The Airport Advisory Committee is kind of a joke, essentially a rubber stamp for whatever it is that Aviation Director Jerry Orr has planned. That said, there were some very interesting comments at September’s meeting (select “September 2008” pdf file, page 16) by committee member Andrew Riolo:
Riolo: …The other thing I want to ask about is regarding an Airport diagram I found on the internet of Charlotte Airport (Riolo shares the diagram with the committee). I would like to ask Jerry either once a quarter or semi-annually to brief us on the strategic plan of the Airport and where we are and what we’re doing. I bring this up because I saw an article in the Charlotte Business Journal and it was the first time I heard that we were going to expand the terminal. This was a surprise to me. Is this diagram I found anything that is official?
And later…
Riolo: Could we have a briefing on this expansion project at an upcoming meeting? I am very confused about what’s planned.
What Riolo was mainly asking about is a planned new international concourse that would go where the rental car parking lots are now. The need to put rental cars elsewhere is a major driver in the airport’s plans to replace its existing hourly parking garages with a bigger facility and ties directly into a planned expansion of the ticketing and baggage claim areas.
And let’s not pick on Andrew Riolo here — he easily seems the most involved member of the committee. And he’s not alone in being confused. While the airport has wanted a new international concourse for nearly a decade, the whys and hows are less than obvious. What the airport is short of are domestic gates, not international gates. Who is CLT’s main international operator? US Airways, of course, and often involving connecting traffic. It would be a long, time-consuming transit from the proposed new international terminal to US Airways gates on the B, C, and E concourses. Is that really what’s envisioned? If so, why? So yes Jerry, let’s have a briefing…
