Can you copy/paste or summarize? It's behind a pay wall for me.
St. Louis is bidding to get another nonstop flight to Europe, this time Dublin on Aer Lingus.
Officials have been working behind the scenes to put together a package for the flag carrier of Ireland in order to lure the route here, according to people familiar with the matter.
It wasn't immediately clear what stage the bid was in.
The leader of St. Louis Lambert International Airport, Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, declined to comment. A spokesman for business group Greater St. Louis Inc., which people familiar with the matter say has worked on the package, declined to comment.
Aer Lingus didn't respond to a request for comment.
News reports have indicated that the Dublin-based airline is poised to soon make announcements about new routes.
The Nashville Business Journal has reported that Nashville's airport has been in talks with the Aer Lingus for a nonstop route to Dublin. The newspaper said last month that talks between airport officials there and Aer Lingus executives had resumed, and that a decision could in the "weeks ahead," according to the Nashville airport CEO.
A dispute between Aer Lingus and its pilots had stalled those talks, but that issue since has been resolved. The dispute over pilot pay had led the airline's parent company to route new Airbus jets to one of Aer Lingus' sister airlines, Iberia, instead.
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Passengers pass an Aer Lingus advertisement in the Bradley International Airport concourse in Windsor Locks, Conn., Jan. 6, 2017. (Joshua Bright/The New York Times)
JOSHUA BRIGHT, NYT
People familiar with the matter said that issue had also affected talks between St. Louis officials and the airline.
It's not clear what St. Louis is offering Aer Lingus, but people familiar with the matter said it is less than the package used to lure Lufthansa's St. Louis-Frankfurt, Germany, flight, Lambert's only nonstop to Europe, which launched in 2022.
The Lufthansa package was worth around $5.7 million over two years. Those subsidies have expired, and the route continues at three days a week.
Lambert also waived some $700,000 in landing fees for Lufthansa.
Hamm-Niebruegge said its program allows an airline starting nonstop European service from Lambert to have certain fees waived, including landing and rental fees. An airline operating only summer-month service would not be eligible, but if an airline operated six months of service, she said, it would be eligible to have the fees waived for the first six months. Nine months of service would get a waiver for the first 12 months, and year-round service gets an 18-month waiver, she said.
Also key to any Aer Lingus route would be airline subsidies through a Missouri Department of Economic Development program, according to people familiar with the matter. Those subsidies would create a minimum revenue guarantee to attract international flights to Missouri.
State lawmakers in 2023 created the $5 million program, using federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. The state says nonprofits can get funds to utilize it if they partner with a Missouri airport. None of the funds have been tapped, and they must be allocated by Dec. 31.
Greater St. Louis and the St. Louis County Port Authority also contributed funds for the Lufthansa package.
For passengers traveling out of Lambert in 2023, European cities represented six of the top 20 international destinations, according to airport data.
Frankfurt, with its St. Louis nonstop on Lufthansa, led the way for European cities, with nearly 34,000 passengers.
London-Heathrow was next (18,677), followed by Rome (7,969), Paris (7,764), Dublin (6,038) and Amsterdam (5,938).
The top five international destinations all have Lambert nonstops: Cancun, the Dominican Republic, Frankfurt, Toronto and Jamaica.
Prior to Lufthansa's service, Lambert had not had nonstop European service since 2003, when American Airlines discontinued a route to London. Lambert had nonstops to Iceland, an island sometimes considered to be part of Europe, from May 2018 to January 2019, when WOW Air ended the service. The airline later shut down.
Aer Lingus is owned by International Airlines Group — which also owns British Airways.
Lambert reported that through Sept. 27 this year, it had 10.7 million passengers, up 9.3% over 2023. Lambert had 16 million passengers in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Officials have been working behind the scenes to put together a package for the flag carrier of Ireland in order to lure the route here, according to people familiar with the matter.
It wasn't immediately clear what stage the bid was in.
The leader of St. Louis Lambert International Airport, Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, declined to comment. A spokesman for business group Greater St. Louis Inc., which people familiar with the matter say has worked on the package, declined to comment.
Aer Lingus didn't respond to a request for comment.
News reports have indicated that the Dublin-based airline is poised to soon make announcements about new routes.
The Nashville Business Journal has reported that Nashville's airport has been in talks with the Aer Lingus for a nonstop route to Dublin. The newspaper said last month that talks between airport officials there and Aer Lingus executives had resumed, and that a decision could in the "weeks ahead," according to the Nashville airport CEO.
