GSP International

[gvegascple]

I must say without a doubt GSP has to be my favorite airport. Very convenient and not confusing at all. Can't really say the same of Dulles. I understand they are doing a lot of construction up there, however I hope they have a better plan about how to move people from terminal to terminal than those shuttles you have to get on. We came in at Terminal D, had to take a shuttle to B, where we boarded another shuttle which took us to the main terminal, then we had to get on yet another shuttle to get to A. Mind you we didn't get on the wrong shuttle at any point in time, thats the way they have it laid out. Furthermore it looks as though they went out of their way to make sure you have to walk outside to get on the regional jets. All gates for the regional jets are ground level with a covered walkway out to the plane, but you have to step outside and walk a ways to get on the plane. Dulles is by far my least favorite airport hands down, and I've been to quite a few including O'Hare and Dulles takes the cake. Sacramento on the other hand is up there with GSP as far as convenience. Check in walk in a straight line up the stairs through security and right out to your gate.

Having made the trip between Dulles and Greenville once a week for half of last year, I would have to agree with you although it currently sounds even worseup there at Dulles. Must be due to the construction.

There is a very logical lesson that we can learn from this, though. The hassle right now is mostly due to contruction meant to improve things which means they are reacting to the problems of the past to account for the increased volume of air traffic due to the population explosion of that portion of northern VA and the ease of entry into DC via the Dulles Toll Road. Greenville is a dream of an airport in terms on convienence compared to just about any major metro Airport, but the reason is obvious, A TON LESS VOLUME. If we are not proactive in addressing future population growth, we could be just as bad, if not worse than Dulles in its current state. I love GSP but its small size seems to be almost physically incapable of handling a sharp increase in customer volume and could quickly go from being the best to being a nightmare. Enjoy the convienence (even if it costs a little more than CLT) while it lasts folks!

[distortedlogic]

I tend to agree, I just hope we have some growth worth planning for .

GSP is very convenient. And I know this is secondary (and only cosmetic) but the interior seems a bit 1980's ish to me. It could really use an update on the inside (ie. the carpet ) (Take a look at RDU's new terminal for instance!)

2 questions for those in the know:

1: HOw does GSP compare in look, feel, and useability to those of our peer cities; say Charleston, Columbia, Knoxville, Greensboro, etc? I have never been to any of those.

2: If GSP gets Frontier, should we expect flights to other cities besides Denver? Which ones?

[Greenville]

I tend to agree, I just hope we have some growth worth planning for .

GSP is very convenient. And I know this is secondary (and only cosmetic) but the interior seems a bit 1980's ish to me. It could really use an update on the inside (ie. the carpet ) (Take a look at RDU's new terminal for instance!)

2 questions for those in the know:

1: HOw does GSP compare in look, feel, and useability to those of our peer cities; say Charleston, Columbia, Knoxville, Greensboro, etc? I have never been to any of those.

2: If GSP gets Frontier, should we expect flights to other cities besides Denver? Which ones?

In terms of airports in peer cities, I only have experience with Columbia and Charleston. Columbia's was recently renovated, and feels very new and clean inside. They did a nice job. It does not feel nearly as big as GSP Int'l though.

Charleston's feels fairly old too, especially the 1970's or 1980's era brown tile throughout much of the concourse. They have a nice retail area as you walk in the main entrance, though (several retail places, as well as a food place as well).

I agree that GSP could use some new carpet and a little "modernization." I think the structure itself is very attractive, though. We have a lot going for us. I also like the escalators that take you upstairs to go through security and board the flight.

[gvillenative]

gvegascple, thank you for your insight. I had figured much of the headache was due to the construction up there. I know GSP is smaller, that is the reason I brought up Sacramento. For it to be a major airport it is, aside from GSP, the most convenient airport I have been to. No maze, no shuttle from here to there to get yonder. All of the ticket counters lined up with their perspective gates. As far as taking advantage of GSP while it is convenient you best believe I'm going to. GSP is, has been, and will always be the airport I fly out of.

