News and notes from around the interweb:
- Scandinavian airlines are ending face mask requirements on flights within the region signaling that masking may not be a permanent situation.
- You’ve purchased an airline, now what?
- Man suing to overturn airline mask mandate says JetBlue retaliated by banning him
- Naked Woman Roams Denver Airport, Making Small Talk With Passengers
- Marriott cuts ties with unfinished former Fontainebleau project This was supposed to be a JW and an Edition at one point, and “nearly 3,800 rooms, retail, nightlife, and more than 550,000 square feet of convention and meeting space.”
- Washington Dulles could finally replace its ‘temporary’ concourse built in the 1980s with a new midfield concourse (that would actually connect where the airport train station was built), but United doesn’t want to be the one to pay for it. Instead they hope the federal infrastructure bill pays for it. Already funds from Washington National are diverted to subsidize United’s costs at Dulles.
The issue at Dulles is replacing Concourse C/D economically. Costs have long been an issue with then-United CEO Jeff Smisek saying in 2013 that the airport’s high costs and debt burden made it “more difficult to do business here compared to other hubs.” The average cost per departing passenger at Dulles peaked at $26.55 in 2014 and, through a variety of efforts by MWAA, airlines and Virginia, fell to $14.93 in 2019.
“[We] have to figure out how to do it and not destroy the economics of the hub — they built a beautiful facility in Pittsburgh and there’s no hub there anymore. So we’ve got to do it smartly,” said Kirby echoing Smisek’s sentiment.
Truth be told, I also kind of want the federal government to build a new concourse for United Airlines at Washington Dulles.
@ Gary — Yet another reason NOT to pass the latest round of government handouts. Vote Manchin-Sinema 2024.
Johosofat, hear hear, I second the motion unanimously!!
It’s fair to expect Dulles to build a new terminal, after all, they did build the B concourse which foreign carriers as well as some domestic carriers enjoy.
Terminal C/D where United operates out of was a temporary facility. It’s night and day compared to tge B concourse which is clean, spacious, beautiful.
The C/D concourses at IAD were built by the same guy who built the Colosseum in Rome.
Remember a few years ago when the Big 3 were crying crocodile tears about foreign airlines getting open handouts?
I’m not keen on government paying for it. But it sure as hell is needed.
Regardless of who is paying for it, that airport is ridiculous and need a change. It seems like that building was built to be something else and they decided to improvise an airport instead. The carpet, those ramps, all that useless space to walk… it’s terrible for people using a 4 wheeler suitcases. You literally need a physical therapist after dragging your bags on that carpet up and down for 1 day. I can’t stand that airport. Nothing there was designed correctly. They could copy Atlanta’s design.
I believe the Federal government may allegedly cave into the wants of United Airlines. And who knows if the Feds may secretly give them a Stimulus? Who knows?
If the airline wants it then they either pay for it themselves or, as is common practice the world over, negotiate a deal with the airport operator.
That deal could be fee waivers/ reductions, slots ( if within preview although doubtful in this case). Part pay, lounge/ GH/ other services etc etc.
It’s a deal between them and the airport and of that doesn’t work then if they’re that desperate then they fund it themselves.
The one revenue stream it shouldn’t come from is the tax payers who’ve already bailed them, and the other carriers, out repeatedly.
The entitled arrogance here is gross
MWAA hopes that the federal government makes a contribution, not to fully pay for it. Recall, that until recently, flyers paid for airport capital investments through the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. These are not taxpayer revenues, but user revenues (i.e., those who fly). Since Covid-19, when governments around the world placed regulatory restrictions on businesses, there has been some government aid, and Congress is looking at an infrastructure bill that would presumably use some taxpayer money. But under any scenario, airline passengers will pay for the lion share of IAD capital expenditures (and for every other commercial airprot program in the nation).
I totally support a new C/D terminal at Dulles. The government should pay for it.
(For those who try to drag Senators Manchin and Sinema into this discussion, let the record show that they’re very happy to take government money for their own states.)