A dispute between Aer Lingus and its pilots had stalled those talks, but that issue since has been resolved. The dispute over pilot pay had led the airline's parent company to route new Airbus jets to one of Aer Lingus' sister airlines, Iberia, instead.
Passengers pass an Aer Lingus advertisement in the Bradley International Airport concourse in Windsor Locks, Conn., Jan. 6, 2017. (Joshua Bright/The New York Times)
JOSHUA BRIGHT, NYT
People familiar with the matter said that issue had also affected talks between St. Louis officials and the airline.
It's not clear what St. Louis is offering Aer Lingus, but people familiar with the matter said it is less than the package used to lure Lufthansa's St. Louis-Frankfurt, Germany, flight, Lambert's only nonstop to Europe, which launched in 2022.
The Lufthansa package was worth around $5.7 million over two years. Those subsidies have expired, and the route continues at three days a week.
Lambert also waived some $700,000 in landing fees for Lufthansa.
Hamm-Niebruegge said its program allows an airline starting nonstop European service from Lambert to have certain fees waived, including landing and rental fees. An airline operating only summer-month service would not be eligible, but if an airline operated six months of service, she said, it would be eligible to have the fees waived for the first six months. Nine months of service would get a waiver for the first 12 months, and year-round service gets an 18-month waiver, she said.
Also key to any Aer Lingus route would be airline subsidies through a Missouri Department of Economic Development program, according to people familiar with the matter. Those subsidies would create a minimum revenue guarantee to attract international flights to Missouri.
State lawmakers in 2023 created the $5 million program, using federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. The state says nonprofits can get funds to utilize it if they partner with a Missouri airport. None of the funds have been tapped, and they must be allocated by Dec. 31.
Greater St. Louis and the St. Louis County Port Authority also contributed funds for the Lufthansa package.
For passengers traveling out of Lambert in 2023, European cities represented six of the top 20 international destinations, according to airport data.
Frankfurt, with its St. Louis nonstop on Lufthansa, led the way for European cities, with nearly 34,000 passengers.
London-Heathrow was next (18,677), followed by Rome (7,969), Paris (7,764), Dublin (6,038) and Amsterdam (5,938).
The top five international destinations all have Lambert nonstops: Cancun, the Dominican Republic, Frankfurt, Toronto and Jamaica.
Prior to Lufthansa's service, Lambert had not had nonstop European service since 2003, when American Airlines discontinued a route to London. Lambert had nonstops to Iceland, an island sometimes considered to be part of Europe, from May 2018 to January 2019, when WOW Air ended the service. The airline later shut down.
Aer Lingus is owned by International Airlines Group — which also owns British Airways.
Lambert reported that through Sept. 27 this year, it had 10.7 million passengers, up 9.3% over 2023. Lambert had 16 million passengers in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
That’s a lot of words to basically tell us no one has any comment.
It’s looking like Indy and Nashville are getting the flights. To be announced Tuesday next week. Hope I’m wrong or a 3rd route is picked.
It’s looking like Indy and Nashville are getting the flights. To be announced Tuesday next week. Hope I’m wrong or a 3rd route is picked.
Nashville sure, I'd be surprised if Indy got any. There's not a strong reason why they'd choose a city with 600,000 fewer residents, a smaller economy, and an airport with 34% fewer passengers over St. Louis.jshank83 wrote: ↑Oct 02, 2024That’s a lot of words to basically tell us no one has any comment.
It’s looking like Indy and Nashville are getting the flights. To be announced Tuesday next week. Hope I’m wrong or a 3rd route is picked.
They supposedly are offering a ton of incentive money and they don’t have any nonstop to Europe competition.Auggie wrote: ↑Oct 02, 2024Nashville sure, I'd be surprised if Indy got any. There's not a strong reason why they'd choose a city with 600,000 fewer residents, a smaller economy, and an airport with 34% fewer passengers over St. Louis.jshank83 wrote: ↑Oct 02, 2024That’s a lot of words to basically tell us no one has any comment.
It’s looking like Indy and Nashville are getting the flights. To be announced Tuesday next week. Hope I’m wrong or a 3rd route is picked.