[gs3]

Passenger traffic numbers are up at GSP this year over last. Cargo is also up. Article from the Greenville News:

http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/.../707240345/1003

[gs3]

Flying back from LaGuardia on Friday, the guy next to me told me about a website that some of you may find interesting. It's called "Flight Memory". http://www.flightmemory.com/

The website lets you chart all your flights over time and it puts them into your own route map, showing all the places you've flown. It's a free website. Thought it was pretty cool and have been playing around with it some this evening.

[gs3]

Kinda scary.....a Continental Express had the wrong airport and almost landed at the Downtown Airport, not GSP. There was a rash of these wrong airport approaches and landings some years back, and it always seemed to be Continental. Story from the Greenville News:

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs....EWS01/707310346

[whitehourseview]

Kinda scary.....a Continental Express had the wrong airport and almost landed at the Downtown Airport, not GSP. There was a rash of these wrong airport approaches and landings some years back, and it always seemed to be Continental. Story from the Greenville News:

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs....EWS01/707310346

Dowtown airport could have handled the Continental regional jet easily.

[gs3]

^ Yeah, I just read the updated article that said one of downtowns runways is over 5,000....didn't realize that. Did the downtown airport ever have jet service when it was the main airport (before GSP), or was that prior to the jet years?

Edited July 31, 2007 by gsupstate

[whitehourseview]

^ Yeah, I just read the updated article that said one of downtowns runways is over 5,000....didn't realize that. Did the downtown airport ever have jet service when it was the main airport (before GSP), or was that prior to the jet years?

Well, it was built long prior to the jet age, but it has handled passenger/ commercial operations in the past before GSP. But jets no much smaller than a regional jet land there all the time.

[gvillenative]

It was before the jet years. I'm not sure if it was, it had to have been, Greenville's commercial airport right up until GSP opened, which was in the early 60's if I'm not mistaken. I believe at that time Airlines were still using prop-jobs. It wasn't until after the opening of GSP and Downtown's classification as a private airport that they started getting jet traffic. Greenville Downtown is more than capable of handling regional jets. Some of the jets based at the airport are bigger then they are. It would have been even scarier if they had tried to land on the short runway because I believe they need a little more than 5,000 feet to safely land and take off.

Edited July 31, 2007 by gvillenative

[gs3]

^ Thanks for the info gvillenative.

[rssgvegas]

Didn't a Piedmont Airlines plane land downtown years back? Maybe late 80's/early 90's? I vaugely remember, but wasn't it something like GSP had the runway lights shut off and they landed there? Was it a 727? I can't really remember the details

[ftrooptiger]

There was an interesting article this morning in the Ft Lauderdale paper.......

Allegiant Airlines to begin service to Ft Lauderdale. They will be flying to a dozen cities in the Mid-South and Midwest. No cities were stated, but the airline did say that they are currently flying to all the cities.

The cities are to be announced August 9.

[gvillenative]

Couldn't you see GSP getting this route too. If that happens GSP could become like a hub for Allegiant, not saying it's going to, however the 3 hubs they already have are the only other ones with more than two routes. We have 3 already IF we get Ft Lauderdale that would make 4 twice as many as any non hub airport for Allegiant. I could be wrong there could be another out there with more than 2 as far as I know though there isn't.

[gs3]

^ From what I hear, Allegiant is doing very well out of GSP too. Running at over a 90% load factor.

[ftrooptiger]

Based on the article..........

Allegiant partners with local hotels/resorts to bring folks to the city for vacation. So, I see it as more a Fort Lauderdale hub reaching into the South/Midwest.

I live in South Florida and it is a pain to get to GSP without costing you a mortgage payment per person. All the non-stops so to speak in this area go to Northeast. It will be refreshing to get a few non-stops into the South other than ATL/CLT.

[ftrooptiger]

Didn't a Piedmont Airlines plane land downtown years back? Maybe late 80's/early 90's? I vaugely remember, but wasn't it something like GSP had the runway lights shut off and they landed there? Was it a 727? I can't really remember the details

I believe that was in Augusta, the pilot landed at Daniel Field and the passengers had to wait for a truck/stairs to be driven over from Bush Field. They had to off load the jet so it get could leave Daniel Field.

