urbanSTL

On the subject of the new terminal being 65 gates, I wonder if that'll be at full buildout instead of the initial phase. If Lambert can't always fill the gates they have now, why spend the money to build unused gates and then continually pay to maintain the unused areas? The new KC Airport is able to be expanded by 10 gates or so to become a 50(?) gate terminal, so I could see St. Louis doing 50 initially with the ability to go up to 65 or so.

But I'm interested to see how they make it work. This will be a big undertaking no matter how big they go and how much money they spend. The idea for a linear terminal still bothers me but I get that because of Lambert's characteristics, that's really the only way to go. Wish they would've went with one of the layout concepts that mirrored Atlanta a bit (island terminals).

^guessing something like.

Southwest 20
AA 7
DL 6
UA 6
AC 1
Spirit/JetBlue 2
Alaska 1
Frontier 2
Sun country 1
Props 2
Intentional at least 4
That’s 52.

You need a couple more common use at minimum for charters, etc. So having let’s say 7 gates at opening with no jetbridge, isn’t that bad. There might be other airlines in here like breeze or some other start up by then also.

And that’s assuming Southwest ONLY takes 20. I’d guess you would want some empty ones next to them available when they want to go past that.

matguy70 wrote: ↑

Mar 12, 2023

Good to hear the environmental plan process has been completed.

Also...  the rumblings of more international TATL service may come to fruition with this quote from Rhonda this week on STL NPR:

"An especially bright spot for the airport in 2022 was the June launch of service from St. Louis to Frankfurt, which brought back a direct flight from Lambert to Europe for the first time in two decades. Many of those flights have sold out, with the majority of seats being purchased by business travelers, Hamm-Niebruegge said.

“It’s validating what we knew all along, that this is a strong market and can be supported,” she said. “Because the numbers have been so strong, the other airlines have recognized that.”

The sustained success from this international flight is helping to drive conversations with other airlines about St. Louis’ strength as a market and where service could be expanded, Hamm-Niebruegge said."

Anne Rigail, Air France CEO, mentioned last WE that her company wants to expand their destinations in US. We need a STL - CDG, historical route for STL. Article link : 
https://www.lejdd.fr/economie/pourquoi- ... ain-133508

^That's a far sight better than the time I had to wait a similar amount of time for United to find someone to operate the empty jetway. Still not good, but at least it's obvious why you're waiting and the pilot doesn't have to make an announcement apologizing. (And it feels less like local incompetence and more like someone somewhere else screwed up a bit in scheduling. Probably similar kinds of minor errors in the end, and maybe nobody made a mistake at all and issues like the weather or health were to blame. And neither was deadly. But . . . it's frustrating when you're tired.)

^ & ^^  Wonder how common waiting for the gate has been lately.  Flew out of MSY into MSP on Friday evening and we spent a good 25-30 minutes waiting for ground staff to bring in the plane the last foot or two.   I was fortunate in my round about way to SFO that they crew on my flight was also the same crew going onto SFO.  So I didn't have to make the OJ mad dash hurdling over seats to get to my next gate.   

^It's only happened to me the once that I can recall. I've had several other sorts of delays, though. Had a good hour delay after an aircraft taxied to the end of the runway and then turned around for a maintenance issue and a bit of extra fuel. (Thought I'd have to change planes on that one.) I have to deal with horrid check in lines in Saigon all the time. Not technically a delay, but I just sort of expect it to take an hour must to check in to my flight there anymore. (Unless I'm flying VN Airlines.) That is typically a staff issue. They'll have two people working a desk serving several heavy international departures with lots of irregular luggage. (Lots of oversized boxes of food. I . . . uh . . . ask me how I know.) And the security lines and exit customs aren't much better. (Can't say as I can even think of all that many other countries that do exit customs, but Vietnam absolutely does. I have a vague recollection that China might as well.) The single worst one was about a five hour delay in Chicago due to a crew that got lost in transit in a snowstorm on a day the whole east coast was snarled up. Most of the time things go smoothly for me, but every once in a while they get interesting. Nothing too exciting yet, though. (Knock on wood.)

February STL numbers are up.

Passengers
Up 22.5% vs FEB22
Up 24.2% vs YTD 2022

Down 10.7% vs FEB19
Down 11.5% vs YTD 2019

Passengers last 12 months: 14,038,119 - great to be back over 14 mil

I flew Columbus to STL yesterday and half the flight was going STL to Tampa, as was the guy next to me and he said it was the cheapest way to get to tampa from Columbus

^^ I fly WN STL-SRQ and there are a lot of connections on those flights as well. People that I've spoken to say they prefer the experience @STL over @MDW.

^ good thing you didn’t say something like “you wouldn’t have remembered him, he was pretty pedestrian as a player, no idea how he got a coaching gig”

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Mar 28, 2023

^ good thing you didn’t say something like “you wouldn’t have remembered him, he was pretty pedestrian as a player, no idea how he got a coaching gig”

Those who can’t do, coach… or something like that.

pdm_ad wrote: ↑

Mar 28, 2023

. . .  I see John Mabry looking directly back at me listening to my entire discussion. He was smiling and really cordial, we talked for a few minutes. His mother-in-law lives in SRQ and he was heading down there for a week before continuing on to Jupiter to join Skip Schumaker for spring training. Still makes his home here in STL.

Very nice guy.

Very cool story!

Looks like there's some snafus happening one month after the new MCI terminal opened, hopefully this is something we can learn and plan for as we move forward with the new airport concourses: https://www.kctv5.com/2023/03/29/airpor ... operation/ 

AJ1289 wrote: ↑

Mar 30, 2023

Looks like there's some snafus happening one month after the new MCI terminal opened, hopefully this is something we can learn and plan for as we move forward with the new airport concourses: https://www.kctv5.com/2023/03/29/airpor ... operation/ 

Lots of complaints about dirty restrooms and floors also. But that’s should be an easy fix assuming they can hire more staff, which I get isn’t always easy.

is AC not back to 14 a week? 

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Mar 28, 2023

if you've ever driven at night to or from Lambert you may have taken this exit or on ramp on other side and one thing that i always notice is no lighting here, it's very dark and idk why, maybe not to interfere with various runway navigational lights?

I'm pretty sure that's the reason for it. I've seen some airports keep certain roadways or routes that come close to the airport property dimly lit or not lit at all to avoid pilot error when they land. I believe MDW has walled off a lot of the surrounding airport area to allow for street lights to exist given that MDW is smack dab in the middle of the South Side

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Mar 30, 2023

is AC not back to 14 a week? 

It goes to 2x in May. It is on a 2 class 76 seater at least not a 50 seater.