Select US Airports by Nonstop Routes 5,000+ Air Miles

[Buckeye Native 001]

I flew out of a Delta commuter gate at Sea-Tac back in 2016. Definitely a brutalist, 1970s feeling to it at the time.

The FlightAware app also has a way to track what's flying overhead but if I remember right, it's not very intuitive getting to that display?

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by mhays

It's remarkable how constrained NYC's airports are. Expansions can be extremely tough and require many years of planning and lawsuits as well as billions in costs...but it seems like Teterboro or Westchester could have gone through a 20-year process by now.

Moving 100 acres of industrial use and tunneling an arterial would be a big deal, but are certainly doable.

This is where the strong-man political system in Chicago can actually be beneficial. Chicago O'Hare added 4 new runways in the past 20 years in a project that required bulldozing a neighborhood and digging up 15,000 graves. Now the airport has 6 parallel runways that can be used simultaneously.

[Crawford]

Yeah, that would never happen in the NYC area. Not ever. Would probably never happen anywhere in the NE corridor.

Also, JFK, Newark and LGA are all built on ocean inlets, so expansion would likely require landfill on waterways, which is near-impossible these days. And all these waterways have heavy waterborne traffic.

Long-term, I think Stewart and MacArthur are the most realistic options for major capacity increases. Neither are in wealthy, NIMBY areas, and both have land.

The big 3 airports can expand through larger jets and more frequent flights, assuming the tri-state air traffic system can be reformed (again, NIMBYs). Maybe you could squeeze in an additional JFK runway (it's been under discussion for years by Port Authority), but it would take decades and a herculean effort.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by mhays

How so? They've spent billions on terminal expansions and upgrades, including three major projects just completing:
--North Satellite expansion/renovation
--International Arrivals terminal and new bridge from South Satellite
--Central Terminal grand hall renovation

Some of it's getting old, but a large percentage is pretty good.

It's also one of the few airports where you can walk off the property to your hotel or apartment.

I must have been in the old part because it was still very disco era. This was is in 2017 via Alaska Air

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

This is where the strong-man political system in Chicago can actually be beneficial. Chicago O'Hare added 4 new runways in the past 20 years in a project that required bulldozing a neighborhood and digging up 15,000 graves. Now the airport has 6 parallel runways that can be used simultaneously.

yeah, the expansion and runway realignment of ORD over the past 2 decades has been a serious feat of political swagger.

once the final runway extension is complete next year, it will be the first airport in the world with 6 parallel runways (4 of which will be ~11,000+ feet)!

ORD's capacity will soon be limited only by its terminal capacity, which is currently in the works to be massively expanded as well.


on the flip side, chicago is also home to MDW, which only has two commercial grade runways (crossing pattern) of ~6,500 feet, the shortest runways of any US "major hub" airport. and no amount of political strong-arming is ever gone get those runways extended.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Midway's an interesting place to land and takeoff. Not as bad as John Wayne, but definitely a full throttle launch.

And kind of like SFO and OAK's "Are we landing in the bay!?", it's "Are we landing in a neighborhood!?"

[craigs]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

Midway's an interesting place to land and takeoff. Not as bad as John Wayne, but definitely a full throttle launch.

And kind of like SFO and OAK's "Are we landing in the bay!?", it's "Are we landing in a neighborhood!?"

So true! I'm used to 'landing in the water' in the Bay Area, but landing in the bungalow belt at Midway freaked me out!

As for the Northeast, low-cost upstart airline Avelo is planning on an East Coast hub at Tweed New Haven airport. They currently serve only Western destinations through their hub at my local airport, Hollywood/Burbank (full disclosure: I'm flying them next week to Oregon and they send me emails all the time about their expansion plans).

According to Forbes, Avelo will provide $1.2 million to help upgrade and modernize the airport’s facilities and operations as part of its larger $100 million project to extend Tweed's runway and construct a new terminal.

