Second Airport in next 10 years?

[43north87west]

Originally Posted by sweettearose

With the growth of the valley, will Phoenix see the construction of a second airport? I hear Williams Gateway ? or something in Mesa that was supposed to be a commercial airline center but it never took off. Has there been any reports or serious discussion related to building a second airport in the valley? By second airport, I'm not suggesting another sky harbor but a smaller one like Houston Hobby or Dallas Love Field

That's questionable at this point, but Phoenix would benefit the vafrom having solid plans for airport growth. Sky Harbor is obviously out of room to grow, at least in the geographical sense. I'm not sure about air traffic. Sky Harbor is always crowded, yet I have had virtually no delays getting out of Sky Harbor, thanks to the predictable weather.

KIWA--Williams Gateway (now Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport)-- certainly has the runways to handle large aircraft. Allegiant is operating MD8x aircraft out of this airport. The airport can handle most aircraft that would be used for continental US flights in terms of runway length--not sure about weight. I would definitely drive to the far east valley for a hassle-free direct flight.

Hopefully Phoenix learns from Atlanta and Chicago. Chicago's airspace and airports are so tightly packed that any slight disturbance in the morning, ruins the entire day. Sometimes more. Phoenix has weather on its side, but airspace is still going to fill up at some point. So will available gates.

The smaller, less congested airports are worth traveling to, in my opinion. Despite drive time, they offer much more timely arrivals and departures. When I fly to Chicago, I usually fly to Gen. Mitchell Intl in Milwaukee, WI instead. Sure, I double back to Chicago an hour by car, but in about 50% of my travel experiences from PHX to ORD, Milwaukee has SAVED me time despite the one-hour road travel.

Last time I flew from Chicago, I drove to Milwaukee (1hr), spent 10 minutes combined, returning the rental car and going through security, had 2 drinks in the airport bar, and departed on-time, sitting in a 2-wide seat on the aircraft. I was AT HOME in Scottsdale, at my house, by the time my would-be Phoenix flight was leaving O'Hare, after being delayed almost six hours for who-knows-what reason. Yes, on a perfect day it would be faster to fly from O'Hare, but in my experience, "perfect days" at O'Hare happen once a month. I'd rather set the cruise control at 75mph, drive an hour to Milwaukee Gen. Mitchell Int'l, spend a few minutes in security, have a cocktail or two, and ride in style (Midwest Airlines has nice and inexpensive first-class seat flights and/or partial seating arrangements on their 717 and MD80 aircraft, respectively).

Hopefully Phoenix doesn't travel the same route as Chicago in terms of airspace and airports. Airports have been a longstanding point of contention in Chicago, with few viable alternatives. I hope that air travel doesn't become a Chicago-style problem, here.