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Old 11-14-2019, 04:31 PM
 
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Used it for the first time in many years last week and it looks like it did 30 or 40 years ago. It reminds me of the airport terminal Nashville tore down in the late 1980's. When you compare similar size cities airports like Charlotte and Nashville, why is CMH lagging so far behind?

On the hand, Eagles Villa Pizza in New Albany was outstanding. I would go with the chicken-bacon-bbq pizza every time.
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Old 11-14-2019, 08:23 PM
 
Location: Columbus, OH
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Yeah, the CMH airport is about as depressing an airport as I’ve ever been to. And they just finished an expensive renovation about 2 years ago. Current plans call for a $2B new terminal to be added in about 10 years.

Not sure how much an improvement they can make. Columbus isn’t a hub airport, nor will this town ever be a massive draw for conventions and such. Besides the Arnold Classic weekend, no one flocks to this city really.
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Old 11-15-2019, 12:30 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jbeechuk View Post
Yeah, the CMH airport is about as depressing an airport as I’ve ever been to. And they just finished an expensive renovation about 2 years ago. Current plans call for a $2B new terminal to be added in about 10 years.

Not sure how much an improvement they can make. Columbus isn’t a hub airport, nor will this town ever be a massive draw for conventions and such. Besides the Arnold Classic weekend, no one flocks to this city really.
Columbus gets 42 million visitors a year and the convention business is booming.
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Old 11-15-2019, 03:26 PM
 
Location: NKY's Campbell Co.
2,107 posts, read 5,086,932 times
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Originally Posted by I_am_Father_McKenzie View Post
Columbus gets 42 million visitors a year and the convention business is booming.
Agreed. Columbus also services major sporting events such as The Memorial Tournament, major OSU sporting events including out-of-conference home games and NCAA basketball tournament rounds, Arnold Classic (as mentioned), numerous HQs and international corporate ops / R&D centers, as well as the OSU student body itself.

However, my chief concern is the airport won't get replaced any time soon and the final price tag will probably be double or triple the current number by the time they are completed. It is sorely needed but I really do wonder how they are going to pay for it.

On a side note, Columbus does serve as a small focus city for Southwest, I believe.

The two airports compared are not fair comparisons. CLT won the lottery with airline consolidations since the 1980s. Those days are likely over due to the lack of anyone else on a legacy level to merge with. ULCC are more likely to merge but they don't have the legacy carriers (or even Southwest's) traditional route model. So CMH ever being a hub outside of its time serving America West in the late 80's and 90's, is long past. The best it can hope for with a new terminal is service to London or Paris (Indy has a Delta CDG route now) or even possibly Tokyo (due to Honda, but most probably just connect in DTW anyways). Whenever the next downturn to impact the airlines hits, expect even an existing airport (likely an American or United hub or two) to lose its status.

Nashville's airport isn't much better and probably is a slightly fairer comparison, but unlike Columbus, they have begun a major terminal rebuild. Columbus' recent remodel will look like a gloss over once BNA's new terminal is complete. BNA also lost out on the hub consolidation wars (as did PIT and CVG) when American pulled out in the 90's but have a larger concentration of Southwest flights than Columbus.

If anyone wants to talk sad airports, go to Memphis, Cleveland or St. Louis. Or fly to tiny airports like Evansville, IN, or Newburgh, NY.

As someone who flew every week out of CMH for 2.5 years and then out of CVG for 1.5, CVG does win the airport comparison due to flight offerings, even with just being a Delta focus city now. But even what was once T3 at CVG will need renovations. Concourse B has seen new life due to Delta bumping up frequency and seat capacity on certain routes and American occupying overflow gates due to rotating ramp work for the Concourse A gates. The only thing CMH had going for it was United had more flights with first class, even if they were majority 2-class Express planes. Fares were pretty much the same between the two, possibly even a little lower at CVG versus Columbus due to Allegiant and Frontier and now Southwest.

I really do hope that CMH gets its new terminal. As the convention center finishes and attracts more business, a central concourse (vs. 3 separated / detached secure wings) would be a huge improvement (think Austin or Raleigh-Durham). But it needs to be done sooner (than 10 years) rather than later.
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Old 11-15-2019, 04:28 PM
 
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Nashville's airport already leaves CMH in the dust and that is before the $billion$ being spent on it right now. It makes CMH airport look like Chattanooga's. Not every airport needs to be post-modern-futuristic like DTW but nice airports are a real plus for a city.

I agree that what 2 billion will get you, won't get you in ten years.
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Old 11-15-2019, 08:11 PM
 
Location: Cleveland and Columbus OH
11,063 posts, read 12,460,703 times
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Originally Posted by wrightflyer View Post
If anyone wants to talk sad airports, go to Memphis, Cleveland or St. Louis. Or fly to tiny airports like Evansville, IN, or Newburgh, NY.
Hopkins is considerably better than CMH.
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Old 11-15-2019, 09:03 PM
 
Location: San Diego CA
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Wow. I used to live in Columbus That's kind of harsh. It's a medium size airport that's been enlarged and updated several times over the years. Looking back and now dealing with LAX and SFO CMH seems a lot less congested and easier to get in and out of.
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Old 11-16-2019, 12:15 PM
 
Location: La Jolla
4,214 posts, read 3,300,749 times
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Originally Posted by msgsing View Post
Wow. I used to live in Columbus That's kind of harsh. It's a medium size airport that's been enlarged and updated several times over the years. Looking back and now dealing with LAX and SFO CMH seems a lot less congested and easier to get in and out of.
You could say the same thing about any regional airfield in the country.
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Old 11-16-2019, 02:17 PM
 
16,345 posts, read 18,071,077 times
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Originally Posted by WakeMed View Post
Used it for the first time in many years last week and it looks like it did 30 or 40 years ago. It reminds me of the airport terminal Nashville tore down in the late 1980's. When you compare similar size cities airports like Charlotte and Nashville, why is CMH lagging so far behind?

On the hand, Eagles Villa Pizza in New Albany was outstanding. I would go with the chicken-bacon-bbq pizza every time.
I mean, I don't get the point of this thread. Just from a factual standpoint, it can't possibly look the same as it did in the 1970s and 1980s. It's been remodeled/updated many times since then. Now, if you're talking about overall size, that hasn't changed as much. It's not a hub and it's not a big regional airport. The talk of it being depressing or something is a little ridiculous. Maybe nothing to write home about in terms of design, but it's clean, well-lit and easy to navigate and it has one of the easiest WIFIs to use of any airport I've been to. There's nothing really wrong with it and gets the job done. As for "lagging behind", there has not been the traffic needed for something larger and more extravagant until more recently. Construction on the new terminal should begin in a few years, after completion of the currently-under-construction new parking garage that is needed first.
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Old 11-16-2019, 03:33 PM
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Location: Ohio
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WakeMed View Post
Used it for the first time in many years last week and it looks like it did 30 or 40 years ago.
The notion that CMH has been stagnant for the last 3-4 decades is ridiculous.

CMH has 3 concourses now. I remember very distinctly when it had just one concourse in the 1970s. Wikipedia says Concourse B was added in 1979 and Concourse C was added in 1996 and expanded in 2002. A new control tower opened in 2004. According to the same article "Columbus began its Terminal Modernization Program in late 2012, which included new terrazzo flooring throughout the airport, new ceilings, new restrooms, more TSA security lanes, and new LED lighting. Construction started on Concourse A in late 2012 and was completed throughout the terminal in early 2016."

In addition, the airport spent $140M to move the south runway, starting in 2013.

I think the airport is just fine. If I had to criticize anything, I would say that Terminal C could use more seating.
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