Just want to spotlight one of my favorite websites although it isn't updated often anymore.
https://www.stlannex.com/index_Main
https://www.stlannex.com/index_Main
Would be disappointing to not land Are Lingus (in spite of me referring to Dublin as 'when you order London from Wish') as I'm pretty sure Lambert has been working them for over two years now. Hate to see that effort go to nothing and don't see anyone else out there expanding US routes (Iceland doesn't count).
Saw this over on Airliners.net forum:
LAXdude1023 wrote:
Southwest - Congrats to PHX, BNA, and STL for being the only major WN operations not to shrink YOY!
PHX: 99,773
BNA: 39,598
STL: 12,108
MCO: -18,814
DAL: -37,628
SAN: -42,804
AUS: -45,176
HOU: -68,597
LAS: -117,860
OAK: -121,406
MDW: -130,394
BWI: -133,069
DEN: -209,480
LAXdude1023 wrote:
Southwest - Congrats to PHX, BNA, and STL for being the only major WN operations not to shrink YOY!
PHX: 99,773
BNA: 39,598
STL: 12,108
MCO: -18,814
DAL: -37,628
SAN: -42,804
AUS: -45,176
HOU: -68,597
LAS: -117,860
OAK: -121,406
MDW: -130,394
BWI: -133,069
DEN: -209,480
- 1,797
Did Indy lose the direct Delta flight to CDG because of poor loads or COVID? If it was just a covid casualty, wouldn’t be surprised to see Indy win
Glad someone is enjoying it! That is my site. I've got a long list of possible future posts, but yeah it's been busy, so I do not update much. Hopefully, I'll get out at least a few posts in before the year ends.TRUESONJB wrote: ↑Oct 02, 2024Just want to spotlight one of my favorite websites although it isn't updated often anymore.
https://www.stlannex.com/index_Main
It was not doing great when it launched in 2018. It hit one month at 80%, but mostly was in the mid 60%'s. It was looking a bit better in 2019, but was not near other similar routes from non-hub US cities to Europe. But it's a little hard to judge what the target was for Delta since we don't see many routes by US carriers from non-hub cities to Europe. Yes, you could connect on partners at CDG, but it's not quite the same as if Air France was flying the route. Maybe it would have grown over time, but with COVID giving them an excuse to stop it, I imagine Delta was not pushing to put it back without significant money back on the table.JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑Oct 03, 2024Did Indy lose the direct Delta flight to CDG because of poor loads or COVID? If it was just a covid casualty, wouldn’t be surprised to see Indy win
mtl_stl wrote: ↑Oct 04, 2024It was not doing great when it launched in 2018. It hit one month at 80%, but mostly was in the mid 60%'s. It was looking a bit better in 2019, but was not near other similar routes from non-hub US cities to Europe. But it's a little hard to judge what the target was for Delta since we don't see many routes by US carriers from non-hub cities to Europe. Yes, you could connect on partners at CDG, but it's not quite the same as if Air France was flying the route. Maybe it would have grown over time, but with COVID giving them an excuse to stop it, I imagine Delta was not pushing to put it back without significant money back on the table.JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑Oct 03, 2024Did Indy lose the direct Delta flight to CDG because of poor loads or COVID? If it was just a covid casualty, wouldn’t be surprised to see Indy win
I was under the impression it did fine. But they have had plenty of time since Covid to bring it back and haven’t.
Nashville shoe dropped. We will see if Indy is next.jshank83 wrote: ↑Oct 02, 2024That’s a lot of words to basically tell us no one has any comment.
It’s looking like Indy and Nashville are getting the flights. To be announced Tuesday next week. Hope I’m wrong or a 3rd route is picked.
- 9,563
Generally before the announcement there is stuff in the background, like with Lufthansa I knew weeks before and I’m not hearing any chatter like that this time. Now that doesn’t mean it won’t happen, they could all be keep it close to the vest
Same boat for me. I’ve heard nothing on our end. That said supposedly there was an RFP due Sept 30th. So it’s feasible all the airports picked don’t even know yet. Nashvilles announcement might have been moved up from next week to counter the Iceland air announcement they had last week so they could get bookings open.dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑Oct 04, 2024Generally before the announcement there is stuff in the background, like with Lufthansa I knew weeks before and I’m not hearing any chatter like that this time. Now that doesn’t mean it won’t happen, they could all be keep it close to the vest
I feel like this is a very different process from Lufthansa’s.
