Originally Posted by
EWR764
Ehhhhhh... don't let your raging anti-CO bias get in the way of rational analysis here.
EWR is as much of a premier international gateway as ORD, IAD, SFO, and certainly ATL. Just because it exists in the same metropolitan area as one of the 'great' airports of the world doesn't mean it's a second-rate facility in any measurable.
Perhaps a better comparison would be American football's Manning Brothers: Peyton, one of the truly great quarterbacks in the game and a sure-fire Hall of Famer, could represent JFK. On the other hand, his brother Eli is a much more inconsistent player, still very good, but will never be the marquee player that Peyton is. Eli can stand for EWR.
Both brothers have a Super Bowl ring, and are pretty damn good quarterbacks in their own right, but nobody is going to argue that Peyton is one of the greatest of all time, while Eli isn't quite on that level.
I wouldn't finger PBParnette for raging anti-CO bias...TWA Fan 1? That's a different story
(more on that later).
In any case, I have never thought of EWR as lesser than JFK. In many respects, it is clearly far superior (remember JFK almost always comes in near the bottom of the barrel on those annoying airports surveys, even since the recent renovations).
Outside of its location (which is what it is) I think one of the biggest issues at EWR is its relatively limited capacity, especially at Terminal B, where all of these international *A would have to find gate capacity. Remember that JFK T4, where most of them now operate, is absolutely gargantuan. Also, we all know how overwhelmed EWR already is in the late afternoon, early evening, when most of these TATL flight would be departing.
There are a couple of quibles about EWR as a true, great airport for NYC, such as the pitiful monorail and its endless "maintenance" problems, or the rip-off NJ cabs (the base fares are decent, but once you've finished paying all the extra charges you could pay off the national debt).
Regarding my attiude about CO, I actually love the airline, and I think, at its best, it is an absolutely world-class operation. I do not, however, believe that kool-aid induced cheerleading does any good, and CO (especially under Larry K.'s tenure) deserved to be held to the fires for a number of its failings.