AUSTIN | ABIA Updates - Page 230

khowaga · #**4581** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 3:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by StoOgE

Never hurts to have with international flights. If someone gets delayed or stuck at the gate it can in an emergency let another flight depart on time.

It’s not connected to customs, I don’t believe (also, it’s not currently operational at all due to the construction).

From an international flight perspective wherein passengers need to be kept sterile, using a jetway is a much better way to control the flow than having them walk on the tarmac (I also think that, for large aircraft, that gate is in the wrong place for easy access). It’s really for small, commuter type aircraft that can’t be easily connected to a jetbridge.

khowaga · #**4582** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 3:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoneStarMike

I know it was used when the airport first opened. There was a small commuter carrier called Austin Express that served Beaumont and Tyler.

When Expressjet was at ABIA, they had more than one gate, but I can't remember if Gate 1 was one of them.

Where is Texas Sky? (or was, did I miss it?) at the South Terminal?

masonh2479 · #**4583** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 4:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by khowaga

Where is Texas Sky? (or was, did I miss it?) at the South Terminal?

They were at Gate1. They’ve left town.

masonh2479 · #**4584** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 4:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by khowaga

It’s not connected to customs, I don’t believe (also, it’s not currently operational at all due to the construction).

From an international flight perspective wherein passengers need to be kept sterile, using a jetway is a much better way to control the flow than having them walk on the tarmac (I also think that, for large aircraft, that gate is in the wrong place for easy access). It’s really for small, commuter type aircraft that can’t be easily connected to a jetbridge.

I wonder if a bus type gate system could be in the future for ABIA, many European airports do this for all flights and it seems like an easy way to add space.

A new terminal with a ton of hard stands and a few bus gates could really boost capacity.

aschwab · #**4585** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 4:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by masonh2479

I wonder if a bus type gate system could be in the future for ABIA, many European airports do this for all flights and it seems like an easy way to add space.

A new terminal with a ton of hard stands and a few bus gates could really boost capacity.

Boosts capacity, but that should not be the end goal to use that. It is an option in a pinch until you can expand more.

I hate flying into places where you have to get on buses as it always seems to take longer.

On the bright side, they can deplane from the front and back of the plane.

khowaga · #**4586** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 5:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by masonh2479

They were at Gate1. They’ve left town.

Shocking. Can’t believe they couldn’t make a flight to a city just under three hours' drive away work </sarcasm>

Austin1971 · #**4587** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 5:35 PM**

B

We vs us · #**4588** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 5:47 PM**

Wow. That's crazy.

ATXboom · #**4589** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 6:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by We vs us

Wow. That's crazy.

That's pushing 18M annual. Crazy... those projections for 26M by 2040 need to be torn up asap.

masonh2479 · #**4590** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 6:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATXboom

That's pushing 18M annual. Crazy... those projections for 26M by 2040 need to be torn up asap.

Our growth is really crazy, but I do wonder when the growth will plateau...

aschwab · #**4591** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 7:16 PM**

Good sign for Mexican based airlines?

Volaris passengers totaled 1,662, up 149.9%
AeroMexico passengers totaled 3,981, up 17.5%

But, then I look at Jan-June:

Volaris passengers totaled 7,212, down 8%
AeroMexico passengers totaled 20,689, up 12.9%

Was Volaris running more flight frequency last year?

Also, are these numbers for:

Total people arriving, total people departing, or total people arriving + total people departing? I am assuming the latter of that.

urbancore · #**4592** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 7:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by masonh2479

Our growth is really crazy, but I do wonder when the growth will plateau...

keep an eye on job growth....if that dips, the travel growth rate will follow. as long as we add 2-3% job growth yoy, i see no end in sight.

khowaga · #**4593** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 7:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by aschwab

Good sign for Mexican based airlines?

Volaris passengers totaled 1,662, up 149.9%
AeroMexico passengers totaled 3,981, up 17.5%

But, then I look at Jan-June:

Volaris passengers totaled 7,212, down 8%
AeroMexico passengers totaled 20,689, up 12.9%

Was Volaris running more flight frequency last year?

