Indiana State Aviation Thread - 2021

freakyrat · Thu May 20, 2021 10:13 pm

Pretty extensive construction plans for the SBN Taxiway B realignment and Ramp Reconstruction Phase 2. Includes a 2 place Deice pad etc. Looks like it will include a lots of Gate swapping etc. Plans are to begin this phase in May of next year and to complete it in 75 days. The new Taxiway B will include paved shoulders etc. The final phase will take the Taxiway East parallel to Runway 9R/27L and then Southeast along the old Rwy 30 alignment and join up with the present B east of the old FBO. in the charter ramp vicinity.

freakyrat · Thu May 20, 2021 10:33 pm

Just saw the plans for Phase 2 of the SBN Taxiway B realignment project. This will include a 2 slot Deice Apron etc. Lots of Gate swapping will also be required during the construction which is scheduled for May of next year and will take 75 days for completion. Final Phase on the East side will take the taxiway parallel to Rwy 9R/27L to a point where the old Rwy 30 was and rejoin it at the present Taxiway B in that area. Should be really nice when finished. Taxiway B will also be wider and include paved shoulders.

All this is nice but the ramp pavement issues need to be promptly addressed.

FWAERJ · Fri May 21, 2021 11:33 am

freakyrat wrote:
rampantfox wrote:
While Covid had traffic down last year iI personally if I was in management would have started on Gate 9 and completely rebuilt the ramp from there one Gate at a time. They could have had Gate 8 and 9 done in no time. Now as traffic is returning and the ramp is falling apart under the weight of the aircraft they have to be rushed to do it.

FWA did exactly that: a complete ramp rebuild when traffic was down due to COVID-19, allowing the project to be ahead of schedule and under budget.

freakyrat · Fri May 21, 2021 11:58 pm

freakyrat wrote:
Just saw the plans for Phase 2 of the SBN Taxiway B realignment project. This will include a 2 slot Deice Apron etc. Lots of Gate swapping will also be required during the construction which is scheduled for May of next year and will take 75 days for completion. Final Phase on the East side will take the taxiway parallel to Rwy 9R/27L to a point where the old Rwy 30 was and rejoin it at the present Taxiway B in that area. Should be really nice when finished. Taxiway B will also be wider and include paved shoulders.

All this is nice but the ramp pavement issues need to be promptly addressed.

Delving deeper into the plans. (Over 600 Pages) Phase 2 includes a Ramp Rebuild on the West End from Gate 1-5. It takes out the slopes that presently flow towards the building and slopes the ramp away from the building. This should gain the airport enough door sill height on the bridge at Gate 5 to allow Airbus A320 aircraft to park at that gate. Upon completion two aircraft will also be able to park at Gate 3 (Gate 3 and 3A) Parking lanes will be adjusted to allow the Gate 3 Jetbridge to service both. Pavement issues are also resolved in the rebuild.

Lots of phases of this project may go on simultaneously. The main issues are the ramp pavement strength and slopes. The need to have a separate deice ramp. A realignment and widening of Taxiway B to handle larger aircraft and to separate it from the terminal ramp.

atypical · Sat May 22, 2021 6:36 am

freakyrat wrote:

The whole Ramp needs a rebuild. Delta had to move their Gate 5 jets over to the former Gate 4 area because the concrete is thicker.

When they built the new terminal they should have rebuilt the whole parking ramp with heavy reinforced concrete. That was Shalliol's fault. Musical gates because of the cheapass asphalt. I do not think it even met FAA Specs to be honest. Gates 2 thru 4 area have the thicker concrete which was part of the original concrete when the old terminal was here.

The plan is for a complete ramp rebuild taking out all the slopes. Cost 3.5 Million Dollars. It ceases to amaze me how that SBN can have a nice building but crappy pavement and FWA can have a ho hum building with pristine pavement. A couple of us who would like to see things better have been on management's ass for years to get this done.

The Delta RFP for SBN-JFK was over 5 years ago when Business traffic was going to New York. With Business Traffic down and International non existent and Business Travel shifting towards Texas no reason to start that flight any more. SLC though would be highly desired for better West Coast connections and to beat UA at the DEN game. Would also be good during ski season and during that time period an A220 could work for hauling all the skis and luggage. Delta want's the pavement fixed first and then they will talk about mainline.

Taxiway Bravo is going to be nice concrete with paved shoulders. From the drawings it looks like it will be 100ft wide with a de-ice ramp which should make it nice for A300 freight dogs.

Just my thoughts here.

Is there anything online showing the projected work?

freakyrat · Sat May 22, 2021 2:37 pm

atypical wrote:
freakyrat wrote:

The whole Ramp needs a rebuild. Delta had to move their Gate 5 jets over to the former Gate 4 area because the concrete is thicker.

When they built the new terminal they should have rebuilt the whole parking ramp with heavy reinforced concrete. That was Shalliol's fault. Musical gates because of the cheapass asphalt. I do not think it even met FAA Specs to be honest. Gates 2 thru 4 area have the thicker concrete which was part of the original concrete when the old terminal was here.

