halls120

That's exactly what we have to look forward to for the next 5 years at least. A substandard concourse that will only become worse. But hey, that's Customer Friendly.

dcstudent

I'm really starting to wonder if United has any plan for Dulles. Over the last few years there have been cuts to both international and domestic flights. Other flights are using downgauged equipment. The terminal (C&D) and the clubs are cr*p. MWAA has plans for a new C concourse but I can't imagine they'll build it without financial support from United (or another carrier who would lease most all of its gates).

But at the same time, it's hard to see why UA would give up on IAD. Metro access in 3 years. Lots of Defense, Gov't, Contractor travel. Lots of residents with $$$$ who travel on business and vacation. An inability for UA to expand at EWR. An inability for anyone to expand at DCA. No one wanting to take on WN at BWI.

So what is United going to do with IAD? (Let the speculation begin.)

sannmann

Wait until MWAA builds the new C/D concourse. I'd expect it about 5-6 years after the Metro arrives at IAD.

halls120

And that's an optimistic prediction. If United cared about its IAD customers, they'd be working with MWAA now to start construction of the new C/D concourse. But they don't, so we get another decade of the existing "temporary" C/D dungeon.

johnden

SMI/J already telegraphed the future of DC.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/art...dulles-393395/

IAD is too expensive (landing/boarding fees), has an outdated UA terminal, and only will get MORE expensive with a new terminal C.

Many flyers prefer DCA for domestic travel, and DCA is cheaper, making IAD domestic flights hard to compete.

The future of IAD is for select international routes that command premium airfares (NRT, DXB, European capitals, etc) and just enough domestic feed to fill the seats the O/D travel does not fill.

nevansm

And I (among many others who live IN DC) will continue to not use their facilities there regardless of convenience. DCA used to carry a much higher premium but it seems as though fares to places I fly have fell in line with IAD fares though both are still higher than most BWI fares.

Was it last quarter (or maybe the whole year of 2014) that DCA had more traffic than IAD. Quite an amazing feat considering 1/3 of the gates, runway and slot limitations, no widebodies and very little international traffic. DCA is a better airport in every way and will continue to be until the C/D concourses are replaced. Even then, there's still many problems like the time it takes to park, walk, train, walk to the gate.

In the end, United won't invest any money, blame MWAA, kill the hub and increase frequencies and destinations somewhere else (probably ORD seeing that their traffic issues have all but been fixed and frequencies and rebanking will return some RJ slots to the pool for usages in international flights)

mduell

MWAA really screwed the pooch there, high prices for lousy facilities.

entropy

oh well, I wonder if IAD is "earning its keep" a-la CLE...

exerda

Every time I see this thread crop back up, I have a glimmer of hope that perhaps MWAA and UA have announced something.

Inevitably, those hopes are crushed.

username

It seems to me that even though the travellers prefer DCA over IAD, DCA will run out of capacity at one point.

Some of this reminds me of Montreal Mirabel (YMX) vs. Dorval (YUL) - Mirabel even looks like IAD and had the shuttle buses. The big difference is that YUL still had land to expand, had much longer runways and DCA seems land-locked. Most of the passenger service consolidated to YUL but they can't do that at DCA.

So, for the long run, it seems MWAA has to keep developing IAD and keep the airlines from leaving. What is preventing it from allocating the expenses differently? Does the "disproportionate" allocation apply to debts only or all the overheads? What purposes were the debts for? How much of this is to appease the politicians / lobbyists in DC - keep DCA fares low for them artificially (i.e. no premium for the convenience)? How does it work between LGA and JFK?

The number of international carriers that fly into IAD seems high - I always enjoy plane & gate watching there. Maybe UA just can't compete there on international service? I guess there is enough O&D for non-*A carriers who don't have feeders at IAD?

UA is also not helping itself as IAD seems to be a more complained hub when it comes to service. So, I guess find blame elsewhere.

cyborg

deleted

dcpdxtrans

Bolded italics are mine, which is incorrect in my experience, including just as recent as an airline purchase yesterday for flying in 2 weeks. I repeatedly find it cheaper to fly to IAD than DCA, which is my preference since I don't like to deal with the headache of DC metro traffic.

Alpha Golf

That's not how you save $2 billion, silly. You save it by doing nothing.

I'll bet the only thing Jefie wants to do at Dulles is outsource all the handling, but he can't. Oh and force cutbacks on the Gulf3 who have the temerity to want to compete there.

StingWest

Except for the important fact that the longest runway there is only 7169 feet (and the others are just 5000+ a little).

I like the safety and operational aspects of IAD's much longer runways (up to 11,500 feet and a true cross runway of 10,500).

EWR764

This really isn't anything new. In fact, the situation has probably deteriorated since Jeff made that pronouncement in 2013. DCA has now surpassed IAD in traffic, the Silver Line issues are well-documented, there has been reduction in government travel and still no traction on a C/D replacement.

I continue to believe that IAD is a future play for United. The region is growing and international service remains sustainable. At some point, DCA will reach an absolute limit of capacity and growth will return to IAD. At the same time, UA can't do much more at EWR than upgauge, and the DC local market is larger than Chicago to a lot of key international points. The problem is that domestic O&D at IAD to inside-perimeter markets is just about nonexistent. It won't be that way forever. I hope UAL can hold on at IAD until all that happens.