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Guide to the Milwaukee Airport

Guide to the Milwaukee Airport

Old Feb 16, 2015, 5:46 am
  #751  
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 2,653
Originally Posted by kannon99
Just read on the airliners that DL is starting up MKE-BOS in June.

From the looks of it, service starts June 5, operated with a CR9
With DL adding Boston, WN adding Dallas, and AS adding Seattle, ten of Milwaukee's 20 largest markets will have at least two nonstop carriers. Not bad at all considering MKE's size and situation.
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Old Feb 16, 2015, 6:10 am
  #752  
 
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Its funny is that Republic Airlines could not get the contract for the 175s for Alaska Airlines in Milwaukee Republic Airlines only wants to go to a 175 fleet.
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Old Feb 16, 2015, 8:52 am
  #753  
 
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Originally Posted by knope2001
With DL adding Boston, WN adding Dallas, and AS adding Seattle, ten of Milwaukee's 20 largest markets will have at least two nonstop carriers. Not bad at all considering MKE's size and situation.
Here's detail on this -- these are the top 20 from Q2 2014. Certainly not every market is daily, year-round service by every airline, but only about half these markets are true monopolies. It wouldn't surprise me to find that sometime over the next year a few more of the high-volume leisure markets see more competition as well.

01 . WN DL UA … New York/Newark
02 . WN …………… Washington/Baltimore
03 . WN F9 DL ... Orlando
04 . F9 WN UA … Denver
05 . WN …………… Las Vegas
06 . WN US ……… Phoenix
07 . DL WN ……… Atlanta
08 . WN …………… Los Angeles
09 . WN …………… San Francisco
10 . WN …………… Tampa
11 . WN DL ……… Boston
12 . DL WN ……… Minneapolis/St Paul
13 . AA WN ……… Dallas/Fort Worth
14 . WN …………… Miami/Fort Lauderdale
15 . WN F9 ……… Fort Myers
16 . US ……………. Philadelphia
17 . WN …………… Kansas City
18 . US ……………. Charlotte
19 . WN AS ……… Seattle
20 . WN …………… San Diego
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Old Feb 16, 2015, 10:16 am
  #754  
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
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Originally Posted by FlyYXMKE
Its funny is that Republic Airlines could not get the contract for the 175s for Alaska Airlines in Milwaukee Republic Airlines only wants to go to a 175 fleet.
My guess is that Alaska probably isn't going to go with a lot of partners like the big guys do, so Republic is probably out of luck an AS E175 flying.
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Old Feb 20, 2015, 9:39 am
  #755  
 
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I miss the competition on the MKETPA run. It really helped keep ticket prices lower. As soon as the competition stopped, prices went up. Since I fly mostly Delta, I am always looking for someone to keep them honest.
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Old Feb 20, 2015, 7:49 pm
  #756  
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MKE/MSN
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I still ask myself why Concourse E still exists, considering UA only has 3 gates in there

Frontier has at least 10 gates plus a few lower level gates, IMHO they only really only need 2 of them considering they only go to DEN plus a couple seasonal routes. For the remaining gates, AS will probably operate in one of them, the 2 AA gates from C would move D getting WN a great opportunity to have more flights in and out of MKE, and have UA move its 3 gates to D getting E out of the picture.
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Old Feb 23, 2015, 9:12 pm
  #757  
 
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Originally Posted by MKEflyer95
I still ask myself why Concourse E still exists, considering UA only has 3 gates in there

Frontier has at least 10 gates plus a few lower level gates, IMHO they only really only need 2 of them considering they only go to DEN plus a couple seasonal routes. For the remaining gates, AS will probably operate in one of them, the 2 AA gates from C would move D getting WN a great opportunity to have more flights in and out of MKE, and have UA move its 3 gates to D getting E out of the picture.
Frontier only has a couple gates they might use another for charters. US has two gates (one a swing gate) and American has two on C... They are merging and sometime soon will occupy three gates. On either C or D.

MKE has new Management. Hopefully he'll see the way through leases for concessions moving to C or D and mothball E. Removing all power and water from E would mean it wouldn't even have to be heated.

But as a Manager that's like admitting defeat. He'll hold out until any deal for a new airline to use them falls through. Best guess for a possible is Jet Blue.

Last edited by traveller001; Feb 23, 2015 at 9:29 pm
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Old Feb 24, 2015, 10:33 am
  #758  
 
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The current gate locations are a matter of leases. Everybody is paying for their obligations and swaps are at the discretion of the airlines involved. If (for example) Frontier and United both agreed to swap space nothing would stop them, but the airport can't readily force them.

