This week’s featured link
95 Years of Historic Firsts at CLE – AirportsHistory.org
One of my favorite website-finds of the year is back with a look at the surprisingly important history of Cleveland’s airport. Enjoy the distraction from the dumpster-fire that is everything else these days.
Two for the road
Newark Airport’s Terminal 1 Starts Spreading Its Wings – Engineering News-Record
Remember Newark Terminal A? If not, you’re lucky. We’ve all been trying to forget it. But now, the replacement Terminal 1 is rapidly coming together. Here’s a closer look at it.
Austria’s Lauda to close, be replaced with new Maltese unit – ch-aviation
Lauda is dead. Long live Lauda! Ryanair has been very unhappy with how the Austrian government regulates companies. Specifically, it requires anyone employed by the airline’s Lauda subsidiary to pay Austrian taxes regardless of where they work. For that reason, Ryanair is shutting down Lauda and launching Lauda Europe instead. The difference? Lauda Europe is based in Malta and people can pay taxes in their home countries that way.
12 comments on “3 Links I Love: CLE Rocks, UV Cleaning, New Newark, Lauda”
See this is why my home airport is the best (AND UNITED MAKE US A HUB AGAIN PLEASE, CLE LOVES YOU!)
Seriously though Ravenna? Did they mean to shutter CLE? Because a Ravenna terminal is a wee bit too far to from the others to make a good connection.
Now if they were gonna call it like EWR and JFK where they both serve the same city, it would be something I guess.
Heck no on the billion dollar terminal though, the current one is great.
I love CLE too but the current terminal is far from great. More like barely adequate. It’s frustrating to see new or revamped airports in similarly sizes cities like CVG, PIT, MCI, BNA, etc.
What is wrong with it? It isn’t to hard to walk, it has adequate food and restaurants. It has a cool art deco style.
Dulles is boring, ORD is annoying, MIA is confusing, SFO feels like a dark shopping mall.
CLE is fine.
The Dulles concouses are ordinary at best except for the new midfield concourse; however, there is absolutely nothing boring about the masterpiece that is the Eero Saarinen terminal building at IAD!
I’ll have to check that, I was connecting CLE to Intntl and the Concourses just seemed like an overly long boooooooring walk
The current CLE terminal is “great”? Sorry, but CLE got outclassed years, if not decades, ago. I flew out of there for the first time in years (grew up in Medina). Flight was delayed, so I had time to walk the airport. Updated, yes. Still cramped, too small for modern amenities like moving sidewalks, etc. I wouldn’t support the terminal to the I-X Center site, but there’s no reason the current terminal couldn’t be torn down and rebuilt on the same site. Move everyone out of A, knock it down, and rebuild it with a proper FIS. Then knock down the banjo, rebuild that part of C. Then knock down the lower C gates, rebuild it. B could be removed completely. D has no future. Once UA pays it off, knock it down. But the politics of CLE (airport and city) will probably prevent a full proper redevelopment of CLE from ever happening.
Why does CLE need moving sidewalks? It is small/well designed enough that you can get places pretty easily.
Like how is it cramped? Maybe my flights miss crunch time but it seems fine, maybe more gate seating?
I actually like the banjo and walking around it while waiting to go.
Never been to D though, that is one reason I wish United would open it, so I could finally check it out.
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Even if we spent this money and all the inconvience on reconstruction what would that get us? Some generic looking airport? CLE has style as is and I like that; as opposed to SFO which felt like a dark shopping mall.
You have a good point, I’ll change “barely adequate” to “adequate” after the modest renovations of concouses B and C. Did they ever do A?
It’s part of the same notion that perennially challenges Cleveland – is “good enough” really good enough? And it is frustrating when other similar cities have shiny new edifices although those obviously come with a price.
I don’t think CLE needs moving sidewalks especially since nobody changes concourses anymore. The retail connection between concouses B and C is pretty dark and lifeless. And the end of concourse B is usually always overcrowded but that’s probably more of a function of that being Southwest’s space.
Finally, since you don’t like “generic looking airports,” please take my word for it that you should never, ever worry about missing out on concouse D!
Ok then, I was just interested in the underground walkway and the paper airplane exhibit anyway.
I guess we could use some new shinnyness but I’m not sure what is broken.
I’ll give you the retail thing, though I guess if I was connecting there (O&D) I’d probably want more food options instead of overpriced merch. Maybe make some moving sidewalks to go towards baggage claim; was thinking separate baggage claims could be cool but having it all go to one place (on domestic side) is pretty good as you know where you are going.
Maybe a new Shiny observation area would be cool; If I could go sit some place and planewatch instead of crowding at my gate I think I would do that 11/10 times. Seems like we keep knocking down and replacing control towers, just build a mini one of those and put a lounge (Free to get in) there.
My first “aviation” job was being an intern at Hopkins in the summer of ’93 and ’94. One of my projects was to begin drafting a history of the airport and it was pretty amazing learning about all the firsts that Hopkins was known for…combined with watching all those Continental mainlines out the office window it was a pretty fun time to begin work in aviation!
Why so much hatred for EWR terminal A? I thought we were all United. Oh, wait!
CLE does have some amazing history behind it, but it is unfortunate that it no longer operates as a connecting hub. That job goes to DTW.
Ryanair doesn’t care aboit people paying tax in each person’s home country. They care instead about the employee signing an employment contract which has the lowest tax/obligations for Ryanair. I imagine that tax for a person employed under Austrian employment law. Instead, give each an employee a contract under Irish law which has a very low tax / social obligation burden for the employer and Michael O’Leary is suddenly much happier