The plan is for a complete ramp rebuild taking out all the slopes. Cost 3.5 Million Dollars. It ceases to amaze me how that SBN can have a nice building but crappy pavement and FWA can have a ho hum building with pristine pavement. A couple of us who would like to see things better have been on management's ass for years to get this done.

The Delta RFP for SBN-JFK was over 5 years ago when Business traffic was going to New York. With Business Traffic down and International non existent and Business Travel shifting towards Texas no reason to start that flight any more. SLC though would be highly desired for better West Coast connections and to beat UA at the DEN game. Would also be good during ski season and during that time period an A220 could work for hauling all the skis and luggage. Delta want's the pavement fixed first and then they will talk about mainline.

Taxiway Bravo is going to be nice concrete with paved shoulders. From the drawings it looks like it will be 100ft wide with a de-ice ramp which should make it nice for A300 freight dogs.

Just my thoughts here.

Is there anything online showing the projected work?

There is nothing online. A friend of mine got the bid package from Mead & Hunt and sent it to me. The package is rather involved and the drawings are highly technical. Send me a private message with an email address and I'll send you a picture.

FWAERJ · Sat May 22, 2021 2:58 pm

freakyrat wrote:
atypical wrote:
freakyrat wrote:

The whole Ramp needs a rebuild. Delta had to move their Gate 5 jets over to the former Gate 4 area because the concrete is thicker.

When they built the new terminal they should have rebuilt the whole parking ramp with heavy reinforced concrete. That was Shalliol's fault. Musical gates because of the cheapass asphalt. I do not think it even met FAA Specs to be honest. Gates 2 thru 4 area have the thicker concrete which was part of the original concrete when the old terminal was here.

The plan is for a complete ramp rebuild taking out all the slopes. Cost 3.5 Million Dollars. It ceases to amaze me how that SBN can have a nice building but crappy pavement and FWA can have a ho hum building with pristine pavement. A couple of us who would like to see things better have been on management's ass for years to get this done.

The Delta RFP for SBN-JFK was over 5 years ago when Business traffic was going to New York. With Business Traffic down and International non existent and Business Travel shifting towards Texas no reason to start that flight any more. SLC though would be highly desired for better West Coast connections and to beat UA at the DEN game. Would also be good during ski season and during that time period an A220 could work for hauling all the skis and luggage. Delta want's the pavement fixed first and then they will talk about mainline.

Taxiway Bravo is going to be nice concrete with paved shoulders. From the drawings it looks like it will be 100ft wide with a de-ice ramp which should make it nice for A300 freight dogs.

Just my thoughts here.

Is there anything online showing the projected work?

There is nothing online. A friend of mine got the bid package from Mead & Hunt and sent it to me. The package is rather involved and the drawings are highly technical. Send me a private message with an email address and I'll send you a picture.

FWA worked with Mead & Hunt on the planning for Project Gateway, too.

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freakyrat · Sat May 22, 2021 6:06 pm

For FWAERJ. Mead & Hunt has got to be the number one airport development firm in the country.

freakyrat · Wed May 26, 2021 1:53 am

According to the Bid Package the rebuilt Taxiway B at SBN will be the standard 75ft wide with 20-25 ft paved shoulders. It will include a nice drive through Deice Apron east of Taxiway N a NW of the present ramp. It will include a new wider turnoff of Rwy 9R/27L. Enlarged turoffs into FedEx and part of the old Taxiway B east of 18/36 and Taxiway N south of the De-Ice ramp will become Taxiway C.

rampantfox · Thu May 27, 2021 11:50 pm

Rumor has it that while digging up part of Taxiway B, several discarded mattresses were found underneath the taxiway. No work has really been done since the initial tear up but that is the talk around the airport right now.

I absolutely love FWA. The terminal, ramp, everything was nicely designed and laid out. I really hope SBN is willing to spend the cash to bring its facilities up to par with FWA because as they are right now they are far behind. Notre Dame has also just announced that home football games will be filled to capacity so I would expect to see some mainline equipment filter into the schedule. Especially with USC and Navy both coming to South Bend. You might also see some spill over for the Wisconsin v. UND game in Chicago.

FWAERJ · Fri May 28, 2021 12:07 am

rampantfox wrote:
Rumor has it that while digging up part of Taxiway B, several discarded mattresses were found underneath the taxiway. No work has really been done since the initial tear up but that is the talk around the airport right now.

I absolutely love FWA. The terminal, ramp, everything was nicely designed and laid out. I really hope SBN is willing to spend the cash to bring its facilities up to par with FWA because as they are right now they are far behind. Notre Dame has also just announced that home football games will be filled to capacity so I would expect to see some mainline equipment filter into the schedule. Especially with USC and Navy both coming to South Bend. You might also see some spill over for the Wisconsin v. UND game in Chicago.

Well, FWA is renovating their terminal with two new gates, a new baggage system, glass enclosed jetways, and such. Should be done by 2023.

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freakyrat · Fri May 28, 2021 3:30 pm

rampantfox wrote:
Rumor has it that while digging up part of Taxiway B, several discarded mattresses were found underneath the taxiway. No work has really been done since the initial tear up but that is the talk around the airport right now.

