Northwest727 From United States of America, joined Jul 2005, 475 posts, RR: 1 Posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 1591 times:
In the USA at least, with all of the consolidation in the airline industry and closure of hubs, is it possible for a Class B facility to be downgraded to a Class C, or a Class C to even a D w/TRSA? Has it happened before, and if such a downgrade can occur, what traffic loss "triggers" must occur?
Mir From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 17876 posts, RR: 59 Reply 3, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 1488 times:
Airspace routinely gets downgraded at night when various ATC facilities close, but in terms of more permanent changes: it can happen, but it's pretty rare.
PIT and STL are still Class B airports, despite having a level of traffic more appropriate for a Class C. And they'll probably stay Class B, since they need an approach control anyway - instances like Columbus, as Spudsmac mentioned, are those in which a facility goes away entirely.
-Mir
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Northwest727 From United States of America, joined Jul 2005, 475 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 1363 times:
Quoting Mir (Reply 3): PIT and STL are still Class B airports, despite having a level of traffic more appropriate for a Class C. And they'll probably stay Class B, since they need an approach control anyway - instances like Columbus, as Spudsmac mentioned, are those in which a facility goes away entirely.
You pretty much read my mind, I was thinking of PIT, STL, MCI, and soon CVG (and CLE, no doubt UA will drop CLE again in the near future)
sf260 From Belgium, joined Oct 2007, 125 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (4 months 1 week 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 1200 times:
In Belgium, outside military operation hours (week days 0730-1630), large parts of the Belgium airspace turn Class G (down from C iirc).
Also, when airports close, there is no reason anymore to have a CTR installed, so that airspace turns also "G". Soesterberg (NL) comes to my memory. However, Soesterberg is still active is a "glider only" airfield, but without any controlled airspace.
charlib52 From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 159 posts, RR: 23 Reply 7, posted (4 months 1 week 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 1056 times:
Long ago Eugene Oregon KEUG had an ARSA (now Class C) put into place.
It didn't last long and now there's not even a TRSA (Which in my opinion is handy to have on charts so you know radar services are available - not sure why they don't chart more of them since they are strictly voluntary and seems like nice thing to know.... anyways, another arguement... )
charlib52 From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 159 posts, RR: 23 Reply 8, posted (4 months 1 week 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 1054 times:
Also, come to think of it, Seattle's (KSEA) class B airspace just got redone. Not re-classified, but a lot less airspace is taken by the new design. Some areas went from a ceiling of 10,000 to just 7000. So I guess the FAA actually can give things back (seems weird though, I agree!)
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