Originally Posted by
davywavy
Now there are strong rumours that they will assign a 4th aircraft there for the summer, but that becomes a balance out, too, partly because of the limited size of the terminal. Supposedly, baggage claim can presently only handle about one arriving A319 at a time - do they risk a greater crush by using the A320 or do they extend baggage claim?
One of the local newspapers described (positively) what is happening at TTN as "surreal" and I'd agree with that. I think it is one of the most interesting things happening in US civil aviation but it is very much a work in progress, constantly testing the limits of what the airport can handle.
They can add seating to the terminal by moving the airport offices to a modular office building. I imagine they could also add more modular baggage space.
It ultimately comes down to how many flights each gate can handle a day - I would not have them spaced at less than two hours apart, so that would be 7/gate/day, or 14/day for the terminal, or 98/week. Remember that right now, there is a lot of dead time in the morning, once the first two or three flights leave; nothing else departs until those two or three initial planes come back. To make more efficient use of the airport, they need focus cities close to TTN, where perhaps a morning flight leaves about 6:30 AM and arrives in TTN about 8:15-8:30, then departs 9:00-9:15.