That being said, I think most leases (maybe all?) expire later this year. At that point the airport can take the E gates off the block and have United relocate. I could see Frontier not renew anything and instead have their flights handled by another carrier. That's what they did in KC a year or two back-- the Frontier gate complex was compeltely dumped and Frontier flights use American gates.

My gut has AA consolidating on the south hammerhead on D. United could move into former AA/UA gates on C.

Assuming AA is on D there are three possible ways for United to move to D, but each has stumbling blocks:

--The ground boarding gates D27-29 are least likely, as I can't imagine anyone choosing ground boarding if they can avoid it.

--The jetways D34/D36/D38 are not RJ-compatible. Someone would need to pony up money to put mobile jetways there for United to move there.

--If Frontier dumps all of their gates that would leave three close gates with mobile jetways (D39, D41, D42) open for United. However (a) who knows if Frontier will do that (b) the airport may want to box Delta in should they ever need more space, and (c) D42 is actually fairly far away from D39/D41 for ground crews, which United may not like.

I think the airport likes the idea of moving international arrivals to E once it is vacated, however money would need to be budgeted for the capital improvements needed. So it will take time if this is the direction things go.

The new airport director mentioned a desire for a single TSA checkpoint which would be a notable capital expenditure. Mothballing E would make that goal a notch easier, but it still would be a project. I get that closing E might seem like a white flag, but airports around the country have excess real estate due to fewer airlines and fewer flights with larger planes. I think there's a pretty good chance we'll have a new airline a year from now to challenge JetBlue in some leisure markets. But nobody new is going to need more than a gate or two. Look at the showy expansions announced recently in Atlanta, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Most markets are 1x/day, many are seasonal, and the airlines which fly them only use perhaps 2 gates. If someone like Allegiant, JetBlue or Spirit were to come to Milwaukee it's hard to imagine a plausible situation where they'd need more than two gates. I don't see a need for E in any reasonable situation.

Here's how I mentally allocate gates which includes room for significant expansion well above current levels.

C
14 jetway gates
10 Southwest
4 United/Air Canada

D
18 jetway gates (including the one planned for the south hammerhead)
7 Delta
4 American
1 Alaska
1 Frontier
5 open (two mobile jetways, three fixed jetways)

So even if E closes and every airline expands significantly there are still 5 open jetway gates available for newcomers.

It will be interesting to see how the airport changes with a new person at the top. There's only so much an airport can do to try to lure new service with so few airlines. Probably the best thing they can do is continue to push for more people to use Mitchell because growing demand can fuel new service. Mitchell loses a lot of traffic to O'Hare in markets without nonstop flights, but it's hard to convince airlines those passengers will return if nonstop flights are added.
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Old Feb 24, 2015, 4:38 pm
  #759  
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MKE/MSN
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Originally Posted by knope2001
The current gate locations are a matter of leases. Everybody is paying for their obligations and swaps are at the discretion of the airlines involved. If (for example) Frontier and United both agreed to swap space nothing would stop them, but the airport can't readily force them.

That being said, I think most leases (maybe all?) expire later this year. At that point the airport can take the E gates off the block and have United relocate. I could see Frontier not renew anything and instead have their flights handled by another carrier. That's what they did in KC a year or two back-- the Frontier gate complex was compeltely dumped and Frontier flights use American gates.

My gut has AA consolidating on the south hammerhead on D. United could move into former AA/UA gates on C.

Assuming AA is on D there are three possible ways for United to move to D, but each has stumbling blocks:

--The ground boarding gates D27-29 are least likely, as I can't imagine anyone choosing ground boarding if they can avoid it.

--The jetways D34/D36/D38 are not RJ-compatible. Someone would need to pony up money to put mobile jetways there for United to move there.

--If Frontier dumps all of their gates that would leave three close gates with mobile jetways (D39, D41, D42) open for United. However (a) who knows if Frontier will do that (b) the airport may want to box Delta in should they ever need more space, and (c) D42 is actually fairly far away from D39/D41 for ground crews, which United may not like.

I think the airport likes the idea of moving international arrivals to E once it is vacated, however money would need to be budgeted for the capital improvements needed. So it will take time if this is the direction things go.

The new airport director mentioned a desire for a single TSA checkpoint which would be a notable capital expenditure. Mothballing E would make that goal a notch easier, but it still would be a project. I get that closing E might seem like a white flag, but airports around the country have excess real estate due to fewer airlines and fewer flights with larger planes. I think there's a pretty good chance we'll have a new airline a year from now to challenge JetBlue in some leisure markets. But nobody new is going to need more than a gate or two. Look at the showy expansions announced recently in Atlanta, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Most markets are 1x/day, many are seasonal, and the airlines which fly them only use perhaps 2 gates. If someone like Allegiant, JetBlue or Spirit were to come to Milwaukee it's hard to imagine a plausible situation where they'd need more than two gates. I don't see a need for E in any reasonable situation.

