If you were to own an airport?

[bussa77]

If you were to own an airport where would it be, what airlines would you like to have, and how big would it be?

[FlyCharlestonSC]

Mine would be whatever airport pulls in the most money. Prolly ATL or ORD.

[Airbus_A320]

I don't think one person could own an airport. They are usually run by states, cities, ect.

[FlyCharlestonSC]

I don't think one person could own an airport. They are usually run by states, cities, ect.

(We know...just play along!) :P

[assghanistan]

Do you mean in addition to the current airports, or if there were no other large airports currently in existence to hamper your operations?

Mine would be whatever airport pulls in the most money. Prolly ATL or ORD.

If you mean in addition to the current airports, ATL or ORD would not be a very logical choice, because of the airports that currently serve those cities. If this was the case, I would probably go with an airport in West Texas. It would have almost limitless space and centrally located to the Southwest/Western U.S. I would probably use it as more of a regional hub (American Eagle, Continental Express, United Express, ASA or Comair and NW Airlink) plus Southwest and America West (possibly JetBlu). Landing fees would be relatively low and vendor facilities, e.g. restaurants, newsstands, and other pax amenities) would be state of the art. I would charge vendors a minimal monthly fee, plus a small percentage of their monthly revenue (5-10%).

[FlyCharlestonSC]

but think about the money!

[ardavis]

Well...

In addition to current airports, I would situate another on the island of Mallorca, possibly more easterly located, Manacor maybe (the islands second largest city)... as Palma is really reaching it's capacity... people are already sick of having to walk 35 minutes from their aircraft to their coach, that is excluding the time you have to wait for luggage!! If it expands anymore people are looking at walks up to an hour!!!
So I would build an airport near Manacor (there is a huge plot of bare land on the outskirts that could turn into a massive airport!
I'd like to attract the same type of airlines as Palma de Mallorca (PMI) does, the charters, low-cost, and scheduled airliners of Europe... in addition possibly the odd contarract from further airliners (Quantas, AA, etc.) This would be an interesting and successful project as most passengers who fly to Palma visit the east coast (Cala D'Or, Cala Millor, Sa Coma Cala Bona etc.). The northern and western holidaymakers (Alcudia, Magalluf, Palma Nova) could use PMI, whilst all the families and eastern holidaymakers use my airport at Manacor!

One of the current airports... maybe not as profitable as the major World airports, but I would love to own my local Cardiff (CWL), because I knwo that the airport is not fullfilling it's potential as an airport, and if they did splash out some dosh for an expansion to the airport they could attract some large airliners (such as Continental, BA, etc.)

[chrisburns]

Mine would be an airport with All us airlines as well as several International airlines, be a hub to, I guess NW and (yes and) CO.
It would have 10 runways, each 17,000 Ft. Long, 400 gates, and be easy for traveller, I think I might make a diagram of my future wholly owned airport. :P

Oh and on a serious note, yes you can own your own airport, now Tokyo Narita is a privatly owned airport.

[PHF2ATL]

I would take control of PHF and expand and renovate the old terminal and move US and ASA to the old terminal(about 5-6 gates) and let FL take over the current terminal. I would focus on expanding AirTran's service by adding MSP, DFW, TPA, FLL, NAS, and other cities. I would also draw in AA Eagle from ORD and Comair from CVG. ASA would continue to serve PHF along with DL 732's. US would begin to fly from PIT with ERJ-145's and the PHL and CLT routes would be upgraded to E70's. I would extend runway 2/20 and build a whole new parking area(There is plenty of room around PHF)

I can only dream...

[Eagle_Driver]

If I were to own any airport in the U.S., I'd choose HNL. First I'd re-name it to Honolulu Cole Intl. Airport :P , next I'd fix up the terminals to make them more modern and have a monorail taking you from terminal to terminal (Like at MCO), then I would construct a viewing area for spotters, to overlook the Reef Runway. As for airlines, I'd keep them all the same. Heck, I've even got F-15's from the Hawaii National Guard stationed at the airport (a.k.a. Hickam AFB)

[PortColumbus]

If I had my own airport, I'd control CMH.

I'd knock down the current terminal and build a midfield terminal similar to NW's WorldGateway at DTW, with something like 50-75 gates. It'd be linked to downtown with new COTA light rail.

Runway layout would be similar to ATL, with 2 additional parallel runways built.

It could happen....

