AUSTIN | ABIA Updates

[Speculator]

Originally Posted by electricron

I'm getting confused, are the recent length data fuselage length or wingspan length?

Apologies for any confusion. I was simply adding to KevinfromTexas' comment on the 787-9 fuselage length which is a much longer bird than what we generally see at ABIA. I was pointing out that the cargo plane pictured above was the longest aircraft that is currently in production.

[ILUVSAT]

Since the expansion received the City Council's approval, when might we see some additional renderings from Gentler? Soon, I hope.

Also, I saw that San Jose recently landed a new N/S to Frankfurt. Lufthansa announced it would be flying 5 times a week using their A343. I know Condor is coming for the summer, however, I think it would be great if a full-line carrier like Lufthansa would fly to Austin on a regular/annual schedule. Speaking of...any rumblings of a new international/transoceanic route? I know there was rumors of a "big" announcement which was to have been released back in April.

[DoubleC]

Originally Posted by ILUVSAT

Since the expansion received the City Council's approval, when might we see some additional renderings from Gentler? Soon, I hope.

Also, I saw that San Jose recently landed a new N/S to Frankfurt. Lufthansa announced it would be flying 5 times a week using their A343. I know Condor is coming for the summer, however, I think it would be great if a full-line carrier like Lufthansa would fly to Austin on a regular/annual schedule. Speaking of...any rumblings of a new international/transoceanic route? I know there was rumors of a "big" announcement which was to have been released back in April.

Not sure, but I certainly think that one rendering/CAD pic was pretty cool of a concept.

Pshh it's October; fuggetaboudit. I doubt they would hold any secrets from us for this long, so whatever it was, we would have already known.

I will say the Austin population boom has surprised me; had no idea we were close to 1 million until a few months back, and 2 million for metro! Can't say we're too far from any new intercontinental routes added. Unfortunately, it'll also add to the congestion in town.

[Digatisdi]

The BA 777 will start service to Austin on Sunday

[ILUVSAT]

Spending a wet Sunday at COTA for the F1 USGP. I'll be there to watch it take-off (possibly land - depending on when I decide to leave COTA).

[DoubleC]

I wish I could tell which runway it would land at. The Dreamliner's first landing was on the shorter 35R, and actually took off on that runway several times before eventually preferring the longer 17R. I'd just assume a plane the size of the 777 would always prefer he longer runway for safety.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by DoubleC

I wish I could tell which runway it would land at. The Dreamliner's first landing was on the shorter 35R, and actually took off on that runway several times before eventually preferring the longer 17R. I'd just assume a plane the size of the 777 would always prefer he longer runway for safety.

Fuel light on landing...shorter runway perhaps, fuel heavy on takeoff, I would pick my viewing spot along 183.

[ATCZERO]

Originally Posted by the Genral

Fuel light on landing...shorter runway perhaps, fuel heavy on takeoff, I would pick my viewing spot along 183.

When they come in Sunday, air traffic operations will already be in a "departure mode" for F1 traffic leaving AUS which means all arrivals will land on the west runway. The east runway will be departures only until things slow down. We will also be in a north flow that day. BAW will be landing 35L and departing 35L that day. They are almost always too heavy to take the shorter runway.

[AUS]

Originally Posted by ATCZERO

When they come in Sunday, air traffic operations will already be in a "departure mode" for F1 traffic leaving AUS which means all arrivals will land on the west runway. The east runway will be departures only until things slow down. We will also be in a north flow that day. BAW will be landing 35L and departing 35L that day. They are almost always too heavy to take the shorter runway.

So departures will be 35R and arrivals 35L?
Also, does anyone have a list of charters for tomorrow?

[DoubleC]

I checked flightaware; it still has BA191 with a 788 on the route. However, flightaware is frequently inaccurate about what airlines are sending as I've noticed many times (i.e., Allegiant sending an a319 from Sanford, only to return as an MD80 (and there were no other Allegiant planes to be present at the time).

[danny1010]

Originally Posted by DoubleC

I checked flightaware; it still has BA191 with a 788 on the route. However, flightaware is frequently inaccurate about what airlines are sending as I've noticed many times (i.e., Allegiant sending an a319 from Sanford, only to return as an MD80 (and there were no other Allegiant planes to be present at the time).

BA has been using Austin for their 787-9 familiarization flights. Since the seat layout in Business and Coach are pretty similar between the 787-8 and the 787-9, it's an easy swap out. But that's why the schedules don't show the 787-9.

In any case, here's a review of the new first class seats on BA's 787-9. Cool thing is that it was done on the LHR-AUS flight.

http://airwaysnews.com/blog/2015/10/23/ba789/

[ATCZERO]

Originally Posted by AUS

So departures will be 35R and arrivals 35L?
Also, does anyone have a list of charters for tomorrow?

Usually there is a mass exodus right after the race ends and since all the FBOs are on the east side near 35R, that becomes the departure runway. We will switch to this setup around 4pm near the end of the race.

Traffic this year for F1 has been very light because of the weather so who knows how long that setup will be in effect. If enough people stick around for the Elton John concert, that might help space things out a bit.

