AUSTIN | ABIA Updates

[masonh2479]

Originally Posted by Austin1971

AC going mainline and upgauging to an E190.

http://www.austintexas.gov/news/air-...austin-toronto

Good news, I’m glad that Air Canada seems to be doing well at AUS.

[masonh2479]

The new parking garage construction looks to be going along smoothy. Hopefully the AA and UA lounges can expand and renovate once the adjacent administrative building opens in 2019, maybe sooner.

Ground view time lapse found here

Aerial construction camera found here

For those who don't know, airport construction projects along with active and complete projects can be found here

Updates are posted for construction every two weeks.

[ATCZERO]

Originally Posted by masonh2479

The new parking garage construction looks to be going along smoothy. Hopefully the AA and UA lounges can expand and renovate once the adjacent administrative building opens in 2019, maybe sooner.

Ground view time lapse found here

Aerial construction camera found here

For those who don't know, airport construction projects along with active and complete projects can be found here

Updates are posted for construction every two weeks.

Construction around Golf 2 on the ramp will be done in December. As soon as Golf 2 reopens, they will close Golf 1 for the apron expansion to the East.

[masonh2479]

Originally Posted by ATCZERO

Construction around Golf 2 on the ramp will be done in December. As soon as Golf 2 reopens, they will close Golf 1 for the apron expansion to the East.

This seems to be ahead of schedule, thanks for the information.

[OU812]

I wish Virgin had more direct routes.

[khowaga]

Originally Posted by OU812

I wish Virgin had more direct routes.

Virgin no longer exists; they’ve merged with Alaska - they’re just waiting for the single operating certificate to come through. The Virgin America brand itself will disappear April 25, 2018, at which point all VX flights will be renumbered as AS flights.

[masonh2479]

Originally Posted by khowaga

Virgin no longer exists; they’ve merged with Alaska - they’re just waiting for the single operating certificate to come through. The Virgin America brand itself will disappear April 25, 2018, at which point all VX flights will be renumbered as AS flights.

I thought the merger wasn't final till the 25th, so till then Virgin still exists. I could be wrong then.

The only other Virgin hub is LA, so if another flight by Virgin were to come it would be from LA.

There have been rumors that Richard Branson will restart Virgin America after the merger as well.

[masonh2479]

Originally Posted by OU812

I wish Virgin had more direct routes.

Same here, it sucks their DAL route did poorly.

[khowaga]

Originally Posted by masonh2479

I thought the merger wasn't final till the 25th, so till then Virgin still exists. I could be wrong then.

The only other Virgin hub is LA, so if another flight by Virgin were to come it would be from LA.

There have been rumors that Richard Branson will restart Virgin America after the merger as well.

It depends on what you consider “exists.” Sorry, I misspoke. They haven’t merged operations, but the purchase of Virgin by Alaska Airlines was completed last year. They’re just kind of treading water until the SOC is issued and the Virgin brand disappears. So, you can still buy a ticket on Virgin, but somewhere back in all the fine print you’ve really bought a ticket on “Alaska Airlines operated by Virgin America.” Kind of like the last few months of TWA.

I’ve always thought AS could do more in AUS, but they seem kind of happy with their PNW niche.

[masonh2479]

Originally Posted by khowaga

It depends on what you consider “exists.” Sorry, I misspoke. They haven’t merged operations, but the purchase of Virgin by Alaska Airlines was completed last year. They’re just kind of treading water until the SOC is issued and the Virgin brand disappears. So, you can still buy a ticket on Virgin, but somewhere back in all the fine print you’ve really bought a ticket on “Alaska Airlines operated by Virgin America.” Kind of like the last few months of TWA.

I’ve always thought AS could do more in AUS, but they seem kind of happy with their PNW niche.

I thought Alaska would invest in AUS as well, but for now Alaska and Virgin seems set in expanded ops at Love Field.

Maybe their management is lurking on here waiting for our opinion before adding to AUS, lol

If we had it our way AUS would be ATL size!

Oh and by the way, welcome to the forum

[abigdeal]

I find all this airport stuff fascinating but way over my head. Is there an "ABIA for dummies" post or website y'all could point me to?