I absolutely love FWA. The terminal, ramp, everything was nicely designed and laid out. I really hope SBN is willing to spend the cash to bring its facilities up to par with FWA because as they are right now they are far behind. Notre Dame has also just announced that home football games will be filled to capacity so I would expect to see some mainline equipment filter into the schedule. Especially with USC and Navy both coming to South Bend. You might also see some spill over for the Wisconsin v. UND game in Chicago.

The Westside Runway extensions were built over the old city landfill. It surprises me that the mattresses would be intact after all these years.

The Concourse at SBN is very nice. There is a booklet on the airport website that described a refresh and remodel of the present facilities. Some of it has been done already with the new flooring in the main terminal and the ticket counter remodel. I've been in crappy terminals in big cities compared to the nice facilities in cities like SBN and FWA. One of the nicest terminals in the Midwest is BMI. Another nice one is at XNA.

The ramp could use a complete rebuild and it is included in the Taxiway B reconstruction along with the new De-Icing Ramp. The ramp rebuild alone costs 3.5 million dollars and the whole Taxiway B project is about 30 million when finished. One thing I can say about previous management at SBN was that John was cheap when it came to spending money. Mike Daigle wants to bring everything up to par. Him and Julie Curtis are doing a fantastic job.

As far as the Notre Dame games go, I would expect to see a new mainline aircraft from Delta in SBN on those weekends and that is the Airbus A220. DGS has all of the GSE Equipment to service that aircraft.

freakyrat · Tue Jun 08, 2021 3:16 pm

Great news for SBN. Traffic is rebounding but will not hit the record number of passengers that flew in 2019. Nonetheless this is a good sign. Also businesses are eager to get their employees back out on the road again. I recently checked seats out of SBN on AA and DL and it looks like they are starting to fill the First Class and Premium Economy seating again. Maybe DL will keep the CRj9's on the flights to ATL. Anyway here is a link to the South Bend Tribune article. https://www.southbendtribune.com/story/ ... 588611002/

freakyrat · Sun Jun 20, 2021 8:02 pm

With the return of fans and a full stadium set for Notre Dame Football Weekends Delta is making plans to operate the CRJ900 LGA-SBN-LGA flight as in previous years and is also working up a mix of Mainline aircraft from/to their other hubs for those weekends.

freakyrat · Thu Jun 24, 2021 9:22 pm

SBN's numbers are out for April. Nothing approaching 2019's record numbers about the same as 2017 enplanments but nonetheless very positive compared to 2020.

https://flysbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2 ... r-2021.pdf

freakyrat · Fri Jun 25, 2021 10:45 pm

freakyrat wrote:
SBN's numbers are out for April. Nothing approaching 2019's record numbers about the same as 2017 enplanements but nonetheless very positive compared to 2020.

https://flysbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2 ... r-2021.pdf

According to the May Airport Board Meeting United will be increasing their daily SBN-ORD flights to 7-8 Round Trips early next year. Well they are starting that in November. The Airport also has been in discussion with United concerning flights to Denver. I believe those will come once Denver completes the concourse expansions. Before F9 changed to an ULCC and de-hubbed DEN they flew an A319 from SBN-DEN three times a week. The lowest number of passengers they flew was about 65 the highest 130. So the market is definitely there. The route would also offer an alternative to ORD for connections. The local Mgr. for United said they could profitably operate 2 daily 70-seaters on the route. It is just a matter of some arm twisting and bargaining to get United to OK it. With Notre Dame allowing full fans in the stadium for football i would also assume that United will resume their seasonal SBN-EWR flight in September like they have in the past lasting till December.

FlyingElvii · Sat Jun 26, 2021 2:09 am

freakyrat wrote:
freakyrat wrote:
SBN's numbers are out for April. Nothing approaching 2019's record numbers about the same as 2017 enplanements but nonetheless very positive compared to 2020.

https://flysbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2 ... r-2021.pdf

According to the May Airport Board Meeting United will be increasing their daily SBN-ORD flights to 7-8 Round Trips early next year. Well they are starting that in November. The Airport also has been in discussion with United concerning flights to Denver. I believe those will come once Denver completes the concourse expansions. Before F9 changed to an ULCC and de-hubbed DEN they flew an A319 from SBN-DEN three times a week. The lowest number of passengers they flew was about 65 the highest 130. So the market is definitely there. The route would also offer an alternative to ORD for connections. The local Mgr. for United said they could profitably operate 2 daily 70-seaters on the route. It is just a matter of some arm twisting and bargaining to get United to OK it. With Notre Dame allowing full fans in the stadium for football i would also assume that United will resume their seasonal SBN-EWR flight in September like they have in the past lasting till December.

