CltFlyer

Phase 2 will be the new Delta gates. AA will take over the rest of the old A concourse. The original renderings showed a Delta Sky Club in the expansion as well.

I don't mean this to add fuel to the rumor mill fire, but it makes you wonder if they know something internal about the future of Wells Fargo, Charlotte related, that hasn't been announced publicly yet. I imagine they will want to keep some sort of ties to Wells Fargo. Unrelated. This is a great win for Charlotte. While Charlotte a major hub for domestic banking, investment banking is still very much lacking. This could help grow the local talent pool for investment firms looking at Charlotte for future growth. Edit. - After further reading the article. Wells Fargo still has a 9.9% stake in the new company. Given the nature and the amount of investment banking in NYC. You think it would have been very easy to make the Corporate HQ somewhere closer to NYC.

I'm not one to typically celebrate routes being cut, but Volaris has won the hypothetical war! The last AA flight from CLT to GDL is on 12/15. Hopefully, once they are able to increase frequency again, this gives them some room to grow to 3-4 weekly.

The 2nd daily flight is coming back in January and shows 2 daily through the rest of the schedule. Delta is practically back to pre-Covid levels. Also worth noting, United is sending mainline to CLT again. anywhere from 1 daily to 3 daily. They are also almost back to pre-Covid levels. Spirit and Frontier are back to pre-covid frequencies. Jetblue and Southwest are still lagging behind, and Air Canada is yet to return, otherwise we are nearly back to pre-covid flight levels. On a long haul front. Lufthansa is back albeit at 3 weekly, Frankfurt is returning soon, and it appears that AA will be restarting flights to Munich on 12/16. CLT has recovered from Covid quite well.

They have done a very good job with the angles in the renderings, but the new Club CLT is going to be a very tight lounge. Especially once Air Canada returns and Jetblue and Southwest are back to pre-covid levels.

^^^ I forgot to mention this above, but the card itself only costs $6 cad. Which can easily be paid for within a few days of use.

I was in Toronto this past weekend and used their transit system extensively. While the scope of their system is something Charlotte will likely never need (Buses, Streetcars, Subway, and commuter rail (including a dedicated line from the airport to downtown Toronto). They did have one system that was really useful that wouldn't be impossible or unrealistic for Charlotte to Implement. They have a program called Presto where you can can purchase a card at various stations and convenience stores. You pre-load money onto it and it can be used for any of the modes of transportation. You just simply tap it on the podium (at either the station or on the vehicle depending on mode of transportation. It offers discounts for all modes and offers free-transfer from one mode to another as long as you use it within a 2 hour window. For the subway you needed it to go through the gate, but it seemed to be an honesty policy for other modes. Having said that, most people seemed to follow it. https://www.prestocard.ca/en

These may have been posted already, but there are additional renderings of the Club CLT posted on the construction area in A North. Also, there was a water main break near the airport causing most restaurants to close early (around 7pm) and even the Centurion Lounge had to close for a period of time. It also limited bathroom usage.

I’m fairly certain it was a charter for the Philadelphia Eagles who were in town.

At this rate. They might have the framing for the hypothetical hotel done before the all of the glass is up on the base.

AA announced their flight within days of Volaris. It was more of a response to their presence rather than Volaris' success. Having said that, Volaris has given AA fits on the route. AA thought they could squash them with a seasonal (January to April) daily flight, but they were wrong. They have since resorted to practically matching Volaris' flight schedule. Volaris hasn't added frequency to the route (impossible right now due to Mexico's FAA status), but they are certainly doing well.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article254433518.html A few updates on other airport projects On A North Part 2: "Phase II of this project was put on hold last year during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic in North Carolina, airport chief operating officer Jack Christine told reporters Tuesday. That Concourse A work is starting back up now, he said. Other construction projects were continued throughout the pandemic, even as passenger totals took a hit. The latest expansion in Concourse A, a $205-million project, will add 10 gates to the north end of the concourse. That work is scheduled to be competed in 2024." On E Expansion: "The expansion to Concourse E is almost done, Christine said. That $50-million expansion, adding 34,000 square feet of space to the north side of Concourse E, will be completed by the end of the year, he said. And the airport plans to add jet bridges to all gates in Concourse E over the next two years after the expansion finishes, he said." On the North end around Taxiway and 4th Runway: "The North End Around Taxiway is a $422-million project that will involve roadway relocation, including moving the airport’s popular overlook. The airport overlook will be closed and relocated as part of the North End project. It’s not yet known when that will happen.The airport’s future fourth parallel runway is also slated to run through the site of the overlook. Charlotte opened up bids on the roadway relocation project for the North End Around Taxiway project on Tuesday, Christine said. The project is still in the design phase but is on schedule, he said. That work will completed in 2024, according to the airport." On the New Control Tower: "The Federal Aviation Administration is funding and building an air traffic control tower on the south side of the airfield. When its completed, the tower will be the second tallest in the country at 367 feet tall, according to the Charlotte airport. The current FAA tower at CLT is 150 feet tall. Work on the tower is wrapping up, Christine said. The tower should be ready for use in late winter or early spring next year. “They’re finishing that up now,” he said. “We’re looking forward to them moving into their new space — beautiful tower, has an awesome view.”"

