Quote:
Originally Posted by Kngkyle
I highly doubt the dimensions from that outline are anything close to accurate or final. The layout, on the other hand, is likely very near final seeing as it's been agreed upon by AA, UA, the city, and has been submit to the FAA.
The reason you have 30 new gates instead of 75 is because UA and AA have veto power and would block it. The city likely had to lean on them hard to get them to agree to 30. If the city has a spare billion and wants to build a 75 gate terminal they can without AA/UA approval. But since the city itself will not be footing the bill, and is dependent on UA and AA to pay for all of this, they have to negotiate an agreement with them. UA and AA have no incentive to pay for a 75 gate terminal for their competitors.
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Of course they shouldn't build anything for their competitors--AA and UA built O'hare and gave Chicago the global connections it has. I hated Mayor Daley's obsession with competition (i.e. Spirit and other greyhound airlines) coming into O'Hare when it's already a competitive place with 2 hubs. Giant hub operations are the reason O'Hare is the most connected and the biggest draw for international airlines. And where did you get that the city builds the terminals? Taxpayer money is never used, it's always the airline ticket taxes and fees.
That said, why couldn't the city push AA and United for a full build out that maintains their dominance of the airport? UA would keep its 45% market share (whatever it is) and AA would keep its 40% and everyone else gets the other 15% as it is now--just more gates.
ORD is the only top ten busy airport with enough land to nearly double its gates and it just doesn't happen for artificial reasons. What used to be the busiest in the world could have still been the busiest, but instead we're left with these piecemeal expansions that occur once every 20 years. There's no reason not to shoot for Atlanta, Dubai, and Beijing. Heck even LAX passed O'hare in passengers. What was once the busiest airport in the world 30 years straight is now number 6 or 7 because it refuses to build to its real capacity.
Last year's passenger numbers were 78 million, and at 185 gates, that's an average of 422k passengers per gate. Maintaining those averages, a 250 gate O'Hare equals 105 million, barely enough to reach Atlanta's incredible 104 million (wow, give credit where due).
A 250 gate O'Hare means more connecting passengers to feed international routes that AA and UA (and their partners) can't fill right now. That means a nonstop flight to Africa (something Atlanta has) or more service to South America, or some of the long-haul flights that New York JFK currently enjoys.
Once this expansion is complete in 2027 (earliest possible timeline), O'Hare is still the 6th busiest airport or has fallen to 10th, and the terminal facility likely isn't winning any international awards.
Not trying to be a downer, I'm an aviation geek and have been to probably the top 30 airports--O'Hare can and should be number 1 again, both in passenger numbers and amenities/quality.
For a city whose unofficial motto is "make no little plans," these are little plans.