Get with FWA and make a deal to help cover two 175’s a Day to Denver, ala round-robin like UA used to do with a 727.

freakyrat · Sat Jun 26, 2021 1:17 pm

FlyingElvii wrote:
freakyrat wrote:
freakyrat wrote:
SBN's numbers are out for April. Nothing approaching 2019's record numbers about the same as 2017 enplanements but nonetheless very positive compared to 2020.

https://flysbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2 ... r-2021.pdf

According to the May Airport Board Meeting United will be increasing their daily SBN-ORD flights to 7-8 Round Trips early next year. Well they are starting that in November. The Airport also has been in discussion with United concerning flights to Denver. I believe those will come once Denver completes the concourse expansions. Before F9 changed to an ULCC and de-hubbed DEN they flew an A319 from SBN-DEN three times a week. The lowest number of passengers they flew was about 65 the highest 130. So the market is definitely there. The route would also offer an alternative to ORD for connections. The local Mgr. for United said they could profitably operate 2 daily 70-seaters on the route. It is just a matter of some arm twisting and bargaining to get United to OK it. With Notre Dame allowing full fans in the stadium for football i would also assume that United will resume their seasonal SBN-EWR flight in September like they have in the past lasting till December.

Get with FWA and make a deal to help cover two 175’s a Day to Denver, ala round-robin like UA used to do with a 727.

If we terminate overnight in FWA UA would have enough enplanement to cover these flights with a mainline B737-800 or Airbus A319. To be ADA compliant at their gates at SBN I would go with a B737-800 Of course they would need a power cart, towbars and other equipment. I do not know who does theoir ground servicing at SBN but DGS at SBN has all that GSE equipment. They could also use Gate 9 which has Ground Power and AC equipment built in like Swift did a few weeks ago.

freakyrat · Sat Jun 26, 2021 1:18 pm

freakyrat wrote:
FlyingElvii wrote:
freakyrat wrote:

According to the May Airport Board Meeting United will be increasing their daily SBN-ORD flights to 7-8 Round Trips early next year. Well they are starting that in November. The Airport also has been in discussion with United concerning flights to Denver. I believe those will come once Denver completes the concourse expansions. Before F9 changed to an ULCC and de-hubbed DEN they flew an A319 from SBN-DEN three times a week. The lowest number of passengers they flew was about 65 the highest 130. So the market is definitely there. The route would also offer an alternative to ORD for connections. The local Mgr. for United said they could profitably operate 2 daily 70-seaters on the route. It is just a matter of some arm twisting and bargaining to get United to OK it. With Notre Dame allowing full fans in the stadium for football i would also assume that United will resume their seasonal SBN-EWR flight in September like they have in the past lasting till December.

Get with FWA and make a deal to help cover two 175’s a Day to Denver, ala round-robin like UA used to do with a 727.

If we terminate overnight in FWA UA would have enough enplanements at both stations to cover these flights with a mainline B737-800 or Airbus A319. To be ADA compliant at their gates at SBN I would go with a B737-800 Of course they would need a power cart, towbars and other equipment. I do not know who does their ground servicing at SBN but DGS at SBN has all that GSE equipment. They could also use Gate 9 which has Ground Power and AC equipment built in like Swift did a few weeks ago.

jetskipper · Sat Jun 26, 2021 3:30 pm

FlyingElvii wrote:
freakyrat wrote:
freakyrat wrote:
SBN's numbers are out for April. Nothing approaching 2019's record numbers about the same as 2017 enplanements but nonetheless very positive compared to 2020.

https://flysbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2 ... r-2021.pdf

According to the May Airport Board Meeting United will be increasing their daily SBN-ORD flights to 7-8 Round Trips early next year. Well they are starting that in November. The Airport also has been in discussion with United concerning flights to Denver. I believe those will come once Denver completes the concourse expansions. Before F9 changed to an ULCC and de-hubbed DEN they flew an A319 from SBN-DEN three times a week. The lowest number of passengers they flew was about 65 the highest 130. So the market is definitely there. The route would also offer an alternative to ORD for connections. The local Mgr. for United said they could profitably operate 2 daily 70-seaters on the route. It is just a matter of some arm twisting and bargaining to get United to OK it. With Notre Dame allowing full fans in the stadium for football i would also assume that United will resume their seasonal SBN-EWR flight in September like they have in the past lasting till December.

Get with FWA and make a deal to help cover two 175’s a Day to Denver, ala round-robin like UA used to do with a 727.

Other than some EAS trips, the only round robin UA currently operates is ORD-ANC-FAI-ORD. Lower 48 flights like this are simply not in their business model, especially for mainline assets. We are almost 25 years out from the ATL-TOL-FWA-ATL, ATL-SDF-LEX-ATL flights and unfortunately they will never come back. I’m assuming both SBN and FWA-DEN will start on a 50-seat RJ and be up-gauged to a 70-seat aircraft.

freakyrat · Sat Jun 26, 2021 4:35 pm

jetskipper wrote:
FlyingElvii wrote:
freakyrat wrote:

According to the May Airport Board Meeting United will be increasing their daily SBN-ORD flights to 7-8 Round Trips early next year. Well they are starting that in November. The Airport also has been in discussion with United concerning flights to Denver. I believe those will come once Denver completes the concourse expansions. Before F9 changed to an ULCC and de-hubbed DEN they flew an A319 from SBN-DEN three times a week. The lowest number of passengers they flew was about 65 the highest 130. So the market is definitely there. The route would also offer an alternative to ORD for connections. The local Mgr. for United said they could profitably operate 2 daily 70-seaters on the route. It is just a matter of some arm twisting and bargaining to get United to OK it. With Notre Dame allowing full fans in the stadium for football i would also assume that United will resume their seasonal SBN-EWR flight in September like they have in the past lasting till December.

