Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion

[NCMike1990]

Call me crazy but it looks like a new connector road is being built to connect Old Dowd to Tuckaseegee Rd north of the airport. I posted a pic below. The red line is what I think will be a new road. It also looks like land clearing is happening nearby. Does anyone have more info on this?

 

[Reverie39]

On 3/4/2023 at 7:01 PM, RANYC said:

Salt Lake City's Airport is blowing me away.  And I've never seen baggage claim carousels this stunning.

The mountain view from that airport is stunning

[#1Son]

Concourse A and Terminal Lobby Expansion progressing nicely!!!

[LKN704]

^Great pics, thanks for sharing!

[CLT2014]

Looking awesome! I love the canopy. Will be a huge improvement on rainy days to not start your flight drying off and feeling wet. 

[xapostrophe]

5 hours ago, NCMike1990 said:

Call me crazy but it looks like a new connector road is being built to connect Old Dowd to Tuckaseegee Rd north of the airport. I posted a pic below. The red line is what I think will be a new road. It also looks like land clearing is happening nearby. Does anyone have more info on this?

 

With a straight shot from Amazon I wonder if Amazon is going to build a airport facility between the runways.

Would make sense since their gates on the south cargo ramp might be lost with the South taxiway.

[JRCLT]

Call me crazy but it looks like a new connector road is being built to connect Old Dowd to Tuckaseegee Rd north of the airport. I posted a pic below. The red line is what I think will be a new road. It also looks like land clearing is happening nearby. Does anyone have more info on this?
 
http://content.invisioncic.com/x329420/monthly_2023_03/89BB445A-8B00-4D54-9157-D63714EC6A41.thumb.jpeg.f7659b060465306f9a78eeb12f19e1b9.jpeg
http://content.invisioncic.com/x329420/monthly_2023_03/E3D67F13-E817-4226-8C8F-E15F38D500E2.thumb.jpeg.bb5171753809d8c902d9c9e4c39176b8.jpeg

You’re not crazy. I looked at this project in way more detail than I would like for a course I took. They’re building a road there if I remember correctly.

[joshuavmc]

Flew home to visit the folks in Charlotte and took a few pics as well. DCA has been my home airport for the last 5 years. 
 

Nice to see some good progress at CLT!

Now only if they can clean the concourse floors. I don’t know why it upsets me so much. 

[uptownliving]

New 40,000 sq ft Admirals club coming which will be nearly double the size of the current club just off the Atrium.

City Council just approved the architectural contract with C Design today. So if everything goes well could have the new club opening in 2025.

 

 

The new club will be built on an upper level. New concessions on the ticketing/boarding level

[CltFlyer]

On 3/5/2023 at 11:40 AM, Miesian Corners said:

The new MCI airport is incredible. Meanwhile at CLT, still no moving sidewalks and two-year old terrazzo that looks like it was installed in 1942.

I was in Kansas City for work last week and got to see the new terminal in person.  Nothing mind blowing architecturally, but very wide concourses and lots of local flavor (including at least 3 sit down BBQ options and several neat history exhibits in the connector between the terminals.  They also had 2 "sensory rooms" for neurodivergent people who may be be overwhelmed in an airport.

They also chose to go with glass jet bridges at every gate which gives jet bridges a much less claustrophobic feel.

If I had to knock the new terminal.  The signage in the baggage claim for rental cars and other services was not very clear and hard to find.  Despite having several pieces of artwork, the terminal felt fairly sterile.  This seems to be common with modern terminals.  

Also, fwiw, even at week old you could see scuff marks on the flooring.  So it's not just CLT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 14, 2023 by CltFlyer

[CltFlyer]

On 2/21/2023 at 12:20 PM, Miesian Corners said:

Not sure what's going on in the atrium, but all of the ficus trees have been removed and the tree wells are boarded over (not to mention the moving sidewalks are--yet again--out of service (and have been for two weeks now). 

Honestly, I'm beginning to think they should just tear the whole place down and start over. 

As of yesterday all of the trees on the food court side of the atrium have been removed, but there are still several left on the side next to the moving walkway.  They were still in progress of renovating the areas, but maybe it will only be select trees removed.

