- Jul 23, 2003
- 15,988
- 9,428
Rather than go off on a tangent about which airport is best for connecting in an economics thread, I'll start this one to discuss airports.....
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Individual terminal projects like JFK T8 are backed by the airlines, but funded by the airports. And yes, it does raise rents, but as long as you have revenue to back it up, it's a cost of doing business.
And it doesn't have to be expensive -- just look at what JetBlue accomplished with T5.
MIA also stands to be a more efficient connecting airport for AA than it was in the past, and possibly more efficient than ATL. Having the train run the length of the concourse (same concept as at DFW) means that unlike ATL, the longest walk you would have between connecting gates is about 1200 feet. At ATL, with the tram stations in the center, the longest walk between flights is around 2500 feet because you could walk half the entire length of a concourse just to get to the tram, and then another half of the concourse...
DFW's main fault is the original design. Like MCI, it was designed for point to point service, and to have short walks from the curb. It still succeeds there -- as a local passenger, I never needed to plan more than about 45 minutes from curb to departure, and often made it with less than 30 minutes, even post 9/11. DFW's tram stations are only 1500 feet apart, which shortens walks, but the train ride can be up to 2.5 miles, which adds way too much time connecting between opposing terminals. I don't find the interiors all that offensive. Long ago they replaced the pavers with terrazzo, and the depth of the holdrooms was quite improved when they installed the Skytrain.
By comparison to ORD, AA's longest walk is 3,000 ft (end of K to end of G), but only 2000 ft if you're on mainline (end of H to end of K). UA has comparable distances (end of C to F or end of B to end of C).
Where ATL excels is retail and food. They have done a great job at offering diversionary activities for people waiting. DFW simply has TVs running the Airport Channel.... They're getting better, but it's not a place I'd want to wait for 2 hours if I didn't have an Admirals Club membership...
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Individual terminal projects like JFK T8 are backed by the airlines, but funded by the airports. And yes, it does raise rents, but as long as you have revenue to back it up, it's a cost of doing business.
And it doesn't have to be expensive -- just look at what JetBlue accomplished with T5.
MIA also stands to be a more efficient connecting airport for AA than it was in the past, and possibly more efficient than ATL. Having the train run the length of the concourse (same concept as at DFW) means that unlike ATL, the longest walk you would have between connecting gates is about 1200 feet. At ATL, with the tram stations in the center, the longest walk between flights is around 2500 feet because you could walk half the entire length of a concourse just to get to the tram, and then another half of the concourse...
DFW's main fault is the original design. Like MCI, it was designed for point to point service, and to have short walks from the curb. It still succeeds there -- as a local passenger, I never needed to plan more than about 45 minutes from curb to departure, and often made it with less than 30 minutes, even post 9/11. DFW's tram stations are only 1500 feet apart, which shortens walks, but the train ride can be up to 2.5 miles, which adds way too much time connecting between opposing terminals. I don't find the interiors all that offensive. Long ago they replaced the pavers with terrazzo, and the depth of the holdrooms was quite improved when they installed the Skytrain.
By comparison to ORD, AA's longest walk is 3,000 ft (end of K to end of G), but only 2000 ft if you're on mainline (end of H to end of K). UA has comparable distances (end of C to F or end of B to end of C).
Where ATL excels is retail and food. They have done a great job at offering diversionary activities for people waiting. DFW simply has TVs running the Airport Channel.... They're getting better, but it's not a place I'd want to wait for 2 hours if I didn't have an Admirals Club membership...