Get with FWA and make a deal to help cover two 175’s a Day to Denver, ala round-robin like UA used to do with a 727.

Other than some EAS trips, the only round robin UA currently operates is ORD-ANC-FAI-ORD. Lower 48 flights like this are simply not in their business model, especially for mainline assets. We are almost 25 years out from the ATL-TOL-FWA-ATL, ATL-SDF-LEX-ATL flights and unfortunately they will never come back. I’m assuming both SBN and FWA-DEN will start on a 50-seat RJ and be up-gauged to a 70-seat aircraft.

The SBN Airport is in a great position in regard to DEN based on the numbers that Frontier was carrying.. A twice daily 70-seater or a combination of the two would be more like it and would satisfy the demand. Once traffic returns strong and Denver completes their concourse expansion I'm sure there will be an increased push to offer the DEN flights.

Other flights on the airport's radar are: AA offering a PHL R/T G4 offering seasonal MYR and CUN.

FlyingElvii · Sun Jun 27, 2021 12:47 am

jetskipper wrote:
FlyingElvii wrote:
freakyrat wrote:

According to the May Airport Board Meeting United will be increasing their daily SBN-ORD flights to 7-8 Round Trips early next year. Well they are starting that in November. The Airport also has been in discussion with United concerning flights to Denver. I believe those will come once Denver completes the concourse expansions. Before F9 changed to an ULCC and de-hubbed DEN they flew an A319 from SBN-DEN three times a week. The lowest number of passengers they flew was about 65 the highest 130. So the market is definitely there. The route would also offer an alternative to ORD for connections. The local Mgr. for United said they could profitably operate 2 daily 70-seaters on the route. It is just a matter of some arm twisting and bargaining to get United to OK it. With Notre Dame allowing full fans in the stadium for football i would also assume that United will resume their seasonal SBN-EWR flight in September like they have in the past lasting till December.

Get with FWA and make a deal to help cover two 175’s a Day to Denver, ala round-robin like UA used to do with a 727.

Other than some EAS trips, the only round robin UA currently operates is ORD-ANC-FAI-ORD. Lower 48 flights like this are simply not in their business model, especially for mainline assets. We are almost 25 years out from the ATL-TOL-FWA-ATL, ATL-SDF-LEX-ATL flights and unfortunately they will never come back. I’m assuming both SBN and FWA-DEN will start on a 50-seat RJ and be up-gauged to a 70-seat aircraft.

Given current economic conditions, anything is possible if you are willing to write a check for it.

freakyrat · Mon Jun 28, 2021 10:15 pm

Great News for South Bend International Airport Travelers announced today by American Airlines. Starting August 17th American is adding a Third daily flight from South Bend to Charlotte. The American Eagle CRJ900 operated by PSA will leave SBN at 4:25 PM arriving in CLT at 7:04 PM. In addition on Notre dame Home Football game weekends American will be operating a roundtrip flight to SBN from New York LaGuardia leaving on Friday Evening at 4:25 Pm and arriving in SBN at 6:44 PM. That flight will be operated by Republic Airlines for American Eagle using an E175. Flight will return to LGA on Sunday. These LGA flights are in addition to the CRJ900 ones that will be operated by Delta.

When American returned to South Bend they operated twice daily DFW-SBN-CLT and reverse with a CRJ700 then the demand for the CLT part of the flight outstripped the number of seats so they split the duties up with PSA operating the SBN-CLT flights with a CRJ900. Now it seems as traffic is returning after Covid that the need for an evening flight was there.

freakyrat · Mon Jun 28, 2021 11:19 pm

freakyrat wrote:
Great News for South Bend International Airport Travelers announced today by American Airlines. Starting August 17th American is adding a Third daily flight from South Bend to Charlotte. The American Eagle CRJ900 operated by PSA will leave SBN at 5:09 PM arriving in CLT at 7:04 PM. In addition on Notre dame Home Football game weekends American will be operating a roundtrip flight to SBN from New York LaGuardia leaving on Friday Evening at 4:25 Pm and arriving in SBN at 6:44 PM. That flight will be operated by Republic Airlines for American Eagle using an E175. Flight will return to LGA on Sunday. These LGA flights are in addition to the CRJ900 ones that will be operated by Delta.

When American returned to South Bend they operated twice daily DFW-SBN-CLT and reverse with a CRJ700 then the demand for the CLT part of the flight outstripped the number of seats so they split the duties up with PSA operating the SBN-CLT flights with a CRJ900. Now it seems as traffic is returning after Covid that the need for an evening flight was there.

I corrected the original post to read leaving SBN at 5:09 PM

jetskipper · Mon Jun 28, 2021 11:41 pm

Great to hear. I’m glad the airlines are thinking outside the box to get extra revenue. United flew a revenue 737-900 from LAX-SBN for the USC-ND game in 2019, along with some non-stops to RDU for NCST. Hopefully they will make some one-off adds as well.

FWAERJ · Mon Jun 28, 2021 11:47 pm

Does FWA-CLT go 3x daily as well?