[masonh2479]

Originally Posted by abigdeal

I find all this airport stuff fascinating but way over my head. Is there an "ABIA for dummies" post or website y'all could point me to?

No real “dummies” post but I could help answer questions that you have!

A good place to find easy to read information are the wiki and the airport construction site.

Hopefully this helps!

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by abigdeal

I find all this airport stuff fascinating but way over my head. Is there an "ABIA for dummies" post or website y'all could point me to?

HA, I'm with you!!

[abigdeal]

Originally Posted by masonh2479

No real “dummies” post but I could help answer questions that you have!

A good place to find easy to read information are the wiki and the airport construction site.

Hopefully this helps!

A few runway questions from the Wiki:

- What's the deal with the runway numbering? What do 17R/35L and 17L/35R mean?
- Are two runways common for an airport of our size? How many runways does something like DFW have? Do the runways operate with one being used for takeoffs and the other for landings most of the time? Or do they mix?
- Do the cargo planes operate from the same set of runways or do they have their own?

[masonh2479]

Originally Posted by abigdeal

A few runway questions from the Wiki:

- What's the deal with the runway numbering? What do 17R/35L and 17L/35R mean?
- Are two runways common for an airport of our size? How many runways does something like DFW have? Do the runways operate with one being used for takeoffs and the other for landings most of the time? Or do they mix?
- Do the cargo planes operate from the same set of runways or do they have their own?

17R is the right runway when traveling at a heading of 170, 17L is the left runway when traveling at a heading of 170. The same can be said for 35L and 35R. When you are flying from a heading of 350, you are flying to a heading of 170.

Here is a FAA diagram of the airport, the top left runway when looking at the picture is 17R, it is the right runway when flying heading 170. Runways are always named by the heading that they are going towards.


Here is what headings look like:

Runway's are numbered 1-36 (the ending 0 is left out, heading 360 is the same as a heading of 0).

For an airport of our size, two runways are plenty, they are parallel so can handle simultaneous arrival and departure traffic.

17R/35L is 12,250ft long, 17L/35R is 9,000ft long. 12,250ft is long enough to accompany any aircraft, we are set for anything. 9,000ft is long enough to accompany to accompany most but not all aircraft. British Airways gate is closest to the 9,000ft runway but they are much more likely to be using the 12,250ft runway farther away. It gives them more room for any mishaps if they were to arise. Both of Austin's runways operate for takeoffs and landings.

DFW has 7 runways, I don't know for sure but it is more than likely that DFW has set runways for takeoffs and landings. Here is a FAA diagram of the airport, it is quite impressive:


The cargo operations at Austin are practically right next to runway 17R/35L, the 12,250ft runway, cargo ops pretty much always use said runway, is is the longest and the closest.

Hopefully this helps, let me know if you would like better clarification!

If you ever are curious and want to listen in to ATC (Air Traffic Control) and pilot communications, you can do so via this site: https://www.liveatc.net/search/?icao=aus

[abigdeal]

This was super helpful. Thanks!

So, on the DFW map, do planes have to taxi across some of those runways to get to the gates? Doesn't look like there's a clear path from the outermost runways.

[masonh2479]

Originally Posted by abigdeal

This was super helpful. Thanks!

So, on the DFW map, do planes have to taxi across some of those runways to get to the gates? Doesn't look like there's a clear path from the outermost runways.

Correct, in some instances planes will be required to cross runways to reach their gate or cargo stand.

[ILUVSAT]

Originally Posted by masonh2479

Correct, in some instances planes will be required to cross runways to reach their gate or cargo stand.

To be clear...in ALL instances, commercial airliners must cross at least one runway to reach their gate at DFW.

[ILUVSAT]

Originally Posted by abigdeal

This was super helpful. Thanks!

So, on the DFW map, do planes have to taxi across some of those runways to get to the gates? Doesn't look like there's a clear path from the outermost runways.

Look again. The grey lines are taxiways.

[khowaga]

Originally Posted by ILUVSAT

To be clear...in ALL instances, commercial airliners must cross at least one runway to reach their gate at DFW.

Are the outer runways always used for landing?