Here's how I mentally allocate gates which includes room for significant expansion well above current levels.

C
14 jetway gates
10 Southwest
4 United/Air Canada

D
18 jetway gates (including the one planned for the south hammerhead)
7 Delta
4 American
1 Alaska
1 Frontier
5 open (two mobile jetways, three fixed jetways)

So even if E closes and every airline expands significantly there are still 5 open jetway gates available for newcomers.

It will be interesting to see how the airport changes with a new person at the top. There's only so much an airport can do to try to lure new service with so few airlines. Probably the best thing they can do is continue to push for more people to use Mitchell because growing demand can fuel new service. Mitchell loses a lot of traffic to O'Hare in markets without nonstop flights, but it's hard to convince airlines those passengers will return if nonstop flights are added.
Not a bad planning idea. But couldn't those five vacant ones in D have United in them instead of the four you mentioned in C? Southwest is the most dominate airline at MKE and they have the most nonstops and most of their cities have 10 or more nonstop destinations. Either that or Delta would have to get new destinations from MKE to leave United in C due to the amount of gates Delta already has. It's the only way to get more traffic here. Most people don't want to have to fly somewhere they don't know about and get on another plane going to their destination. I honestly don't care about connecting anywhere but still most people do care about that if you know what I mean.

However JetBlue wouldn't be a bad idea at MKE
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Old Feb 26, 2015, 1:00 am
  #760  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
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Haven't looked at this thread in awhile so it's interesting so see how things are changing at MKE.

As for expansion, I'm curious as to why so many think JetBlue would have an interest in MKE. The BOS market is (or will soon be) well covered by Southwest and Delta. If JetBlue were to enter, Delta would likely retaliate. JFK, MCO and FLL are highly unlikely to be added. Over the past 10 years or so, JetBlue has had several good windows of opportunity to enter the MKE market but declined to do so for whatever reason. I suspect they see little opportunity or profit potential in the short to medium term. Plus, they have struggled to make ORD work.

IMO, the best bets for new service are:

-Allegiant
-Alaska (upguaged SEA service and/or PDX)
-American (flights to MIA or LAX)
-Delta (LAX and perhaps another try at SLC)
-Icelandair (seasonal service - I think this is far more realistic than many may think)
-Southwest (BNA and expansion of the current 1x/week SAN service is a priority for the airport, but it would not be a total shock to see HOU or even seasonal PDX added at some point).

Spirit and Frontier are wild cards but I can't realistically see much more than what I outlined above.
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Old Mar 9, 2015, 11:27 pm
  #761  
 
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Originally Posted by BlueHorseShoe2000
Haven't looked at this thread in awhile so it's interesting so see how things are changing at MKE.

As for expansion, I'm curious as to why so many think JetBlue would have an interest in MKE. The BOS market is (or will soon be) well covered by Southwest and Delta. If JetBlue were to enter, Delta would likely retaliate. JFK, MCO and FLL are highly unlikely to be added. Over the past 10 years or so, JetBlue has had several good windows of opportunity to enter the MKE market but declined to do so for whatever reason. I suspect they see little opportunity or profit potential in the short to medium term. Plus, they have struggled to make ORD work.

IMO, the best bets for new service are:

-Allegiant
-Alaska (upguaged SEA service and/or PDX)
-American (flights to MIA or LAX)
-Delta (LAX and perhaps another try at SLC)
-Icelandair (seasonal service - I think this is far more realistic than many may think)
-Southwest (BNA and expansion of the current 1x/week SAN service is a priority for the airport, but it would not be a total shock to see HOU or even seasonal PDX added at some point).

Spirit and Frontier are wild cards but I can't realistically see much more than what I outlined above.
I haven't been on the thread in months either

I disagree slightly. I can see Norwegian adding service to London Gatwick before Icelandair
MKE-SAN should go daily for the summer then back to once a week
MKE-HOU makes sense
MKE-MIA I wonder why AA hasn't done it already. MKE-FLL can run on a mainline jet year round plus AA could take traffic away from Delta on flights to Latin America.

As a proud member of team (star alliance) I think United should add MKE-LAX and MKE-SFO. I think they may be able to do it with an Embraer class rj

I agree MKE is not a good fit for JetBlue and MKE is not in Virgin America's league.