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jetskipper · Tue Jun 29, 2021 12:16 pm

No, AA is staying with 2x FWA-CLT, an early morning CR9 and an afternoon CR7.

FWAERJ · Tue Jun 29, 2021 12:50 pm

jetskipper wrote:
No, AA is staying with 2x FWA-CLT, an early morning CR9 and an afternoon CR7.

Then again, AA also has PHL and ORD from FWA, neither of which are served from SBN.

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freakyrat · Tue Jun 29, 2021 3:19 pm

AA also flies one R/T from ORD to SBN on some of the busy football weekends.

As the pandemic winds down the AA CLT flights are back to selling out as they were pre-pandemic so with Notre Dame students returning etc. and it appears business traffic starting to return they saw the handwriting on the wall and added the third flight.

I'm going to think outside the box here a bit on what the future might hold. I'm sure American is also watching the DFW flights very closely to see where everyone is connecting to in DFW especially to see how many AUS connections there are. The AUS/SAT area is South Bend's #3 business destination. In the future there could be demand for a daily roundtrip.

Right now the Airport's priority is to get Newark and Denver reestablished with United. Also to get the main taxiway and ramp rebuilt so they could bring in larger aircraft if need be and park them at the gates without them or the jetbridges sinking in the asphalt.

jetskipper · Tue Jun 29, 2021 7:16 pm

FWAERJ wrote:
jetskipper wrote:
No, AA is staying with 2x FWA-CLT, an early morning CR9 and an afternoon CR7.

Then again, AA also has PHL and ORD from FWA, neither of which are served from SBN.

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AA for sure has more lift out of FWA than SBN. I’m just impressed there are any additions this soon after the pandemic. I thought it would take years to get back to 2019 levels.

freakyrat · Tue Jun 29, 2021 9:28 pm

jetskipper wrote:
FWAERJ wrote:
jetskipper wrote:
No, AA is staying with 2x FWA-CLT, an early morning CR9 and an afternoon CR7.

Then again, AA also has PHL and ORD from FWA, neither of which are served from SBN.

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AA for sure has more lift out of FWA than SBN. I’m just impressed there are any additions this soon after the pandemic. I thought it would take years to get back to 2019 levels.

It's amazing this soon after the pandemic that in SBN they were starting to run out of seats on select days and select flights to CLT. DFW loads are good but for some reason CLT just took off and it's a bigger PSA Airlines CRJ900 aircraft with 11 more seats than the 65 seat Skywest CRJ700's they have operating to DFW. So SBN in August will have Three 76 seat CRJ900's going to CLT. The evening flight timed for business people returning to CLT in time for supper.

Mike Daigle the Airport Manager at SBN thinks it will be towards the end of the year or early next year that the daily boardings would reach the 2019 levels but when I was checking the last few weeks it seems like American is darn near there already.

freakyrat · Sun Jul 04, 2021 6:48 pm

jetskipper wrote:
FWAERJ wrote:
jetskipper wrote:
No, AA is staying with 2x FWA-CLT, an early morning CR9 and an afternoon CR7.

Then again, AA also has PHL and ORD from FWA, neither of which are served from SBN.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

AA for sure has more lift out of FWA than SBN. I’m just impressed there are any additions this soon after the pandemic. I thought it would take years to get back to 2019 levels.

I'm going to go way out on a limb here with this one. About a year after AA came back to SBN the local folks working the contract at SBN for AA were talking about AA working in a flight to PHL but not only that a possibility of adding an American Eagle flight to MIA. With all the craziness happening with AA at MIA and adding American Eagle weekend flights to and from MIA from various cities could a seasonal MIA flight be a real sleeper to make connections to cruise lines etc. After all stranger things have happened and who would have believed that AA needed to add a third flight to CLT.

FWAERJ · Sun Jul 04, 2021 8:19 pm

AA is adding a third FWA-DFW on the same day SBN gets their third CLT.

65 seat SkyWest CR7.

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freakyrat · Sun Jul 04, 2021 9:31 pm

FWAERJ wrote:
AA is adding a third FWA-DFW on the same day SBN gets their third CLT.

65 seat SkyWest CR7.

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Nice the last 3 days Skywest has turned into Skyworst. None of the SBN-DFW flights have been on time in fact the Afternoon flight SKW3084 has been an average 4 hours late. The aircraft used for this flight originates in SLC and flies to COS then DFW. The aircraft has been an average of 2hrs late leaving SLC and 4 hours late leaving COS. Has to be the weather in those places.

rampantfox · Mon Jul 05, 2021 8:31 pm

I believe that Skywest is having some major staffing issues as even some of Delta’s Skywest flights out of SBN have been delayed several hours as well. There have been several days of equipment up and downgrades as well.

alancostello · Mon Jul 05, 2021 10:46 pm

I have to assume the increase on AA SBN-CLT is a massive outflux of people heading to places like Florida and the south-eastern coast given that international travel is still off-limits or contains significant risk/little reward in places that are still locked down. That SBN-PHL flight would be incredible for connecting to transatlantic travel, hopefully the timings work well to reflect that.

freakyrat · Mon Jul 05, 2021 11:04 pm

alancostello wrote:
I have to assume the increase on AA SBN-CLT is a massive outflux of people heading to places like Florida and the south-eastern coast given that international travel is still off-limits or contains significant risk/little reward in places that are still locked down. That SBN-PHL flight would be incredible for connecting to transatlantic travel, hopefully the timings work well to reflect that.