The first year for F1, there were 42 helicopters operating in and out of the F1 track. This year there are 9. The maintenance ramp was full of GA jets the first year. This year there are none.

[DoubleC]

Originally Posted by ATCZERO

Usually there is a mass exodus right after the race ends and since all the FBOs are on the east side near 35R, that becomes the departure runway. We will switch to this setup around 4pm near the end of the race.

Traffic this year for F1 has been very light because of the weather so who knows how long that setup will be in effect. If enough people stick around for the Elton John concert, that might help space things out a bit.

The first year for F1, there were 42 helicopters operating in and out of the F1 track. This year there are 9. The maintenance ramp was full of GA jets the first year. This year there are none.

Didn't see your title until now; had no idea you're actually an ATController .

As always, Delta sends 753s during the F1 race, and we'll be getting 2. Nothing too exciting; just a minor upgauge, though they did send a 763 once.

What I'd like to know is when the 747s from the pilgrimage depart for the next city.

[ATCZERO]

Originally Posted by DoubleC

Didn't see your title until now; had no idea you're actually an ATController .

As always, Delta sends 753s during the F1 race, and we'll be getting 2. Nothing too exciting; just a minor upgauge, though they did send a 763 once.

What I'd like to know is when the 747s from the pilgrimage depart for the next city.

Most of the heavies will be leaving late tonight or in the very early hours tomorrow.

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by ATCZERO

Traffic this year for F1 has been very light because of the weather so who knows how long that setup will be in effect.

It's not the weather...it's Mexico City. The Mexican Grand Prix is next weekend and there is much more excitement behind that race than for the USGP. Unless the two races are spread out over the season, Mexico's race will very much hurt F1 in Austin (possibly kill it).

Time will tell. Yes, the weather here didn't help. So, let's hope the weather is Chamber of Commerce weather next year (and the same in Mexico) so we can compare apples-to-apples.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

It's not the weather...it's Mexico City. The Mexican Grand Prix is next weekend and there is much more excitement behind that race than for the USGP. Unless the two races are spread out over the season, Mexico's race will very much hurt F1 in Austin (possibly kill it).

Time will tell. Yes, the weather here didn't help. So, let's hope the weather is Chamber of Commerce weather next year (and the same in Mexico) so we can compare apples-to-apples.

Yea but reality is this was the championship race. All the rest will simply be show races and nothing more. If any race was going to be the one to attend it was this race. Sure there will still be drivers fighting over poll positions but it's a done deal for this season.

[Spaceman]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

It's not the weather...it's Mexico City. The Mexican Grand Prix is next weekend and there is much more excitement behind that race than for the USGP. Unless the two races are spread out over the season, Mexico's race will very much hurt F1 in Austin (possibly kill it).

Time will tell. Yes, the weather here didn't help. So, let's hope the weather is Chamber of Commerce weather next year (and the same in Mexico) so we can compare apples-to-apples.

COTA has a contract with F1 so the races will continue..Mexico has had problems holding multiyear events..Carlos Slim could change his mind and that would cause a dilemma in Mexico City

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by Spaceman

COTA has a contract with F1 so the races will continue..Mexico has had problems holding multiyear events..Carlos Slim could change his mind and that would cause a dilemma in Mexico City

If COTA cannot make it's $10 million annual payment to F1, the USGP race (in Austin) dies...no matter what a "contract" might say. Bernie Eccelstone will not hesitate to move it to another U.S. city.

Even before threat of rain, ticket sales for this year's race were abysmal!

[JoninATX]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

If COTA cannot make it's $10 million annual payment to F1, the USGP race (in Austin) dies...no matter what a "contract" might say. Bernie Eccelstone will not hesitate to move it to another U.S. city.

Even before threat of rain, ticket sales for this year's race were abysmal!

Let's hope it doesn't come to that, and make next year a better one.

[hookem]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

If COTA cannot make it's $10 million annual payment to F1, the USGP race (in Austin) dies...no matter what a "contract" might say. Bernie Eccelstone will not hesitate to move it to another U.S. city.

The annual fee is actually more like $30M+ now. It started at $25M and has a 10% annual escalator. And yes, if the USGP fails before the 10 year contract ends, it will be entirely because of the sanctioning fee. The METF covers a large part of it, so if anything happened to that it would certainly be the end.

I was at the race today, and it was a pretty large crowd considering everything. Bigger than I thought it would be. Long lines at the ticket sales booths coming in, food vendors running out of food, bridges hard to pass with throngs of people on them, etc. While I don't believe it was nearly the attendance number they released (101K), it did seem like it was more people than they were expecting. In reality, it was probably like 70K and they expected more like 50-60K.

COTA really dodged a bullet this year, with the fiasco of Saturday and the poor parking lot/shuttle problems all weekend. It seemed like it was heading to be another disaster like the 2005 USGP. But what saved them was an incredibly action packed race, easily the best of the past few years and possibly one of the best ever. Look at any of the F1 news or fan sites now, and you'll see that F1 fans absolutely loved it. COTA got very lucky with that.