Originally Posted by
CO FF
So as of today:
T1 - 15 gates - WN
T2 - 12 gates - DL, plus AF, AM, KL, VS (is anyone else from ST not in TBIT?)
T3 - 11 gates - DL, plus AF, AM, KL, VS (is anyone else from ST not in TBIT?)
T4 - 15 gates (once 44 is no longer a bus terminal) - AA, plus 2 QF flights
T5 - 15 gates - AA (4), VX (6), HA using common (5)
T6 - 15 gates - AS (6), NK (3), B6 (2), AC using common (4)
T7 - 11 gates - UA
T8 - 9 gates - UA
Or, by major airlines:
AA - 23 (15 T4, + 4 each TBIT & T5)
AS - 12
UA - 20
WN - 15
DL - 23
So, it seems to me the logical answer is to swap the cats & dogs from T6 to T5, with T6 being AS+VX (12) and AC (3), with AC's checkin and baggage being in T7 handled by UA; that would leave T5 shared between AA (4), HA (??), B6 (2), NK (3) and space for a new startup at the common gates. Also, if TBIT continues to grow, that lets LAWA move AA from TBIT to T5's common gates.
AF and KL are in TBIT and there is no chance they will move back to T2 due to AF A380 operations. AM and VS will stay in T2 and co-locate with DL.
QF is all in TBIT, no more BNE departures from T4.
AS+VX will probably end up together in T6 but that doesn't mean all the "cats and dogs" will be in T5. There will probably be some contractions (e.g. LAX-SEA) once the merger is finished so AS-VX may not need 12 gates. Also, AA's deal with LAWA includes pulling down Eagle's nest so it may have preferential use for more than just 4 gates in T5 (but 4 gates is the minimum - just swapping them from T6 to T5).
I think AC will prefer to be in T6 which is closer to UA but T5 is not a deal breaker... it's still an improvement over T2.