There are a lot of loyal AAdvantage members in the Michiana area plus even with G4 in SBN there has been a lot of pent up demand for travel post pandemic. You are also so right about the South-Eastern coast, Places like MYR, SAV etc. Plus the CLT airport is more compact than ATL and connections involve less walking distance.

The local folks think that a PHL flight would connect with transatlantic travel when that returns to normal. A bonus MIA flight for connecting to cruise lines.

freakyrat · Mon Jul 05, 2021 11:07 pm

rampantfox wrote:
I believe that Skywest is having some major staffing issues as even some of Delta’s Skywest flights out of SBN have been delayed several hours as well. There have been several days of equipment up and downgrades as well.

Delta has mostly been moving to Endeavor for their SBN lift. The MSP flight came back with Skywest operating it. Just before the Pandemic started to wind down Skywest had problems having enough FA's for their flights.

rampantfox · Mon Jul 05, 2021 11:28 pm

freakyrat wrote:
rampantfox wrote:
I believe that Skywest is having some major staffing issues as even some of Delta’s Skywest flights out of SBN have been delayed several hours as well. There have been several days of equipment up and downgrades as well.

Delta has mostly been moving to Endeavor for their SBN lift. The MSP flight came back with Skywest operating it. Just before the Pandemic started to wind down Skywest had problems having enough FA's for their flights.

The 0600 DTW departure is also Skywest. Endeavor has the rest of the flights. I believe the Skywest flights are operated as stand-ups for the crews. Monday and Friday TSA lines are insane right now. You have AA’s CLT flight leaving, DTW, ATL and MSP for Delta, a UA ORD flight and G4 to LAS all departing before 0730. TSA can’t seem to keep up which is resulting in a lot of people missing various flights.

The second daily MSP flight seems to keep getting pushed back out of SBN. AA announced LGA for ND home games and I believe DL will also announce the same.

freakyrat · Tue Jul 06, 2021 3:55 am

rampantfox wrote:
freakyrat wrote:
rampantfox wrote:
I believe that Skywest is having some major staffing issues as even some of Delta’s Skywest flights out of SBN have been delayed several hours as well. There have been several days of equipment up and downgrades as well.

Delta has mostly been moving to Endeavor for their SBN lift. The MSP flight came back with Skywest operating it. Just before the Pandemic started to wind down Skywest had problems having enough FA's for their flights.

The 0600 DTW departure is also Skywest. Endeavor has the rest of the flights. I believe the Skywest flights are operated as stand-ups for the crews. Monday and Friday TSA lines are insane right now. You have AA’s CLT flight leaving, DTW, ATL and MSP for Delta, a UA ORD flight and G4 to LAS all departing before 0730. TSA can’t seem to keep up which is resulting in a lot of people missing various flights.

The second daily MSP flight seems to keep getting pushed back out of SBN. AA announced LGA for ND home games and I believe DL will also announce the same.

At least the G4 flight is only on certain days. Fortunately when I come up there I take the afternoon AA flight back to DFW however i'm taking a Sunday morning one in October but ND is out of town that weekend.

freakyrat · Tue Jul 06, 2021 3:57 am

TSA will just have to put more people on morning shifts at SBN to handle the load. I'll bet it looks neat with all those jets taxiing out at once and if Runway 9R is in use with the construction they have to all taxi across the runway to the Taxiway Alpha parallel. Same when landing on 27L no way to get to the gate except taxi around the whole airport on Alpha. Makes it fun for ATC.

freakyrat · Tue Jul 06, 2021 2:01 pm

rampantfox wrote:
freakyrat wrote:
rampantfox wrote:
I believe that Skywest is having some major staffing issues as even some of Delta’s Skywest flights out of SBN have been delayed several hours as well. There have been several days of equipment up and downgrades as well.

Delta has mostly been moving to Endeavor for their SBN lift. The MSP flight came back with Skywest operating it. Just before the Pandemic started to wind down Skywest had problems having enough FA's for their flights.

The 0600 DTW departure is also Skywest. Endeavor has the rest of the flights. I believe the Skywest flights are operated as stand-ups for the crews. Monday and Friday TSA lines are insane right now. You have AA’s CLT flight leaving, DTW, ATL and MSP for Delta, a UA ORD flight and G4 to LAS all departing before 0730. TSA can’t seem to keep up which is resulting in a lot of people missing various flights. .

If on the days that G4 flies to LAS that means if the flights are full which they seem to be now that 444 people have to go through security between 5 and 6 am not including the crews for the AA, DL and UA flights. That is a lot for TSA to handle. They just got to figure out how to do it more efficiently with the 2 security lines that they have. Who knows what the future holds if you throw in a UA EWR and DEN E170 and an AA PHL CRJ700 or 900 in the mix.

freakyrat · Fri Jul 09, 2021 2:07 pm

rampantfox wrote:
Talk in SBN is that Gate 9 is getting paved here rather soon. Jetbridge and A320s are sinking into the concrete and creating a hazard. Same issue is also happening at Gate 5 with Delta. The weight of the aircraft is creating divots in the concrete. Allegiant will take gates 2 and 3 and American will utilize gate 7 until the project is completed.

