I would like input on new possible routes to KCLT
US is adding CLT-SLC next march
Recently:
Insel air CLT-CUR
US Airways
CLT-Columbus, Ohio
CLT-Birmingham
CLT-ILM (Wilmington, NC)
CLT-Charleston, SC
Is CLT-ZRH possible?
US and its predecessors have flown CLT-ILM and CLT-CHS for decades and CMH and BHM are at least 10 years old. These aren’t new routes.
They are for mainline. Do you see more international routes to CLT in the future?
One of my best friends grew up in ILM and later worked for US. CLT-ILM has been mainline for a long time. Maybe went regional only for a few months, but mainline is nothing new on CLT-ILM.
Oh, ok thanks! But again, I’m wondering about possible FUTURE routes. Thanks in advance!
I think CLT-ZRH is unlikely. ZRH is a fairly premium-heavy route and I’m not sure if the loads would be there from CLT or the stations that feed it but not PHL (since there’s already PHL-ZRH). I also don’t think that US has a lot of slack in its widebody fleet right now. Whenever the slot swap goes through, US will be gaining an authority to operate CLT-GRU. It’s unclear if CLT-GIG will stay or not. It may stay seasonally (operate only in the winter when US has excess widebody capacity and GIG loads are stronger).
In my opinion, if any other airlines come to CLT, they will be *A members.
Thanks you for your thoughts!
Xander
Good points. Also, considering how low O/D traffic must be in CLT, I’m a bit surprised there are so many intl routes already. Can CLT really be picking up that many people from feeders? If so, O/D traffic must be even less than I thought!
CLT has flights from all major and many smaller cities throughout the USA, especially the Southeast and West. It also has flights from the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. It’s a logical connecting point between the southern/southwest USA and Europe.
True, CLT may be a logical geographic location, but so is ATL. Demographically, however, Charlotte’s metro area has about 3 million fewer people and not nearly as much business activity, which translates into quite a bit lower demand for O/D.
For instance, people often complain about US’s reductions at PIT, and while I loved the facilities [and love the city] of PIT, there were simply not enough people arriving or departing the Steel City to justify such high levels of service, even with connections from feeders. PIT definitely seems to be recovering, however, considering now there are about 10 million O/D pax per year now at PIT (which, hell, is just about as many pax as CLE has even WITH connecting pax), so it could potentially be a site for a small focus city, although in this economic climate I still don’t think it’s possible. One day though, maybe!