[FlyCharlestonSC]

I would take control of PHF and expand and renovate the old terminal and move US and ASA to the old terminal(about 5-6 gates) and let FL take over the current terminal. I would focus on expanding AirTran's service by adding MSP, DFW, TPA, FLL, NAS, and other cities. I would also draw in AA Eagle from ORD and Comair from CVG. ASA would continue to serve PHF along with DL 732's. US would begin to fly from PIT with ERJ-145's and the PHL and CLT routes would be upgraded to E70's. I would extend runway 2/20 and build a whole new parking area(There is plenty of room around PHF)

I can only dream...

Actually that doesn't seem so far off. Think of the # of people PHF serves!!!

[uy707]

Mine would be a balance of everything, just in case for economic downturn. Location would be halfway between two medium to big underserved markets. ie 20 km from city A North, 35 km from city B West and so on, anything this kind to make sure
-it's strategically located, but it's not big enough to allow a single given major to build up a hub ; model would be SEATAC.
It would have
-two runways +
-assorted taxyways
-ample tarmac and parking space
-comfortable T shaped terminal terminal, two levels to allow
connections as well as all types of clients ; scheds, lowfares, charters
A FBO, for biz and corporate, + a locally based air-taxi
A sizeable maintenance areacatering for lots of third party work
A dedicated cargo and parcel servicing area
Resident airlines would be first proven money makers and would feature
-a thriving Low Fare, initially with MadDogs
-a charter tending to leisure market not served by the LFC, with 752s or even Super27s
-a regional connecting with everybody and flying in its own c/s
-a freight scheduled flying DC.8-73CFs
-an air taxi big enouth to operate anything from Slowtations and TwinProps to Stage III 707.
-a feeder for UPS/Fedex and al
-a flying school
Good locations for pictures
A museum of airtravel with extensive collection of flyable classics
1 707/ 1 720B / 1 727-100 / 1 DC.6B / 1 DC.3 / 1 Beech 18, list goes on
Alain

[NWAirlinkCRJ@ERI]

If I had my own airport, I would use the current Erie International Airport facility and expand it. Our longest runway 6/24 is only 6500 ft, but I would expand this to 9000 ft. I would also build a parallel runways of equal length so that dual runways ops can take place. Our terminal has only 8 gates, with only 3 that have jetways. I would expand this to around 30 gates with about 25 jetways. In addition to the 4 airlines that serve ERI, I would bring in more airlines and maybe add some international carriers as well, in addition to uping the current cargo service.

Current Airline Service:

Northwest Airlink to DTW (6 times daily) CRJ and S340
Comair to CVG (3 times daily) FRJ and CRJ
Continental Connection to CLE (4 times daily) B1900D
US Airways Express to PIT (9 times daily) ERJ145 and S340

Expanded Airline Service:

Northwest Airlines to DTW (3 times daily) DC9
Northwest Airlink to DTW (5 times daily) CRJ / ARJ
Northwest Airlink to MSP (3 times daily) CRJ / ARJ
Northwest Airlink to MEM (2 times daily) CRJ
Comair to CVG (5 times daily) CRJ
ASA to ATL (3 times daily) CRJ700
Comair to JFK (once daily) CRJ
Continental Connection to CLE (5 times daily) B1900D
Continental Express to EWR (3 times daily) ERJ135
Continental Express to IAH (2 times daily) ERJ145XR
US Airways Express to PIT (10 times daily) EMB 170
US Airways Express to PHL (5 times daily) ERJ145
US Airways Express to CLT (3 times daily) ERJ145
US Airways Express to DCA (twice daily) Dash 8
American Eagle to ORD (4 times daily) ERJ145
American Eagle to MIA (once daily) ERJ145
American Eagle to DFW (twice daily) CRJ700
United Express to IAD (4 times daily) J41 / CRJ
United Express to ORD (3 times daily) CRJ
United Express to DEN (once daily) CRJ700
AirTran to ATL (twice daily) B717 or CRJ
JetBlue to JFK (3 times daily) EMB 190
USA3000 to PIE (3 times weekly) A320
USA3000 to RSW (3 times weekly) A320
USA3000 to FLL (3 times weekly) A320
Midwest Connect to MKE (twice daily) FRJ

International:

LH (Privatair) to FRA (once daily) 737-700
Air Canada Jazz to YYZ (3 times daily) Dash 8

Cargo:

FedEx to MEM with A300s and A310s
UPS to SDF with 727s
Airborne Express to CVG with DC9s
Amerijet to YIP with DC9s
and other smaller cargo carriers.

This is just the jist of what I would do with the current ERI. Overambitious? Certainly, but many of those routes are viable!

Just think about it.

-Pete

[FlyCharlestonSC]

Talk about wishful thinking!