Livestock and Cattle coming through STL International in 747's
Livestock export facility grows at St. Louis airport
https://hpj.com/2024/10/04/livestock-ex ... s-airport/
Livestock export facility grows at St. Louis airport
https://hpj.com/2024/10/04/livestock-ex ... s-airport/
STL Business Journal
St. Louis seeks help designing single-terminal Lambert airport project
St. Louis wants firms to bid on designing its single-terminal St. Louis Lambert International Airport makeover.
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... rport.html
St. Louis seeks help designing single-terminal Lambert airport project
St. Louis wants firms to bid on designing its single-terminal St. Louis Lambert International Airport makeover.
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... rport.html
St. Louis wants firms to bid on designing its single-terminal Lambert airport makeover.matguy70 wrote: ↑Oct 06, 2024STL Business Journal
St. Louis seeks help designing single-terminal Lambert airport project
St. Louis wants firms to bid on designing its single-terminal St. Louis Lambert International Airport makeover.
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... rport.html
The city, which owns and operates St. Louis Lambert International Airport, said in a request for qualifications issued Sept. 27 that it wants a design team that will, under the direction of a prime or joint venture, be responsible for design and delivery of the new terminal for Lambert, which currently has two terminals. Statements of qualifications are due Oct. 25.
The winner would be responsible for delivering all parts of the new terminal, including the concourse with gates on both sides, a centralized security screening checkpoint, federal inspection station, baggage system and any relevant building systems.
Interested firms must attend a meeting at 10 a.m. on Oct. 15 at the Concourse B event space on the baggage claim level of Terminal 1.
Once statements of qualifications are received, a city committee will meet to evaluate them, and a selection of top-ranking firms will be asked to present their qualifications and approach at a later date, the city said.
Questions should be directed to Helen Bryant at the city's Board of Public Service, bryanth@st-louis-mo.gov.
The city said it anticipates that the Federal Aviation Administration could complete an environmental review of the project in the fourth quarter this year.
It already approved Lambert's master plan, which includes the new single terminal.
Airport leadership envisions creating, at a cost of $3 billion, a 62-gate, dual sided, single-concourse facility, with more concessions, a larger on-site parking garage that would triple the airport’s number of parking spots and an improved roadway system for easier drop-off and pickup.
According to the RFQ released last week, the design team selected should be in "active design" by the second quarter of 2025.
As of May, Lambert estimates were that 90% of the single-terminal design could be finalized by June 2026, with construction on the new terminal's west wing beginning that year, and construction on an eastern wing beginning in late 2028.
Airlines, which pay for the development through rates and fees, will have to give the OK for the project to advance past the current roughly 10% design phase to 30%, 60% and 90%, at which time construction could be authorized, Airport leader Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge has said.
The St. Louis Airport Commission in May OK'd the facility's amended agreement with its airlines, pushing it out to June 2027 from June 2025.
That dictates fees, which are largely unchanged, according to the airport's leader, but also authorizes another $650 million in spending on the single-terminal project, which has been billed as costing $3 billion. Lambert already has taken on debt for an initial $331 million in so-called single terminal enabling projects, paid back by airlines through rates and charges.
Separately, the St. Louis Airport Authority, operated by the city, recently issued a request for proposals to gauge developers’ ideas for a 315-acre property next to Lambert, being referred to as the West Carrollton Development Area, on the west side of Interstate 270 in Bridgeton. The onetime residential neighborhood was acquired by the airport using local and federal funds as part of a $2.6 billion airport expansion in the 1990s and early 2000s. Full redevelopment proposals are due Jan. 31.
Some with better understanding can clarify but I think this part is absolutely positively crucial for this timeline to happen if Lambert wants a shot at remaining Airport Infrastructure funding as I believe their is 3 Fiscal Years or maybe 2 Fiscal Years left on the 5 year program that has been funding airport improvements. In the last round, believe Lambert picked up nice a $20ish million dollar grant. But this a big investment.
Might be all mute after the election but just feel like St Louis and the region were not really in a good spot and haven't caught up to all the Federal Grants coming out of the infrastructure bill past couple of years. Region probably has hurt itself even more as it relates to N-S metrolink
Might be all mute after the election but just feel like St Louis and the region were not really in a good spot and haven't caught up to all the Federal Grants coming out of the infrastructure bill past couple of years. Region probably has hurt itself even more as it relates to N-S metrolink