The St. Louis business community stepped up with some incentives and secured a flight. No state assistance included…why shouldn’t KC’s business community do the same? And why shouldn’t our region (or any other in Missouri) be able to take advantage of some state money for that purpose?

matguy70 · PostFeb 03, 2023#76002023-02-03T14:05+00:00

sc4mayor wrote: ↑
Feb 03, 2023
I don’t think it’s that “wonky.” The St. Louis business community stepped up with some incentives and secured a flight. No state assistance included…why shouldn’t KC’s business community do the same? And why shouldn’t our region (or any other in Missouri) be able to take advantage of some state money for that purpose?

100 percent.
Like I said... the only "wonky" here is the fact that 5 million for service is being put In a "safety bill" and given to KC. But STL / Missouri politicians and Rhonda are on to it now and want STL's share.

St. Louis Lambert Int. Airport [airline/hub/operations/info]

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