Removal and realignment of taxiway Bravo is underway.

Project started this week to fix the pavement issues at Gate 9. Allegiant is sharing Gates 2 and 3 with American as their flight times do not overlap. Delta has moved the jets on Gate 5 over to the former Gate 4 concrete section and they just swing the jet bridge over. There will be a complete ramp rebuild as part of the taxiway Bravo project.

freakyrat · Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:18 am

United will again be thinking outside ther box and will be offering special college football fan flights this season. They will be flying a B737-900 from LAX-SBN for the ND-USC game on Oct 22. Flight 1577 will leave LAX at 4:30PM and arrive in SBN at 11:40PM. Flight 1868 will then leave SBN on Sunday at 10:AM arriving in LAX at 11:45AM Pacific Coast Time. The same aircraft will operate a reposition flight replacing a United Express flight to ORD on Saturday morning Oct23 as UA 1914 leaving SBN at 8:00 AM and arriving at ORD at 7:56 AM. On Sunday morning Oct 24th the aircraft will return to SBN as UA276 from ORD leaving ORD at 7:15 AM and arriving in SBN at 9:02 AM.

In addition United on Sunday Oct 24th will also offer a mainline Airbus A319 Roundtrip Between SBN and ORD leaving ORD as UA2392 at 8:50 AM and arriving in SBN at 10:42 AM, leaving SBN as UA 2401 at 11:25 AM arriving back at ORD at 11:21 AM.

ND football is back with fans in a full stadium.

freakyrat · Thu Jul 22, 2021 12:41 pm

freakyrat wrote:
rampantfox wrote:
Talk in SBN is that Gate 9 is getting paved here rather soon. Jetbridge and A320s are sinking into the concrete and creating a hazard. Same issue is also happening at Gate 5 with Delta. The weight of the aircraft is creating divots in the concrete. Allegiant will take gates 2 and 3 and American will utilize gate 7 until the project is completed.

Removal and realignment of taxiway Bravo is underway.

Project started this week to fix the pavement issues at Gate 9. Allegiant is sharing Gates 2 and 3 with American as their flight times do not overlap. Delta has moved the jets on Gate 5 over to the former Gate 4 concrete section and they just swing the jet bridge over. There will be a complete ramp rebuild as part of the taxiway Bravo project.

The airport has finished fixing the pavement issues at Gate 9 and Allegiant is back at their gate.

freakyrat · Thu Jul 22, 2021 9:39 pm

UA will also offer a roundtrip United Express E175 flight from SBN to ROA for the Notre Dame Virginia Tech game on October 8th returning to SBN on October 10th.

United will be offereing a bunch of these Fan flights for various college games this season as they did in 2019.

freakyrat · Fri Jul 23, 2021 11:20 am

SBN May's Numbers are in. Only 5100 passenger enplanments short of the 2019 record year for the Month of May. Looks like flying is back.

https://flysbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2 ... y-2021.pdf

freakyrat · Mon Aug 02, 2021 12:15 am

Well this is the worst that I saw this Skywest SBN-DFW flight to be late. Flight was suppose to leave around 7 in the morning and still hasn't left yet. A few thunderstorms around DFW this evening but that won't explain things. No excuses for an over 13hr delay. Passengers deserve to be compensated.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SKW ... /KSBN/KDFW

freakyrat · Mon Aug 02, 2021 1:05 am

freakyrat wrote:
Well this is the worst that I saw this Skywest SBN-DFW flight to be late. Flight was suppose to leave around 7 in the morning and still hasn't left yet. A few thunderstorms around DFW this evening but that won't explain things. No excuses for an over 13hr delay. Passengers deserve to be compensated.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SKW ... /KSBN/KDFW

After over 13hrs American finally cancelled the flight and have the passengers rebooked for Monday and Tuesday resulting in sold out flights from SBN-DFW and SBN-CLT both days with the exception of tomorrows morning SBN-CLT flight which has 1 seat left connecting to DFW for the whopping last minute price of 2,000 dollars one way.

FlyingElvii · Mon Aug 02, 2021 2:26 am

rampantfox wrote:
Rumor has it that while digging up part of Taxiway B, several discarded mattresses were found underneath the taxiway. No work has really been done since the initial tear up but that is the talk around the airport right now.

I absolutely love FWA. The terminal, ramp, everything was nicely designed and laid out. I really hope SBN is willing to spend the cash to bring its facilities up to par with FWA because as they are right now they are far behind. Notre Dame has also just announced that home football games will be filled to capacity so I would expect to see some mainline equipment filter into the schedule. Especially with USC and Navy both coming to South Bend. You might also see some spill over for the Wisconsin v. UND game in Chicago.

Lol…
Was the previous contractor from Chicagoland?
At least they weren’t hundreds of dead monkeys like they found at Grissom several years ago.

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