Also, are these numbers for:

Total people arriving, total people departing, or total people arriving + total people departing? I am assuming the latter of that.

Correct. (Arriving and departing combined).

AM upgauged to a larger aircraft last fall; which accounts for part of their growth. Volaris has been doing horribly (load factors at or under 50%), so whatever they’re doing to get their numbers up ... good for them?

khowaga · #**4594** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 7:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by aschwab

Boosts capacity, but that should not be the end goal to use that. It is an option in a pinch until you can expand more.

I hate flying into places where you have to get on buses as it always seems to take longer.

On the bright side, they can deplane from the front and back of the plane.

Given the number of 100 degree days we have in the summer, I'm gonna pass on that

aschwab · #**4595** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 8:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by khowaga

Given the number of 100 degree days we have in the summer, I'm gonna pass on that

It'll just scare people away from moving here. Maybe a good move.

urbancore · #**4596** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 8:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by aschwab

It'll just scare people away from moving here. Maybe a good move.

It hasn’t scared people from moving to Phoenix or Vegas. Follow the jobs.

khowaga · #**4597** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 9:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dcbrickley

It hasn’t scared people from moving to Phoenix or Vegas. Follow the jobs.

Phoenix doesn’t board by bus, and Vegas even has slot machines in the airport!

ILUVSAT · #**4598** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 9:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATXboom

That's pushing 18M annual. Crazy... those projections for 26M by 2040 need to be torn up asap.

Huh? Should ABIA maintain the current six month growth rate (Jan-Jun 2018), then there will be a hair under 16 million passengers served in 2018. Still very impressive - considering the maximum designed annual PAX will be 15 million when the nine-gate expansion opens. Ha!

I agree. The "projections" are off!

ATXboom · #**4599** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 9:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ILUVSAT

Huh? Should ABIA maintain the current six month growth rate (Jan-Jun 2018), then there will be a hair under 16 million passengers served in 2018. Still very impressive - considering the maximum designed annual PAX will be 15 million when the nine-gate expansion opens. Ha!

I agree. The "projections" are off!

Agree... extrapolating from one month is no bueno but the point of projections being waaaay off still holds. At ~16% growth, 2019 should see around 18M. My hunch is that it could even blow that away IF new capacity follows the expansion quickly... the bandwidth will be there.

khowaga · #**4600** Posted **Jul 31, 2018, 10:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adrum23

Impressive. Looks like AUS will finally surpass BNA this year. And this is only a prelude of things to come. When the expansion opens up next year, expect even more growth.

I have a feeling the master plan is underestimating a bit the growth at AUS, but in fairness, I feel most airport master plans across the country have been on the conservative side as of late, because of the past volatility of the industry. Nonetheless, I think the estimation for 2040 should be closer to 30-35 million as opposed to 26 million.

Those projections make me wonder, is AUS making the projections/master plan based on the assumption AUS will remain a primarily O&D airport, or are they planning at all for the (slight) possibility that more connecting traffic could be coming through the airport in the future (either through Delta hubbing AUS or Southwest routing more connections through the airport)?

The original design was definitely based on the notion that, being in such close proximity to two fortress hubs, we were never going to be a hub ourselves, hence the terminal layout where proximity of the gates to security/street were emphasized—remember that ABIA opened two years before 9/11. The idea that someone was ever going to have to walk from one end of the concourse to the other to connect was dismissed.

To be honest, we’re still a long way from one airline having that much real estate; the closest we get is BA premium and elite pax having to trudge from the Admiral’s Club down to gate 2 (which is about to get even longer...)

As for the future, the satellite terminal layout that appears to be the preferred long term vision would seem to lend itself to connecting traffic relatively easily as long as the carrier in question is positioned properly within it. This also seems to apply to Delta’s plan to take the end cap where its gates are all across from one another with the SkyClub in the middle.