Idea on how to realign gates in BOS
 

So with UA/CO now merged and stuck with two seperate terminals, and an AA/US merger likely, some gate movements will need to happen. Also, B6 wants more space, and there are renovation projects going to happen.

I see threads on here and on a.net as to what should/will happen. I have an idea of my own as to how everything can be re-organized.

This is only if AA/US merge.

Here is a summary of it:
- Make post-security connectors between all terminals
- Add onto the newer US wing of B South, adding 3 gates
- With that add-on, connect that to B North
- Move the combined AA/US to B South/the extension
- Move the combined UA to where AA currently is
- Renovate the section of B where B4 is
- Move Spirit into A7 and A8, rest of A belongs to DL (splitting 1 gate with AS)
- Move Sun Country to B
- With the exception of Cape Air, B6 takes all of C
- Finish renovations of C
- Re-number all gates in B, C, and E as a result of add-ons/renovations

Here are some images I made to explain this more.

http://imageshack.us/a/img534/5515/loganbr.jpg

This is what B could look like. There would be a walkway from A to B, that would take out B1. An overhead shortcut walkway could connect B South to B North without having to walk the longer distance. Another walkway would connect B to C.

The numbers you see in the images represent the gate number of the jet bridge. The gates would be re-numbered because B1 is gone, there are missing numbers already I believe, and there would be gates added.

See the image below for the addition.

http://imageshack.us/a/img829/5325/loganbconnect.jpg

The B18 pier would be extended out towards the taxiway to add a couple more gates. The B18 and B19 bridges in the picture would be new and a part of the extension. B20 and B21 would be brand new gates. The black area from B North to B South would be home to a new gate B22 and the connector from B North to B South. The B23 in the image would get a much shorter jet bridge, and it simply gets re-numbered from there on through the rest of B.

I had a flight on US out of B19 and that area was just too congested. I looked at the space and thought of this idea.

http://imageshack.us/a/img90/4333/loganc.jpg

There would be a new walkway connecting B and C. All of the gates in C would be re-numbered as right now the gate numbers go up to 42 while most of those aren't filled. C5 would be the CapeAir area while B6 gets the rest of C.

http://imageshack.us/a/img254/2484/logane.jpg

Terminal E would have a walkway to C, and the gates would be renumbered. There is no need for E1A E1B and so on until E1E.

Here is what the gate assignments would look like (and this is with the renumbering)

Terminal A
A1-A5 - Delta
A6 - Delta/Alaska
A7 and A8 - Spirit
A9-A12 - Delta (regional)
A13-A22 (satellite) - Delta

Terminal B
B1-B3 - AC
B4 and B5 - PenAir
B6 and B7 - US/AA
B8-B12 - US/AA regional
B13-B22 - US/AA
B23-B32 - UA
B33 - Sun Country
B34 and B35 - Virgin America (current physical gates just re-numbered)

Note: the current B4 wing would be renovated as that area is pretty mangy

Terminal C
C1-C4 - jetBlue
C5 - Cape Air
C6-C24 - jetBlue

Terminal E (to become D)
E1-E5 - Southwest
E6-E15 - common use

Again, there would be no gap in gate numbers. I gave UA 9 gates, I think they could pull it off. US/AA has 12 mainline gates which should work out.

In the case that UA or US/AA would need one more gate, Sun Country could go over to C instead and that gate would be absorbed by the airline needing it.

What do you think? It would be a lot of drastic changes but this alignment would be a lot better. Just an idea I thought of. I screen-shotted the terminals on Google Earth and then modified it on Paint. I'm not a graphic designer/engineer so if there's anything that I can clarify please ask!

AA/US are now officially merging according to the AP.

I still think that the combined airline would still be on the current US side. Massport just needs to extensively renovate the B4 wing and US will be happy with that.

Holy smokes - how much time do you have on your hands and what made you do this?

while I love airside connections as much as the next guy, what would be the justification for connecting any of the terminals other than B North and B South?

Wow - I'll bet some consulting company would charge $50K or more and not do as thorough a job as this!