Pictures from the inside really give a perspective on just how much space they are adding! Also, that was a very interesting video on the mobile lounges at IAD. They were largely before my time, I didn't realize they played such a vital role.

The Charlotte 49ers just beat Duke in football! https://www.wcnc.com/article/sports/college/charlotte-49ers-duke-close-game-football-college/275-6be0b05f-a539-4718-8563-53fb3db58618 First ever win against a power 5 team. For those that care. The starting quarterback is a 5th year senior who started as a walk-on. He played high school for nearby Davie County High School.

FNB and JW Marriott can be removed. Also, the deicing pad and southern cross field taxi way need to be added at the airport. Currently under construction. Page 11 at the following link has the proposed plans. https://www.airportprojects.net/clt-deice-pad-ea/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2020/04/Full-Draft-of-CLT-Deice-Pad-EA-with-Appendices.pdf

An updated look on AA's long term strategy. https://simpleflying.com/american-hub-strategy/ A few points in relation to CLT. Some good, some bad. -They are looking more at overflying hubs (with an example being CLT- El Paso). As opposed to higher frequencies to nearby hubs. This could mean more routes like SJC, ABQ, TUS, etc.... -They aren't changing their international strategy. (CLT will not see many new TATL flights and will follow the pre-covid strategy of flights to London, high tourism markets, and Germany)

Never say never with Tepper. Being a finance guy, if once he gets a new stadium built, the numbers say turning that existing BOA land into a MLB team site would generate the most profit vs selling for other development. He will do everything in his power to make it happen. Having said that, sports teams rarely offer the best profit margins by themselves. Hence the push towards stadium districts. I disagree that the MLB doesn't work in the Southeast. I think the better statement is "MLB doesn't work in Florida." Summer sports and Florida just don't mix. One of Nashville, Raleigh, or Charlotte probably get a team within the next 15 years and right now Nashville has the best group put together, but even it is hitting major bumps in the road.

I would love to see a team in Charlotte, but I do think Raleigh almost has a better case than us for an MLB team (and likely would have had the better chance for a MLS team if Tepper hadn't willed Charlotte FC to be). I'm not saying we have no chance, but there isn't currently a legitimate ownership group advocating for Major League Baseball in Charlotte that I'm aware of. Raleigh-Durham has a quickly growing population and a smaller supply of professional sports. (One could argue a lot of that market is taken by College athletics, however) As Tepper has shown though, if a group with enough money comes in and wants MLB in Charlotte, we definitely have a case for one. The level of success (or failure) of Charlotte FC will likely be an indicator of Charlotte's MLB hopes. A good location for a MLB stadium would be the BOA site when (not if) Tepper builds his retractable roof stadium. This is a double edge sword as alluded to above, though. The taxpayers will likely be against another new sports stadium so soon after.

Unless they have figured out a new solution (Perhaps using the undeveloped grassy patch), I don't believe the current lot is big enough for a major league stadium. Reference the following article. https://www.charlottemagazine.com/charlotte-wont-get-major-league-baseball-anytime-soon/ This was a large part of the controversy with building the uptown ballpark. The current field dimensions would also be among the smallest in the MLB. To retrofit would likely involve a large scale tear down and rebuild on a brand new ballpark. Having said that, the ball park location would be fantastic with the Gateway Station district and Tepper's planned entertainment district.

AA is beginning Dallas to Tel Aviv and New York to Delhi on October 31st, and beginning Seattle-Bangalore on November 1st (served by DFW crews).

So, the Greek news for yesterday was an error. It was meant to be German. This makes sense though, given the November timing. On the schedule change over the weekend. Beginning in November Frankfurt flights while change over from DFW-FRA to CLT-FRA. Right now it shows that it is only for the first half of November and then resumes on January 4th, but I wonder if that was a schedule change error. Non aviation speak: Frankfurt returns in November at the expense of the Dallas flight.

That is correct. Current NA flights are. AA: Chicago, New York, Philadelphia DL: Atlanta, New York UA: Newark, Washington-Dulles Highly seasonal though. The only year round flight at the moment is DL to New York Definitely room for a CLT flight.

Here's the link to the twitter page for anyone interested. It's Twitter, so take it for what it's worth, but they are almost always accurate (predicted Charlotte- Honolulu). https://twitter.com/xJonNYC?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

The link is from a well-respected source on twitter.