I agree the Gulf area is underserved, but a lack of airports is hardly the problem. The problem may be the opposite with TLH, PNS, ECP, VPS, GPT, MOB, and now this competing for Gulf passengers.

https://www.wkrg.com/news/video-mobile- ... 1841589272

Honestly, they should probably move the entire airport to downtown in MOB. The current airport is out in the middle of no where, where onne needs to go through 19 lights to get to the freeway/ city.

At first, I thought this was a FBO which was being constructed, but it's an actual terminal and F9 will start flying out of there. Agreed with Web500sjc, having two commercial operations at a city the size of MOB is not needed. Like many cities in the South, they had ATL amvitions which dis not come to fruition.

My understanding is that MOB will be closing in a few years.

Watching that video, sure seems that there's a lot of work to do to open it on May 1.

enilria wrote:

I agree the Gulf area is underserved, but a lack of airports is hardly the problem. The problem may be the opposite with TLH, PNS, ECP, VPS, GPT, MOB, and now this competing for Gulf passengers.

https://www.wkrg.com/news/video-mobile- ... 1841589272

Not all of those airports are competing for the same passengers. I can tell you no one going to/from Tallahassee, for example, is considering flying into/out of Mobile. Its more GPT/MOB and PNS/ECP/VPS that compete with each other. PNS/ECP/VPS/GPT are targeting vacationers going to the local beaches much more than MOB and TLH are though.

As others have said, the plan is to close MOB.

I'll agree that there's probably one (or two) too many airports between GPT/MOB/PNS/VPS/ECP. However, it's hard for any city to give up their airport and potentially hurt their economy by shifting jobs to another airport an hour away. In the past, there has been talks of combining MOB/PNS (somewhere in Baldwin County along I-10) and PNS/VPS (somewhere in Santa Rosa County along I-10), but nothing has ever come of it. Certainly a combined MOB/PNS or VPS/PNS would be a stronger facility

But at this point, I think each airport has found their niche and most of them are doing pretty well as LCC/ULCCs have expanded into the area.

I can see this new airport functioning similar to how ECP began a few years ago. I can also foresee the terminal building looking similar, small but efficient for its customer base.
I think once operations are fully transitioned over from MOB it will realize its full potential.
Having lived in Mobile a few years ago, the airspace handles all sorts of aircraft from GA to heavy jets so this will be interesting.

727LOVER wrote:

My understanding is that MOB will be closing in a few years.

This is accurate. The Authority is consolidating airline operations at the much better located downtown airport over the next few years. The current passenger airport is not well-located to serve the actual catchment area.

https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2018/09/ ... r_pla.html

So my question is...is it that much cheaper for F9 to start service at Brookley and wait for the full transition of all air service from MOB? Or is this just about being closer to the center of the catchment area from the time they start service? Is F9 bearing any of the cost of the new temporary terminal?

Does anyone have a diagram / map of the terminal being built and where its located on the airport?

AVLAirlineFreq wrote:

So my question is...is it that much cheaper for F9 to start service at Brookley and wait for the full transition of all air service from MOB? Or is this just about being closer to the center of the catchment area from the time they start service? Is F9 bearing any of the cost of the new temporary terminal?

Firstly, I believe this is solely the Airport Authority's expense. F9 said they would only operate at BFM, stating that MOB's location does not provide the right catchment area (and possibly the costs at MOB are too high) for them. They have shown the proclivity to operate from LCC terminals so this wouldn't be a surprise.

mikejepp wrote:

Does anyone have a diagram / map of the terminal being built and where its located on the airport?

Check here: https://www.mobileairportauthority.com/mra/cmar-for-the-mobile-downtown-terminal-brookley-aeroplex-mobile-alabama-request-for-proposal-rfp

So it opens today and will be a panacea that will lower fares and stimulate traffic.

https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2019/05/ ... ening.html

https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/new-do ... 1967013063

https://www.mobileairportauthority.com/downtown/

Only argument I can see is that MOB is on the wrong side of the city to reach Baldwin County which is growing by leaps and bounds. But I expect many of those folks will still go to PNS, which is pretty close and has way more service than MOB and BFM combined. PNS even has decent service from WN. And you don't have to get across Mobile Bay.

MOB enplanes less than 300K per year while PNS enplanes well over three times that number and is growing rather nicely.

jetlanta wrote:

727LOVER wrote:

My understanding is that MOB will be closing in a few years.

This is accurate. The Authority is consolidating airline operations at the much better located downtown airport over the next few years. The current passenger airport is not well-located to serve the actual catchment area.

https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2018/09/ ... r_pla.html

Yes, but everything indicates it is a really long term plan and will not happen that soon. Not to mention the current airport is in the middle of nowhere and does not have a lot of problem with NIMBYs. There are neighborhoods around BFM that I expect will not be so happy. Especially since it seems there are plans to acquire more property.

diverdave wrote:

So it opens today and will be a panacea that will lower fares and stimulate traffic.

https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2019/05/ ... ening.html

https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/new-do ... 1967013063

https://www.mobileairportauthority.com/downtown/

Only argument I can see is that MOB is on the wrong side of the city to reach Baldwin County which is growing by leaps and bounds. But I expect many of those folks will still go to PNS, which is pretty close and has way more service than MOB and BFM combined. PNS even has decent service from WN. And you don't have to get across Mobile Bay.

MOB enplanes less than 300K per year while PNS enplanes well over three times that number and is growing rather nicely.

jetlanta wrote:

727LOVER wrote:

My understanding is that MOB will be closing in a few years.

This is accurate. The Authority is consolidating airline operations at the much better located downtown airport over the next few years. The current passenger airport is not well-located to serve the actual catchment area.

https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2018/09/ ... r_pla.html

Yes, but everything indicates it is a really long term plan and will not happen that soon. Not to mention the current airport is in the middle of nowhere and does not have a lot of problem with NIMBYs. There are neighborhoods around BFM that I expect will not be so happy. Especially since it seems there are plans to acquire more property.

It should be known this airport move serves to better capture the Eastern Shore market. This airport - BFM - will certainly start to stem the tide of Baldwin county flyers going to PNS. It won’t stop Baldwin business flyers immediately from going to PNS but this is just the start.

The new “Terminal 2” or whatever they will call it will be open at BFM within the next 7 years. That is certainly not “really long term”. Once that happens, be prepared to see less Baldwin car tags at the PNS garage.

jetlanta wrote:

727LOVER wrote:

My understanding is that MOB will be closing in a few years.

This is accurate. The Authority is consolidating airline operations at the much better located downtown airport over the next few years. The current passenger airport is not well-located to serve the actual catchment area.

https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2018/09/ ... r_pla.html

ECP is in kind of the same predicament. It is a LONG drive from town, and and hour or more in traffic from the beaches. And there is no other public GA airport within 40+ Miles. There is NOTHING out there, not even a hotel. Yes, I understand the land was free, but the old airport, while short and constricted, was amazingly close to the beaches. I can remember the old airport being covered in GA planes and small jets at peak times. Not so much for the new one.