The Charlotte Observer reports that construction has begun on an expansion at Charlotte Douglas International Airport aimed at providing more gates for carriers besides American Airlines. When completed, the airport would have 21 such gates, up from the current 12.
Does CLT need more gates for everyone but American? Yes. Can you make a case that the airport needs another nine such gates? I’d argue that’s very difficult to do. It’s just hard to see where the that level of growth is suppose to come from. But that really doesn’t matter — this is about saving face.
The original-idea, which dates back to the late 1990s, was to built a new international concourse. The airport has expanded so much over the years that growth is no longer easy. The only place to put an additional concourse was where the rental car lots were, which in turn meant finding a place for them. The airport did that by tearing down their existing short-term parking decks and building larger ones, with rental car parking on the bottom levels. After that expensive and frustrating-for-travelers project was about done, the airport realized that American wasn’t going to add more international flights, negating the need for a new international concourse. So the new terminal was recast as for domestic flights for airlines other than American.
In a world in which there was adult supervision over the airport, we might have seen a serious discussion about this matter. But great legacy of Jerry Orr is that we don’t have serious discussions about airport policy in Charlotte, and it really doesn’t matter who ultimately oversees the facility.