The major change I would suggest is to move some airlines like Spirit, Sun country, and Virgin American to E or C gates (with Southwest or Jetblue)

You need to have common use gates in all terminals....not just in one. From an airport optimization strategy if you have common gates they can be shared by airlines that usually share the terminal. An airline that does only a daily flight can instead lease a gate by the hour on the when they fly in/out.

Because of code sharing you will need to have some sort of terminal link system. It could be just shuttle buses like what Newark has.

Even after the merger...American will still likely have code share flights with Alaska.

alaska would likely share more than just one gate with Delta

In Seattle, SEATAC is in the process of a major gate change of airlines. Part of the strategy is to have common use gates throughout the airport that are shared by different airlines.

Massport shouldn't pay; AA/US should pay. AA paid for the renovation of the North Pier in B in 2006/2007; DL paid for much of the costs associated to Terminal A leading up to their BK and reach a settlement with Massport; B6 is paying for extensive renovations in Terminal C. As it is the USAIR gates are the dumpiest in the whole airport, although they have spent some money on the Shuttle wing it seems.

Did not know where else to put this, seemed appropriate:

http://www.boston.com/businessupdate...55O/story.html

UA moving to terminal B with AA.

Currently, the gates at Terminal B are not connected to one another behind security. The renovations will allow passengers to go from the United and American side of the terminal to the US Airways side without having to go through security a second time. The project will also give passengers using the two gates currently used by Virgin America access to the food court and concessions in the terminal.

When I posted this, it was in the middle of the blizzard so I had a lot of time on my hands.

So people won't have to travel and re-enter security. People could be doing A to E (ex. MCO-BOS-CDG with BOS-CDG on AF). Connections to Cape Air, etc.

Thank you.

An idea proposed was that once UA gets out of A, Spirit would take some space in A. I think that could work out. When AS is not using A18, DL will put flights out of there. Spirit could go into A8 and A7 if needed, and DL would take A5/A6 and use A7/A8 whenever Spirit isn't.

Good point. I think AA/US as a combined carrier will be in the "Shuttle" wing of B along with B north/the connecting area. UA would take the B4 section, and that would be good because they'd be right next to Air Canada.

On that basis, US/AA and Massport should split the cost.

Yup. AA/US should fit into the "Shuttle" wing/B north/new connecting area (that was renovated a few years ago) and UA could get the B4 area. That would be 10 gates as it is, which I see as acceptable.

Does anyone have any new information on where a merged US/AA is going to be once the terminal B renovations are complete? I am concerned that with the lead time involved in these sorts of things, AA and US could end up in separate, non-contiguous parts of New Terminal B, and we could wait years until they subsequently reconfigure the two airlines into a single, integrated, contiguous space.

I know the final phase of the Terminal B construction contract has been awarded and is underway, and that UA is slated to move from A/C to B when completed, but all those decisions were made long before the definitive announcement of the AA/US merger. In fact, even as of today the US/AA merger hasn't closed yet, and the two airlines are still operating independently for antitrust reasons and wouldn't even be able to hold joint discussions with Massport, I assume.

So I could easily imagine an original plan that had US and AA on opposite "ends" of new Terminal B, with UA in the middle. This would be horrible, and could persist for years until they reshuffled everyone within B. Is there any information out in the public domain that would reassure me on this?

With respect to the original post, note that DL has just acquired 49% of Virgin (from Singapore) and is commencing code sharing, in preparation for a full blown joint venture in early 2014. I presume that both airlines would ideally want to move Virgin into Terminal A, or worst case into B1-B3. If so, that would require some reconfiguration to your original plan. Maybe Virgin and Spirit swap locations somehow? The key question is how many gates each airline is going to want.

The problem is that Virgin will still always be arriving at Terminal E due to customs/immigration. So moving Virgin would only benefit those arriving on Delta domestically and then leaving on Virgin. Those arriving on Virgin and then connecting on Delta would still need to change terminals. Though, I would not be expecting a lot of connecting traffic in BOS (unlike the airports) anyway which then makes it moot.

I think that this is a good Idea, with the new b terminal, it could go far