Mitchell International Airport traffic down 13 percent in 2013
 

It has re-opened, same size and readily apparent to most will be more Miller branding. Even the doorway from the restaurant to the Milwaukee Room (a group/conference room) now carries the Miller logo.

Bar has more than doubled in size. Gone is the unique (DC3?) tail.

I think/hope they are waiting on new tables. Tables out front are fewer though that may be by design moving restaurant Customers to the window section. The chrome wheel based glass topped tables seem out of place unless they add more. They could use more TVs to keep it as a nice place to stay in touch with current events or sports.

Edit-- from the bar or dining area TVs are plenty. Those sitting at the few wheel tables out front though are stuck people watching.

As the story mentions, December 2013 was the first month in a couple of years where traffic was up year-over-year, a hopeful sign things have leveled off after the big deflation of the AirTran/Frontier/Southwest arms race bubble. Because Thanksgiving was early in 2012 and late in 2013, December got boost. But I don't think that's enough for the 3.5% year-over-year increase.

The December 2013 onboard loads (T100's) came out and a positive sign is the improvement in Southwest/AirTran load factor.

Southwest/AirTran capacity was down 8.0% but passengers were up 5.9%. So Southwest/AirTran average onboard load went from 65.8% last year to 75.7% this year. Loads are of course only half the picture -- we don't know fares or traffic composition. But it's very likely a good sign.

Here are 2012 loads versus 2013 loads. Markets with ** had reduced capacity in 2013 versus 2012.

..2012 …... 2013.. …. pts chg
71.6% ….. 90.1% ….. 18.5% ….. FLL
47.9% ….. 64.8% ….. 16.9% ….. DCA
34.0% ….. 48.2% ….. 14.2% ….. MSP**
79.7% ….. 92.8% ….. 13.1% ….. SFO
74.6% ….. 86.4% ….. 11.8% ….. PHX
57.7% ….. 68.8% ….. 11.1% ….. LGA**
79.6% ….. 90.6% ….. 11.0% ….. LAX
70.8% ….. 80.5% ……. 9.7% ….. DEN
77.1% ….. 85.9% ……. 8.8% ….. LAS**
69.1% ….. 76.3% ……. 7.2% ….. ATL**
60.3% ….. 67.0% ……. 6.7% ….. RSW
80.0% ….. 86.4% ……. 6.4% ….. TPA
75.8% ….. 80.7% ……. 4.9% ….. MCI
69.6% ….. 74.0% ……. 4.3% ….. BWI
84.5% ….. 88.8% ……. 4.3% ….. MCO
65.6% ….. 67.8% ……. 2.2% ….. STL
84.5% ….. 86.3% ……. 1.9% ….. SEA
63.6% ….. 64.5% ……. 0.9% ….. BOS
New ….. 73.7% ….. #VALUE! ….. MSY…did not operated December

The 2014 scheduled rolled out so far has some additional year-over-year capacity cuts in a few markets. But it's a good sign to see loads look so much better this month compared to last year.

January and February will probably reflect the affects of exceptional weather cancelations, so traffic will likely take a hit. Many of those canceled trips don't get rescheduled. But we might finally be at the point where demand at MKE sees some rebound.

Here are photos of the remodeled space, courtesy of the Milwaukee Business Journal.

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee...ng-themed.html

For those wondering, most of the large baggage screening machines will start being pulled out of ticketing as the inline baggage screen building comes online. I think this will start in June.

Miller Brewhouse menu has totally changed... More trendy with fresh homemade chips served in a small bucket. Gone are all of my favorites. Prices for what you get are also higher.

I haven't seen the breakfast menu yet...

See todays business journal article about combining security checkpoints.


http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee...&ed=2014-03-31

The first phase of the new baggage claim, which includes bag belt one will be opening sometime in June.

concourse E will be closings and UA will be going to D

I guess having an entire concourse for maybe 3 active gates didn't make sense, but I did enjoy the complete lack of a line for security.

Any idea when this change might occur?

Where'd ya hear this?

Not that it doesn't make sense, E has been desolate since DL moved. Also being able to use the SkyClub when flying UA will be nice.

Any thoughts which gates they'll get? I have this strange feeling they'll be in the ground level gates. Which would be strange.

I'd imagine US Airways and AA will get together at some point. Would that be on C or D?

C9 and C11 are open after United moved to E. If US moves back to D, there would be room for UA at D52 and D56. I don't think Frontier uses nearly all of their gates, so maybe some of those could go to UA.

I would certainly hope that UA doesn't get stuck with ground level gates. There are enough jetbridges available on D, but not certain if they all are compatible with CRJ/ERJ

A key obstacle to consolidating everyone onto C an D is that Frontier has been paying for and keeping control of their gates. They did play ball with Delta and swapped, with Delta moving to D and Frontier holding leases on the former Delta gates on E. Their lease runs into 2015, but perhaps new ownership is now happy to cooperate if it saves them some bucks. Perhaps if they allow United to swap onto D and more of Frontier's empty gates are on E they will mothball the concourse and save Frontier some money.

I could see United taking D30, D34, D36 and D38 -- they can definitely use the fourth gate -- but I think only D30 is a mobile jetway. I believe the other three are fixed jetways which may or may not work for a CRJ or ERJ. I don't see them taking the ground-boarding gates.

The other possibility I see is US moving to C to join AA there. That would leave the D south hammerhead for United. There are 14 jetways on C are plenty for WN and AA+US if they shoes to go that direction.

If E does close it changes the variables for a talked-about unified checkpoint. With all three concourses open, wherever a unified checkpoint would be is somewhat out of the way. Putting it closer to either C or E would make for a long walk for the opposite concourse, so it would likely need to be more central near D. But if it only needs to serve C and D it could be pretty much anywhere between the existing C and D entrances and not be too far out of the way.

Corridors used to connect the three concourses within security prior to the new terminal in the mid 80's. But each still had its own direct access with security -- to reasonably replicate that today with one security for all 3 concourses you'd have to screen at D and make C and E walk a lot farther. But if E does close a single security could be designed in the areas near the gallery of flights and the conference rooms behind them which splits to C and D, and no concern of how far it is from E. Some definitely relocation work would need to be done, but if they do pursue this it makes for a clearer vision if E is excluded.

Again, I don't know how seriously or how soon a single checkpoint is planned but if E is out the picture is might be more readily workable.

Thanks Knope, always enjoy your insights