St Louis: The Incredible Shrinking Airport

It is sad to see what is happening at STL. I never had the opportunity to see STL in its heyday as a TW and AA hub. It looks like CVG and MEM may have to do something similar in the future.

You mention the unnecessary runway that was built. Actually according to many it was unnecessary even when it was first built. Here is a link to an interesting article about the runway project and the neighborhood it destroyed: http://www.pbase.com/jboard/carrollton The text in this article is hard to read as it is light grey on dark grey. If you ‘highlight’ the text it is easier to read.

Maybe TWA would have been better off merging with America West. Come to think about it, maybe America West would have been better off merging with TWA instead of buying out US AIrways.

Barry,

Many airports have separate terminals. LAX is probably the best example, but MSP and DTW also fit the bill too.

The sad reality is, even with TWA, and even when there were more businesses here, St. Louis was probably overserviced as a market (did a city this size ever really need a direct flight to London?).

Poor/shortsighted decisions by civic leaders hurt the local economy long before the national economy started going through it, and the AA takeover exacerbated things as well.

Size-wize, the airport really wasn’t large enough for the service it was receiving at the time, but tried to make do with what it could (even in its heyday, it was just a nightmare to navigate). Its location, so close to residents, made a proper layout impossible. When that traffic dried up, you were left with what you have now.

The E concourse (formerly known as the East Terminal) is actually a great example of how a small airport should be built. Spacous, modern, light, convenient. It’s too bad the money isn’t there to do what really needs to be done-build a new terminal building on the current location of the D concourse. It currently still has all of the problems associated with larger airports (long walks, nearly impossible parking, etc) because so much space is currently occupied by stuff that serves no purpose.

Hopefully the project will work, but it’s not even making the best of a bad situation, it’s just making something of a bad situation.

Which airports are next in line for this kind of sad drop-off in traffic and de-hubinization (just invented a word): MEM, CVG, MSP…. others?

Andrew wrote:

BF wrote:
but I seem to remember Delta promising (yeah yeah, I know…) to maintain MSP as a hub, something they haven’t necessarily said about CVG and MEM.

Isn’t the whole issue with MSP is that DL must keep a certain amount of employees in the state or they have to pay millions back to the state for what was given to NW? Or something like that. I think when all the DL/NW dust settles and DL catches it’s breath, CVG will go the way of PIT and STL. Face it US didn’t need a big operation in PIT while having a major operation in PHL, just like AA doesn’t need a STL hub when it has major operations in ORD and DFW. DL knows that with CVG with DTW so close. The flights will slowly drop at CVG until DL just has service to it’s other hubs and maybe a few high volumn routes.

That’s my thoughts anyway.

Andrew wrote:

but I seem to remember Delta promising (yeah yeah, I know…) to maintain MSP as a hub

One thing to note about MSP is that it was a very profitable hub for NW. Believe it or not there are quite a few major corporate HQ located in the region which create profitable business O&D traffic. St. Louis metro is similarly sized of the Twin Cities but doesn’t have near the corporate base to demand an airline hub. That said, if DL downsizes MSP it leaves an opportunity for competitors to move in and increase competition.

As for shrinking airports, given that the major hubs and largest population centers are probably safe I think for secondary hubs/focus cities it all depends on what happens in the economy. DTW seems like it could see some downsizing if that region continues in their current depression economy. Places like LAS & FLL are so dependant on tourism that a prolonged bad economy could cripple an airport.

MIchael in MKE wrote:

Also Delta must keep at least 10000 jobs in Minnesota until 2016. Also they have a commitment to keep at least 400 flights out of MSP.

I knew it was something like that. Should be interesting to see what happens then. Or by then since 6 yrs is a long time in the airline biz.

It is really sad to see the state of the once busy STL. In 1998-89 I was 22 and an Elite 1 member of TWA Aviators. I have no idea how many hours (days) I spent in the STL airport. The Ambassador lounge overlooked the entire TWA fleet moving to destinations around the US and a few across the globe. I took the STL-LGW in TransWorld One more than once and will never forget my TransWorld One flights to Honolulu. What I miss most about TWA are the employees. There was a woman in the Ambassador Club that had a daughter attending my university. She always immediately recognized me and made sure I had an upgrade with a vegetarian meal. There were the flight attendants that became my friends. One Thanksgiving my friend and I made it from Rome to JFK and then to STL where we got stuck. We talked to our flight attendant friends and ended up staying in the same hotel. It was a Thanksgiving I will never forget. TWA was a great airline with great people. It was never the same once AA took over. Maybe STL should dedicate the now closed concourses B & D to Carl Ichan. We, and the people of St Louis, have him to thank for the current state of STL. After selling off TWA’s most profitable assets, he managed to get a deal to exit the company that ensured its ultimate demise. No airline can fly when someone can sell seats that bring little or no revenue to the company. I wish STL the best of luck! I MISS TWA!!!

Ryan B wrote:

Maybe STL should dedicate the now closed concourses B & D to Carl Ichan. We, and the people of St Louis, have him to thank for the current state of STL.

Carl Ichan wasn’t the first corporate raider in the airline business and I’m sure there are more to come. That said, I would not discount the effect that Flight 800 had on the airline.

@Eric, MPLS has not faired well in this last recession. It hasn’t been as bad as in some areas but it hasn’t gone untouched. That would be Texas (more specifically Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, McAllen and a few others) In fact, it’s experienced a bit of a brain drain during this last decade.

@ Allen:

sorry Allen, i should have put more emphasis on ‘relatively’. I (was) moved from Minni to DC in 06 and some friends back there have indicated things are tougher. I didnt mean to minimize anything.

CK wrote:

Reminds me of whats happened in Pittsburgh which was once a hub of US Airways that had hundreds of flights a day including transatlantic and is now shrunk immensely with some areas even boarded off. Perhaps not as bad as STL but PIT seems so empty these days with such few passengers the airport is never crowded.

I never did understand why US had a large operation in PIT, PHL, BWI when they are so close to each other.

Going from Louisville to LAX….St. Louis was always the quickest route and best hub city….much better than ORD, DFW or ATL