CLT

I was looking at taking a trip to the Mediterranean next year, and most likely flying to MAD. I noticed that CLT-MAD next year will be an A333, and has a very early start date when compared to this year (I think the flight resumed in May, but next year it appears to resume in March).

Could this be an early preparation for the upcoming merger? I also noticed that the second daily FRA flight from both PHL and CLT will be a 767 next year instead of a A332.

McSam18

Probably has more to do with US receiving the rest of their A330 order from Airbus.

chris4096

It could be some of both -- but I would think there'd be more capacity via Spain than via Germany in the future just because of the idiosyncrasies of oneworld vs. *A.

tommyleo

World economy continues to improve, so the most likely scenario is that US is adding capacity to meet demand. Although an increase in demand certainly would NOT explain the change from 332 to 767 to FRA.

ORDPLATAA

Agreed - you'll see increased connections on IB via Madrid due to OW versus pushing traffic via Frankfurt to LH and *A.

SkyTeam777

So does this mean that CLT-MAD will definitely be coming back next year? I was surprised to see CLT-DUB back for next year too (I would have thought Dublin would not be back since it is not a oneworld hub, but it's interesting to see it!). Or are these just placeholders in the schedule?

PHL

I suppose if the merger does not go through, US can make aircraft changes right up until the day of flight....

On a similar note, I wonder how long the LH flight from MUC-CLT will last once US exits *A. I don't think there's enough O&D, as that likely flight relied on a lot of connecting traffic.

nevansm

My thoughts are just the opposite, I thought there WAS a lot of O&D due to the BMW plant (among other factors).

dls25

Huh? DUB is not *A hub either. US makes these flights work based upon the O/D demand not connections...

SeoulMan

According to the Charlotte Regional Partnership there are 194 German-owned firms in Charlotte including 59 with their U.S. headquarters in Charlotte. Daimler and Siemens alone employ over 4000 people, and then there’s Schaeffler Group, Continental Tire, Getrag, Schaeffer, Robert Bosch, etc, etc. Swiss bankers and Austrian manufacturers are also present in Charlotte and prefer flying through MUC. All of these firms are located within an hour’s drive of center-city Charlotte. NOT included in these statistics is BMW in Greer and many of its suppliers (because they’re all about a two-hour drive from CLT), although they are heavy users of the CLT-MUC route.

It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens to LH428/429. I sure hope we don’t lose it.

SkyTeam777

Yes, but AA operates DUB from other cities and US offers it from PHL. So am surprised to see if come back from CLT as well...MAD works easily for connections on both ends.

nova08

Probably just a shift towards the 330s with more on property while the 762 are either retired or used on more of the domestic/caribbean runs. The FRA flts on the 762 could signal an impending change in the CLT/PHL-Germany market. A 762 protects the flt with the fewest seats so if it is ultimately cancelled/changed there are fewer paxs to rebook.

gj83

I thought DUB was mostly people connecting to Charlotte and going to DUB as a destination. There are a lot of US tourists who go to Ireland.

That's what most of the international traffic I've noticed in CLT, especially the CLT-GIG route. It is pretty much people going XXX-CLT-DUB or XXX-CLT-GIG, not CLT-DUB-XXX. Places can work as a destination if they originate from a hub and CLT is US Airways largest hub. I think they are trying to move more of the connecting traffic through CLT instead of PHL.

SOBE ER DOC

Adding capacity from US hubs to MAD makes a lot of sense post-merger. If you have never flown into MAD T4 (the IB terminal) I can tell you it is, without question, the nicest hub terminal in Europe. Architecturally stunning, easy to navigate and not congested. I do anything to connect here rather than LHR which become the options post-merger.

Personally, I think the shuffling of TATL flights from east coast hubs is going to be interesting to sort out. If seems logical that flights to MUC and FRA will be eliminated / downsized owing to the fact that they will not longer be used to connecting airports for travel beyond. When I think about cutting back in PHL all I keep thinking about is how JFK does not have the available slots to serve as a hub airport for TATL connections. When you think about how many cities US feeds into the PHL hub that AA won't / can't touch via JFK I keep thinking any movement to reduce TATL flying out of PHL is essentially handing business over to DL and UA since their ops in NY can support what US/AA can't. But, this is why I don't run an airline.

PHL

Long before US was in *A, they flew PHL-MUC/FRA, in addition to LH flying PHL-FRA so I don't see these routes going anywhere as the O&D is still there.