Spirit is a wildcard MKE-FLL, MKE-DTW, MKE-LAS could be profitable for them
Alaska may go mainline but that's it. I can't see MKE-PDX working even in the summer. MKE-LAX would be a better fit for Alaska

I really don't think Delta has much interest in MKE. They failed at JFK and SLC (although they fly from Madison to SLC now). The MKE-SEA market is too crowded with Alaska and WN maybe they should try and feed their LAX hub from MKE.

What I would like to know is where do most MKE passengers fly to when connecting to international flights (besides driving to Chicago?

Last edited by Tim34; Mar 9, 2015 at 11:34 pm Reason: more info
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Old Mar 10, 2015, 1:11 am
  #762  
 
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Originally Posted by Tim34

What I would like to know is where do most MKE passengers fly to when connecting to international flights (besides driving to Chicago?
I'd say going through Chicago (flying or driving) is #1 by a long shot. So much easier in case something goes wrong, can get almost anywhere from there, etc.

I'm sure LA/SF/NY would be the other usual suspects, with a bit of IAH/MIA for those bound towards the south, but a lot of your question is also influenced by where they can get to on the same airline or alliance--so really it would be DTW/MSP/ATL with a little bit of DFW thrown in, since those are the only viable options without buying conjoined tickets.

I do Chicago if I think I may throw away the final segment, or because an open jaw out of MKE and into ORD is ideally priced. Occasionally I do DFW to get mainline into MKE, and that's about it. Everywhere else requires either an absurdly long connection, a long-haul RJ, or Delta
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Old Mar 10, 2015, 7:11 am
  #763  
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
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Originally Posted by Tim34
I haven't been on the thread in months either

I disagree slightly. I can see Norwegian adding service to London Gatwick before Icelandair
MKE-SAN should go daily for the summer then back to once a week
MKE-HOU makes sense
MKE-MIA I wonder why AA hasn't done it already. MKE-FLL can run on a mainline jet year round plus AA could take traffic away from Delta on flights to Latin America.

As a proud member of team (star alliance) I think United should add MKE-LAX and MKE-SFO. I think they may be able to do it with an Embraer class rj

I agree MKE is not a good fit for JetBlue and MKE is not in Virgin America's league.

Spirit is a wildcard MKE-FLL, MKE-DTW, MKE-LAS could be profitable for them
Alaska may go mainline but that's it. I can't see MKE-PDX working even in the summer. MKE-LAX would be a better fit for Alaska

I really don't think Delta has much interest in MKE. They failed at JFK and SLC (although they fly from Madison to SLC now). The MKE-SEA market is too crowded with Alaska and WN maybe they should try and feed their LAX hub from MKE.

What I would like to know is where do most MKE passengers fly to when connecting to international flights (besides driving to Chicago?
MKE-FLL is seasonal now on Southwest. They don't have any flights starting in August on that route, but still if JetBlue or Spirit (hopefully not) would start flights from MKE-FLL, American wouldn't do any flights at all from MKE-MIA. Not even on an E170
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Old Mar 11, 2015, 10:37 am
  #764  
 
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Posts: 3,638
TSA Pre✓™ Enrollment Center relocated

Per Mitchell Memo's March 2015 edition:

PreCheck Enrollment Center Relocates

If you're looking to sign up for the TSA Pre✓™ expedited screening program, please note that the Milwaukee Enrollment Center has moved. The new enrollment center, managed by IdentoGO, is located at 3841 W. Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee. TSA Pre✓™ provides registered passengers with expedited security screening at more than 120 airports nationwide. MKE has TSA Pre✓™ lanes on all three concourses.
The new location is in a building owned by a non-profit, job-training organization. It's not located near the airport, and is in a marginal neighborhood of Milwaukee.

The former location was nothing special, but it was 5 minutes away from the airport, with sufficient free parking.

IMO, what a horrible move!

Last edited by mke9499; Mar 12, 2015 at 10:23 pm
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Old Mar 14, 2015, 9:13 pm
  #765  
 
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Posts: 704
Originally Posted by mke9499
Per Mitchell Memo's March 2015 edition:


The new location is in a building owned by a non-profit, job-training organization. It's not located near the airport, and is in a marginal neighborhood of Milwaukee.

The former location was nothing special, but it was 5 minutes away from the airport, with sufficient free parking.

IMO, what a horrible move!
This is part of CBP outsourcing the enrollment process to a third-party provider called MorphoTrust instead of CBP employees doing it themselves. The "former location" is still the Milwaukee CBP office.
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