5 hours ago, uptownliving said:

New 40,000 sq ft Admirals club coming which will be nearly double the size of the current club just off the Atrium.

City Council just approved the architectural contract with C Design today. So if everything goes well could have the new club opening in 2025.

 

 

The new club will be built on an upper level. New concessions on the ticketing/boarding level

Wow!! If 40,000 Sq Ft is accurate that is an absolutely massive lounge.  The largest in the system.  

For perspective.  The Centurion Lounge at CLT is 13,000 Sq Ft,  the new Admiral's Club at Austin is 15,000 Sq ft, the new Admirals Club at DCA is 14,500, and combined the Admirals Club and Flagship lounge in concourse D at DFW is 35,000 sq ft combined.

Perhaps they could be looking at a similar Admirals Club/Flagship Lounge combination at CLT.

 

 

[CLT2014]

This explains why the Admirals Club fire upgrades didn't improve anything else in the lounge during the closure. Great news to see this much needed upgrade for loyal AA flyers.

[LKN704]

The new lounge is absolutely major news. I'm looking forward to more information about the project, specifically how the lounge will be built on an upper level. 

FWIW, this is AA's most recent lounge design:

I'm not sure what AA internally calls this design (I'll call it California Boho Chic) but it mimics the renderings of the new A321XLR/787 cabins with an emphasis on more natural tones. I'm glad AA is moving away from the sterile gray look introduced post-merger. In any case, the lounge will be a definite 100% improvement over the 1990s US Airways, Wolf of Wall Street-themed lounge design currently seen on the C lounge. 

Unrelated, but someone from CLT got back to me regarding the removal of trees. They said trees were removed for renovation purposes and unfortunately could not say if they would be replaced. 

[Miesian Corners]

18 hours ago, CltFlyer said:

 

Also, fwiw, even at week old you could see scuff marks on the flooring.  So it's not just CLT.

 

I'm not referring to "scuffs." I'm referring to poorly poured terrazzo with embedded stains.

[tozmervo]

6 minutes ago, Miesian Corners said:

I'm not referring to "scuffs." I'm referring to poorly poured terrazzo with embedded stains.

Agreed. Some of the new terrazzo in B & C looks awful when it shouldn't. I can't tell if it's a product issue, install issue, or maintenance issue. 

[CltFlyer]

The one downside to the new lounge Admirals Club is that it is going in the space where a new FIS corridor from C was supposed to go.  Therefore, there isn't a plan in place for increasing FIS/Customs capacity at CLT to my knowledge.

[CLT704]

51 minutes ago, CltFlyer said:

The one downside to the new lounge Admirals Club is that it is going in the space where a new FIS corridor from C was supposed to go.  Therefore, there isn't a plan in place for increasing FIS/Customs capacity at CLT to my knowledge.

It looks like the club will be a level above the boarding level and I thought, albeit it is not very clear on the diagram, they've marked off the sterile corridor from C to D so that plan to put INTL gates on C could still be a go.

[LKN704]

10 minutes ago, CLT704 said:

It looks like the club will be a level above the boarding level and I thought, albeit it is not very clear on the diagram, they've marked off the sterile corridor from C to D so that plan to put INTL gates on C could still be a go.

The sterile corridor from C to D was supposed to be elevated (one level above the boarding area). While the entire east side of the concourse was due to be widened, the low even C gates were going to have escalators/elevators leading up to the sterile corridor that would bring arriving international passengers to the FIS. 

I can't see how that project can proceed with the club expansion. 

AA could have easily told the city that they don't plan to dramatically increase flights needing FIS-capability from CLT. I also wonder if physically Concourse C pier was deemed not structurally strong enough to handle the load of a second level.

[Miesian Corners]

1 hour ago, CltFlyer said:

The one downside to the new lounge Admirals Club is that it is going in the space where a new FIS corridor from C was supposed to go.  Therefore, there isn't a plan in place for increasing FIS/Customs capacity at CLT to my knowledge.

I assume the tarmac level of the new structure will be an FIS corridor.