[Crawford]

New Haven Tweed is yet another NE corridor airport that has been NIMBYized. There should be at least something John Wayne-level serving the affluent, heavily populated, heavily corporate coastal CT. But no. Most people just brave the traffic to LGA, JFK, Newark, or head in the other direction, to Hartford-Springfield.

New Haven is finally proposing a modest expansion, and NIMBYs are already going crazy. It's insanity that someone visiting Yale has to endure the traffic hell of I-95 from LGA. I-95 has been extra hellish this summer given everyone is stir crazy. Try three hours from New Haven. There have been routine weekend tieups from the GW Bridge to New London (which is almost Rhode Island).

[mhays]

Originally Posted by JManc

I must have been in the old part because it was still very disco era. This was is in 2017 via Alaska Air

That sounds like the North Satellite, just finishing a $700 million expansion and renovation (the retail is still coming). https://www.portseattle.org/news/ste...expanded-north

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by craigs

I'm used to 'landing in the water' in the Bay Area, but landing in the bungalow belt at Midway freaked me out!

yeah, those Southwest 737s do get awfully close to the houses (not a photo-shopped pic below):


source: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...723-story.html



MDW is one of the most hemmed in major airports in the country. it's exactly 1 square mile of airport plunked right down in the middle of the grid of the southwest side bungalow belt:


source: https://www.airteamimages.com/-___230998_large.html

[dimondpark]

Havent seen this is a while. Lufthansa 747-8i taking off from SFO today, headed for Frankfurt.

https://i.imgur.com/MRQA28N.jpg
From a post on the airport's FB page.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by craigs

So true! I'm used to 'landing in the water' in the Bay Area, but landing in the bungalow belt at Midway freaked me out!

Try doing it on July 4 at night, surrounded by backyard fireworks... definitely the scariest landing I've ever had.

[iheartthed]

LGA also has the "landing in the water" effect for two approaches: from the east over Flushing Bay, or from the north over the Bronx and the East River/Long Island Sound.

[Steely Dan]

^ and unlike MDW, from a technical perspective, LGA's two relatively short runways could always be easily extended out into the water, if such was ever desired.

however, i realize from a political standpoint, it's a much different issue.


source: https://newyorkyimby.com/2018/07/la-...r-headway.html

[Buckeye Native 001]

Never flown there but assume it's similar to SFO/OAK. Didn't an island have to be created to make LGA feasible? There's been at least one or two incidents where planes ended up in the drink.

[JManc]

^ Only flew into SFO once and I though the pilot got lost because San Francisco was behind us and water was in front of us. Boston is similar but you can see the approach more easily.

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

yeah, those Southwest 737s do get awfully close to the houses (not a photo-shopped pic below):


source: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...723-story.html



MDW is one of the most hemmed in major airports in the country. it's exactly 1 square mile of airport plunked right down in the middle of the grid of the southwest side bungalow belt:


source: https://www.airteamimages.com/-___230998_large.html

I flew into MDW a couple of times and it reminded me of BUR where I thought we were going to land in a In-N-Out drive through. SNA (John Wayne) was also like that.

[Buckeye Native 001]

If a plane landed on the 405 just east of SNA, would traffic noticeably be any worse? I think not...

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

Never flown there but assume it's similar to SFO/OAK. Didn't an island have to be created to make LGA feasible? There's been at least one or two incidents where planes ended up in the drink.

I've never flown into OAK, but SFO feels a little similar to LGA. SFO just has much longer runways and is a much bigger airport in general.

Here's a landing at LGA over Flushing Bay (start around the 9:10 mark):
• Video Link

The land approach over Queens is a nail-biter too, but it's not quite Chicago's Midway since the Grand Central Parkway gives a slight buffer to the LGA runway:

• Video Link

[Steely Dan]

here's a pretty cool cockpit video of landing at MDW on runway 31C.

the approach is from the southeast, and shows just how close some of the bungalows and flats are to the end of the runway.

• Video Link

[JManc]

Then there's this lunacy. City Airport (London). It's literally right on the Thames...

• Video Link