The tower closed on clear nights and the last few jets landed on their own. Daniel Field supposedly lines up nicely with Bush Field on certain approaches.

[distortedlogic]

Any new service would be good! Maybe they will keep adding destinations. Is there much of a demand for a GSP/Ft Lauderdale route? Do a lot of people from here go there and vice-versa?

If FL is getting flights to a dozen cities, sounds like they will already be a new hub, no?

Edited August 2, 2007 by distortedlogic

[distortedlogic]

Here is the link to the article. FL will have two aircraft based there, with flights to 12 cities. Spirit airlines just aded 10 new destinations to FL (must be nice!). Sounds like Allegiant only makes markets that are big tourist markets their "focus cities", so I would not count on Gville becoming a hub for them, though it would be nice.

[gvillenative]

I wouldn't say that Ft Lauderdale has that much demand per se, however it's proximity to Miami would spur the most demand for that route in my mind. I believe Miami is one of the top 10 destinations out of GSP if I'm not mistaken.

[ftrooptiger]

At the surface I would agree, but I posted this note several months ago about my first Allegiant flight from Orlando to GSP.

"Generally Allegiant is exactly what you requested......transportation. Older jets, clean shells, new leather seats inside. They left on time and arrived early on both legs. The flight up Thursday morning was 90% full and the flight back yesterday was full. It was funny listening to the folks talk before the flights because I bet half of the people were using the flight as a gateway to Greenville/Asheville/Boone/etc for the weekend instead of 100% theme park travel. The return flight had lots of the same faces on it returning from their weekend to the Carolinas."

There are lots of folks in South Florida with second homes in the Carolinas. Most people can't use them as much as they would like because of travel/dollars. If this happens, this would remove these barriers. The FLL airport is centrally located, 30 minutes from Miami, 30 minutes from Palm beach County.

[Version70-8]

I think someone talked about the idea that GSP should work to follow the lead of RDU in N Carolina. I was looking at their website, and it does look like something that GSP would do well to strive for. (Check out the plans for the new terminal, very nice). According to the website, RDU has over 450 departures and arrivals daily, and 9.4 million passengers (which surprised me it is so much more than GSP). It offers direct flight to places like Denver, Los Angeles, Boston, Pheonix, Austin, and others (between 45 and 50 altogether). There are also direct flights to London and Toronto.

I know international flights are in the long range plans for GSP (per their website), but does anyone realistically see us getting any, anytime soon? I wish the Toronto flight would have worked out a few years back, at least it would have been a start. Thoughts? Other airports that would be good for ust to look at?

I love how RDU's website makes their "redevelopment/expansion" of Terminal C sound more like an entirely brand-new, major addition is being built and diminishes somewhat the fact that the terminal already existed and had been vacated when American Airlines closed their hub their back in the 90s. I mean they mention the AA tidbit but it's not like AA wouldn't have sold the lease back to RDU. I guess it's just funny to me, who knows?

That isn't to say that GSP should not strive to become more like airports such as RDU, which I agree they should and RDU is a very nice one.

[distortedlogic]

I wouldn't say that Ft Lauderdale has that much demand per se, however it's proximity to Miami would spur the most demand for that route in my mind. I believe Miami is one of the top 10 destinations out of GSP if I'm not mistaken.

Anyone have the list of the "Top Ten Destinations" from GSP, or even the top 25? I an curious to see what is on it.

Aren't we supposed to hear something about the grant for Frontier pretty soon? Anyone recall the specific date?

Edited August 3, 2007 by distortedlogic

[gs3]

Virgin America took flight this week and in typical Virgin fashion, is getting rave reviews. GSP isn't even on Virgin's radar and probably never will be, we are not their niche. But it still doesn't hurt to make our voices heard. Write to them. Let them know GSP exist.

Here is an article about some of the techno wonders you can expect on their flights.

http://news.com.com/8300-10784_3-7-0.html?...=Virgin+America

Here is their website:

http://www.virginamerica.com/va/home.do?method=virginAmerica