Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion

[atlrvr]

I have a friend who is an exec at Husqvarna, who travels to Stockholm at least every other month as well.  I'm sure they alone probably only add maybe 10 seats a month, but given their cluster (plus ABB manufacturing here), it could lead to an influx of other Swedish firms.

 

It would be a major coup for Charlotte, as the only place in the US there is current non stop is NYC area airpots (JFK and Newark), though I'm sure Delta would respond with an ATL flight that I'm sure they used to run but canclled in the recession.

[sharkdawg]

My company would love the Sweden connection as we distribute a Swedish made product, but we only travel there about once a year.

 

Found this on the Charlotte USA website;

 

Looks like the left off IKEA.

[ChessieCat]

Regarding CLT-ARN service, the Elephant in this Forum that nobody has yet mentioned is Norweigan Long Haul.  They already serve ARN-FLL and ARN-JFK and will add OAK and LAX this spring.  

 

The legacy carriers and their unions are lobbying the US DOT heavily to deny them a new long-haul license but that might be moot given they've learned to live with non-union JetBlue and its strong East Coast presence.

 

If Electrolux and the above companies are shopping around for ARN-CLT service, isn't it logical they would approach NLH?

Edited February 5, 2014 by ChessieCat

[tozmervo]

Wow, never knew Assa Abloy was Swedish. Whatever building you are sitting in when you read this, there's a decent chance Assa Abloy touched some of the door hardware. The Monroe presence is a Corbin Russwin locks facility. 

[TotalLamer]

My company would love the Sweden connection as we distribute a Swedish made product, but we only travel there about once a year.

 

Found this on the Charlotte USA website;

 

Looks like the left off IKEA.

 

That would be because IKEA isn't Swedish.  As far as ownership goes, anyways.

[LKN704]

Ikea is currently owned by Inter Ikea Systems, which itself is actually a Dutch company.

 

If anyone ever starts CLT-ARN, it will be US/AA. You won't be seeing Norwegian in CLT anytime soon. Norwegian is a ultra-low cost carrier and the dynamics of their operation just won't work in CLT, or in other cities like IAH/ATL for that matter. That's why you are seeing them fly to cities in the US that have a large international tourism presence (FLL/OAK/JFK). Besides,  I can't imagine why any company would make their employees sit through their bare-bones service.

Edited February 5, 2014 by LKN704

[ssh214]

On a side note, on my trip down to Miami this week I noticed while I was driving past the airport that a couple of US Airways planes were utilizing the Americian Airlines hanger here...

In regards to a possible Stockholm flight I think it would be a great addition it would certainly end the speculation that has gone out of control on all of our favorite airline speculation forum (airliners.net) about the impending demise of a vital Charlotte hub for the new American.

[carolinagarnet]

I love the idea of ARN-CLT, though Atlas Copco might be inflating the demand for such a route. They used to be one of my clients and the organization is more grid-like than hierarchical, so a lot of the division headquarters are in other European countries (i.e. France, UK). They've also downsized considerably in the last few years, which I may have tempered some of the traffic between Sweden and Charlotte.

[ChessieCat]

Quick question everyone:  This 734 received a Water Salute at CLT yesterday:

http://www.planespotters.net/Production_List/Boeing/737/24549,N427US-US-Airways.php

 

The airframe status says "Stored"... does it get a salute before its last flight?

Edited February 10, 2014 by ChessieCat

[ScottCLT]

Update on airport construction: the pedestrian bridge remnants from the departures floor are now gone. Can't wait for the parking decks to be complete.

On another note, long term parking is now officially a clusterf#*k since you cannot exit on Little Rock Rd.

[kickazzz2000]

Update on airport construction: the pedestrian bridge remnants from the departures floor are now gone. Can't wait for the parking decks to be complete.

On another note, long term parking is now officially a clusterf#*k since you cannot exit on Little Rock Rd.

Is there a major American airport with poorer (and shabbier) road access?  Even RDU feels like a major airport until you pull up to it!

[Guest]

Is there a major American airport with poorer (and shabbier) road access?  Even RDU feels like a major airport until you pull up to it!

It will feel completely different once everything is finished. 

Edited February 11, 2014 by Guest

[CLTProductions]

Absolutely, I must admit, for how nice the airport is, getting there feels SO dated and unorganized. Can't wait for this to be finished. Whats the completion date for that picture?

[allthingsplanes]

The airport website states the following for this project:

Complete June 2014
Commercial lane completion November 2014
Passenger lane completion December 2015
Connect to Terminal Entrance Roadway – late 2015

 

So honestly, I don't know! I wouldn't count on it helping anything until late next year (but we can cross our fingers that one of these benchmarks - like the November 2014 one) will help...

[archiham04]

It will feel completely different once everything is finished. 

does anyone know if there is any accommodation for future mass transit in this maze of traffic?  BRT? LRT? whatever...  

[tozmervo]

The airport master plan includes mention of a people mover, so hypothetically there is some space allocated for that future addition. 

[kickazzz2000]

It will feel completely different once everything is finished. 

 

 

I was referring more to the roadway access.

 

wilkinsonlol

[kickazzz2000]

What would be nice is this:  

Edited February 11, 2014 by kickazzz2000

[dubone]

Kickazzz, your drawing does look like the RDU aerial with all the freeways in every direction, but in reality, I'm glad the new entrance road is compatible with with the existing roads, Little Rock and Wilkinson, as it will be easier to navigate in the end versus lots of spaghetti dropped by the Flying Monster, blessed by his noodly appendages.

[dcharlotte]

Agreed with dubone.  There is no reason the approach to the airport should be a maze of new bridge structures that are expensive to build and maintain.  Not only that, the connection into 485 would be a duplicate of US-74 and would only cause more merging delays to I-85.

 

The current setup will enable the airport to develop along parts of US-74 for more hotels, offices, and other amenities for any business that wants to take advantage of the hub.  With all of those flights, I'm surprised we don't have an office park directly north of the entrance roads.

[southslider]

Thankfully, NCDOT has agreed to work with the Airport and speed up the Little Rock Rd connection to the new Airport Entrance Rd.

[allthingsplanes]

Is this a new development?  From what I understood this is not in the works anytime soon.  I can't find any recent news about it.

[southslider]

Added to the STIP

[dubone]

https://connect.ncdot.gov/projects/planning/Planning%20Document%20Library/LIVE_STIP.pdf

 

Oh yay.  I guess I know my reading material for the next week.

 

edit: I still don't see it.  What page is it?

[Miesian Corners]

As a frequent traveler, I agree with kickazz.  The fact RDU has connections to freeways and CLT has none, is a head scratcher.  RDU gets flyover bridges and we can't even get a .2 mi connection to an existing road.