urbanSTL

sc4mayor wrote: ↑

Mar 31, 2023

This is kind of cool…one of the first PD “Look Back” articles I hadn’t seen before.

'Wide open and bright;' Lambert's new terminal opened to rave reviews 25 years ago
https://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/ ... EHZXyVo5g0

The airline has 90 flights out of Lambert each day. The new terminal gives Southwest room to add 40 flights a day, although officials have not decided whether they will.

Great find.

Hard for me to believe they were at 90 flights a day back then. Maybe 90 combined. (45 in 45 out).

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/ 

This isn't a terminal snafu, this is american car culture and a weird quirk of their old terminals.
They've gone from over 4000 linear feet of pickup / drop off space to less than 1500 (very similar to STL terminal 1 or Indy). And that used to be combined pickup / dropoff space, so late at night, that was 4000 ft of pickup space down to 750. No one is using the cell phone lot 1) bc they've never had to use it before and 2) it's kind of in a bad location, and yeah i know cell phone lots are always in bad locations. I've seen other article saying that you can park the garage for $1 (or maybe free, I forgot) and hardly anyone is doing that either. Personally, I love parking in the garage and meeting people inside.

I doubt they've figured out yet how much easier it is to pick people up at departures, especially at night. Also, it's probably just virtue signalling but they need better bus service. KC is no stranger to transit innovation (keeping their streetcar free was it's only key to success and they've been running free busses since March 2020), they should try running express busses to downtown instead of their once per hour 1.5 hour winding journey of a bus route they currently run.

aprice wrote: ↑

Apr 04, 2023

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/ 

This isn't a terminal snafu, this is american car culture and a weird quirk of their old terminals.
They've gone from over 4000 linear feet of pickup / drop off space to less than 1500 (very similar to STL terminal 1 or Indy). And that used to be combined pickup / dropoff space, so late at night, that was 4000 ft of pickup space down to 750. No one is using the cell phone lot 1) bc they've never had to use it before and 2) it's kind of in a bad location, and yeah i know cell phone lots are always in bad locations. I've seen other article saying that you can park the garage for $1 (or maybe free, I forgot) and hardly anyone is doing that either. Personally, I love parking in the garage and meeting people inside.

I thought I read the garage is full most of the time so that isn’t an option

jshank83 wrote: ↑

Apr 05, 2023

For Southwest Baggage claim expansion

Special facility bonds 60 mil. Airport sells bonds. Southwest pays full cost

Pays any increased rent that occurs. If southwest ceases to occupy they will pay it off in 18 months (Ie if it isn't paid off when they move to new terminal).

Larger footprint 11K sq ft.

More back of house operations.

30% design review due next Friday.

Timeline: Ready for occupation late 2025. Back of the house likely sooner.

No new rendering shown...  :mad:

The idea that Southwest knows this is going to be in use less than a decade and all the way to the top level said they want this, and an expanded version from the original is great to see.

It's probably not so much that it'll only be in use less than a decade rather than them being proactive about improving their current operations which could very likely end up existing in it's current location for longer than the perceived 8 to 10 years.  I mean, it is St. Louis after all.  A lot of political infighting to get things done around here.  Hopefully I'm wrong and the airport has a pretty solid plan to implement and construct the new terminal within the timeframe they projected.

sc4mayor wrote: ↑

Apr 05, 2023

^ Wouldn’t they make moves to expand gate capacity as well then?  SWA’s existing operation in STL is too big for the existing baggage system.  If they’re planning on being in the existing buildings long term “bEcAuSe sT. LoUiS” then why not make moves to modernize/expand gate and holding areas?

I’m confident the airlines and our competent Airport leadership will get a new terminal done.  Fortunately the airport is controlled by one entity, the city, and not the region.  Won’t be as much “infighting” as you think.

ALP plans are required by the feds every 10 years. These are the planning documents that guide future Airport expansions. Provided airlines are in sync it shouldn’t be that difficult, the airport’s already done most of the initial planning.

Yea. This is one thing I don’t feel like there won’t be much pushback on. All the city leaders seem to be on the same page. I am sure KC getting a new one helps to get people behind it here also.

flew in/out Terminal one No new news here its looking oldish worn out 'frumpy'

October International Loads

Southwest Cancun 95%
Lufthansa Frankfurt 84.5% (90.5% inbound 78.5% outbound)
Frontier Cancun 82.5%
Air Canada Toronto 78%

I’d feel a lot better about the airports future if it’s primary airline would just stop collapsing or screeching to a halt every six months.

Saw Lufthansa flying in low from downtown this weekend. Lordy that plane is a big beast.

and what about Lambert?
https://www.axios.com/2023/03/27/americas-airports-are-suddenly-pretty-good-now

Boise has STL on its wish list.

https://boisedev.com/news/2023/04/26/bo ... tinations/

Amsterdam Schiphol please. 

Closer to home I would love a Vancouver and Cincy flight

shadrach wrote: ↑

Apr 28, 2023

Wonder if a seasonal/3x week to Anchorage could work?

thats a long ass domestic flight....6-7 hours? 

TWA used to fly it. And technically, still domestic.

Wish list for domestic destinations:

JFK 
SFO
BOI
BHM
CVG
BUF
and of course HNL

Wish list for international destinations:

Really any other major Canadian city - Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, etc.
Mexico City
Amsterdam (Paris would be a very close second)
London (the only concern is which airport would be able to accommodate another US-UK route since LHR and LGW have so many flights between AA, UA, DL and BA)
Perhaps a non-CDMX location - Guadalajara or Monterrey

shadrach wrote: ↑

Apr 28, 2023

Cincy and Buffalo were in play for Norfolk. I could go either with them.

I didn’t go with Vancouver as Seattle gets you close if necessary. But would definitely love that addition.

Wonder if a seasonal/3x week to Anchorage could work?

If Southwest ever started Anchorage their planes could do it. It’s basically the same distance as PHX-Honolulu. 6-6:30 one way. Knock off 30 minutes on the way back.