[Hushpuppy321]

Progress photos of Concourse A Expansion…

[xapostrophe]

The other day taxiing out for departure it looks like they are beginning to pour gravel for the South taxiway.  I would guess we will see concrete or asphalt poured down that way before summer.  It seemed to me that that project seems to be expedited.  I have even seen work being completed on it at night on a weekend.

 

 

In regards to everyone's discussion about a c concourse and customs, I wouldn't expect sea to be widened at all until the extension of c is also underway or completed. American I cannot lose all of that gate space during construction.  It would have to be a trade-off.  Like open new gates close old gates for renovation or expansion.  The company is already telling us we are negative gates.  Ie we are short up to 10 gates a day.  

[teeg]

14 hours ago, LKN704 said:

The sterile corridor from C to D was supposed to be elevated (one level above the boarding area). While the entire east side of the concourse was due to be widened, the low even C gates were going to have escalators/elevators leading up to the sterile corridor that would bring arriving international passengers to the FIS. 

I can't see how that project can proceed with the club expansion. 

AA could have easily told the city that they don't plan to dramatically increase flights needing FIS-capability from CLT. I also wonder if physically Concourse C pier was deemed not structurally strong enough to handle the load of a second level.

Regarding the FIS Connector to Concourse C, the Charlotte Ledger newsletter this morning provided a link to the Airport's bid documents for the project, and it is mentioned there in  a couple of places:

I am reluctant to quote too much from that document (it's 321 pages long, and I have just started to read it), but it does say on Page 20:

Mezzanine Level

• Airline Club Space 40,000 Square Feet
• Vertical Circulation as required
• Future FIS Connector 20’ clear width
• Restrooms for FIS Connector as required by code

and on Page 21

• The Mezzanine level program reflects a space requirement as provided by American Airlines, and is not inclusive of the lobby on the Departures level or of the vertical circulation. As the implementation of a connector for the FIS to concourse C is not yet determined, this analysis only provides the envelope in which a connector corridor can be provided in the future, independent of the rest of the DECO program.

There's a very low-res sketch on Page 27 that appears to show that corridor on the ramp-side of the new mezzanine, between gates C2 and D1.  And, actually, it's shown more clearly on Pages 215 and 224

[LKN704]

1 hour ago, teeg said:

Regarding the FIS Connector to Concourse C, the Charlotte Ledger newsletter this morning provided a link to the Airport's bid documents for the project, and it is mentioned there in  a couple of places:

I am reluctant to quote too much from that document (it's 321 pages long, and I have just started to read it), but it does say on Page 20:

Mezzanine Level

• Airline Club Space 40,000 Square Feet
• Vertical Circulation as required
• Future FIS Connector 20’ clear width
• Restrooms for FIS Connector as required by code

and on Page 21

• The Mezzanine level program reflects a space requirement as provided by American Airlines, and is not inclusive of the lobby on the Departures level or of the vertical circulation. As the implementation of a connector for the FIS to concourse C is not yet determined, this analysis only provides the envelope in which a connector corridor can be provided in the future, independent of the rest of the DECO program.

There's a very low-res sketch on Page 27 that appears to show that corridor on the ramp-side of the new mezzanine, between gates C2 and D1.  And, actually, it's shown more clearly on Pages 215 and 224

Fantastic document, thanks so much! I wish there was some kind of central database where it would be easy to find all sorts of these planing docs...

The sterile corridor is on the right in each image:

The concept from 2019 that didn't make the cut...I have to say I much like this one better for some reason:

 

[Miesian Corners]

7 hours ago, xapostrophe said:

In regards to everyone's discussion about a c concourse and customs, I wouldn't expect sea to be widened at all until the extension of c is also underway or completed. American I cannot lose all of that gate space during construction.  It would have to be a trade-off.  Like open new gates close old gates for renovation or expansion.  The company is already telling us we are negative gates.  Ie we are short up to 10 gates a day.  

I was told the C gate (international) renovation would occur after Delta moves its operations to the A expansion (that's when AA will get all of old A).

[xapostrophe]

Fwiw, customs in Philly, in the older a gates has you go down to later go up to customs.  I could see going up to go down in CLT.   Toronto does this as well.