Transportation
Airport Begins New International Terminal Project
Airport will begin demolition of old concourse in coming weeks.
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Airport will begin demolition of old concourse in coming weeks. Back to the full article.
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Categories: Transportation
How many regularly scheduled international flights into Mitchell exist today seems to be a key fact missing from this article. It might be far less than one per day.
The reality is that there is no need for this expansion (especially with southwest likely to start dropping flights out of MKE due to their hostile investor takeover), and another way to explain using bonds to fund it is that carriers will increase their prices so that end consumers pay for it in the end.
Milwaukee has several international companies. These companies have made a large commitment to the city, like Milwaukee Tool. Presently their employees have to fly into O’Hara and the company needs to transport them to Milwaukee. The new terminal will allow airlines to schedule their flights directly into Milwaukee. The new terminal is not for existing flights but for expansion that cannot happen without it.
@KWH – I’ll strongly wager there will be zero international flights over the next 10 years into MKE from anywhere except seasonal resort destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico, and maybe a Canada flight or two might return. We will see zero flights from Asia, Europe, or South America if that’s what you are implying.
If there were reliable, rapid transit from the far north Chicago burbs and IL border communities up to Milwaukee’s airport, transit that avoided heavy auto traffic, accidents, and highway repair season, MKE could stand the chance of becoming a bit of a “third airport” for the Chicago-Milwaukee region—impacting both domestic and international demand. As it is, demand at MKE, even with the major employers and HQs that *do* exist, is probably not enough to move the needle very much. I’d wager most of Kenosha County finds it easier to drive down to ORD and hop on any of hundreds of daily direct flights to myriad destinations.
I guess air traffic volume includes two kinds of flights—inbound and outbound. Maybe Milwaukee is best able to increase its attractiveness and importance as a destination. Once we get them here, they will always need to return home.
Two points here.
1) Flights to major Canadian cities don’t count as “international” since all customs and immigration stuff is handled in Canada (US Customs stations people at many Canadian airports—even places with few US flights like Winnipeg)
2) Having just 2 gates seems limiting, especially if one gate is closed for maintenance (if a jetway fails, for instance).