Airport traffic

Quote: Dalex64

Not a fun day(s).

A long time ago, if a flight had the same route number, and it made an intermediate stop, that meant it was the same plane that stopped to get more passengers. It was a "direct" flight, but not a "nonstop".

For marketing, they changed that so you the same flight number still meant you could change planes. But I always understood that using the same flight number, meant that they would hold the second plane until the first one arrived. That was the difference between a "direct but change planes" and a "connection". You could miss a connection through no fault of your own.

I had a flight booked from San Diego to Japan via San Francisco as a "direct" flight, i.e. one route number. Unfortunately I discovered that my supposition was wrong as the SAN-SFO flight was late, and they had already closed the doors on the flight to Japan. They flew us to Honolulu and put us up in a cheap airport hotel, and then we had to fly to Japan. From there it was another layover and a few hours to Guam. All total it was 48 hours in transit.

Not a fun few days.

I was asked to look up flights to Mexicali.

The schedules are terrible for business. There are two departure options, Volaris at 7 am and AM at 10 am. Two returns, VOL at 5:15 PM, which isn't that bad, and AM at 12:15 the next day, which is terrible as you're stuck there all day and arrive home at 5:30 in the morning!

Part of it is the 2-hour time difference. The other is "who the hell wants to go there in the first place?"

Tijuana is a much more popular destination, but on weekdays returning flights leave at 3 pm at the latest. The exception is VOL again, with departures around 5 pm.

Quote: Nareed

Part of it is the 2-hour time difference. The other is "who the hell wants to go there in the first place?"

Tijuana is a much more popular destination, but on weekdays returning flights leave at 3 pm at the latest. The exception is VOL again, with departures around 5 pm.

But that drive from TJ to Mexicali is 2 hours in each direction at a minimum. There are three toll booths which cost (probably out of date) $37+ $63+ $22=$122mxn

Tolls are not as heavy near the border.

Quote: Pacomartin

But that drive from TJ to Mexicali is 2 hours in each direction at a minimum. There are three toll booths which cost (probably out of date) $37+ $63+ $22=$122mxn

My bad. I was asked to look for fares from TIJ for some reason.

The department, not the company, has a strict "no connections" policy. All flights must be non-stop. When I saw the lack of options for MXL, I asked idly "is there anything else near there?" I got looks that by all rights ought to have killed me.

The only exception is Saltillo. There is one flight per day that I know of. So instead they fly to MTY and rent a car there. But the drive is only about an hour or so.

Quote: Nareed

The department, not the company, has a strict "no connections" policy. All flights must be non-stop.

My brother lives in Atlanta (busiest airport in the world) where Delta and its partners have nonstops to 225 airports with over a thousand aircraft per day. Even he had to make a connection this weekend.

Quote: Pacomartin

My brother lives in Atlanta (busiest airport in the world) where Delta and its partners have nonstops to 225 airports with over a thousand aircraft per day. Even he had to make a connection this weekend.

I think I haven't made a connection since 1991, coincidentally enough at Atlanta.

But really I haven't flown much as compared to most people.

Also, keep in mind Mexico is a smaller country, and about the only major (medium??) cities without a direct flight to MEX are Queretaro, a 2-2.5 hour drive, and Morelia, a 2.5-3 hour drive away. I don't count Toluca and Puebla, as each is less than 2 hours away driving.

Quote: Nareed

Also, keep in mind Mexico is a smaller country, and about the only major (medium??) cities without a direct flight to MEX are Queretaro, a 2-2.5 hour drive, and Morelia, a 2.5-3 hour drive away. I don't count Toluca and Puebla, as each is less than 2 hours away driving.

It's a smaller country and about half the population is in the center. So there are really very few long distance routes (TIJ-CUN and MTY-CUN aside).

I think that there are actually a fair number of connections in Mexican domestic flights, but most of them are in MEX (some in GDL and even fewer in MTY).

Spain (like many countries in EU) is trying to kill it's domestic air industry, but the trains are so expensive that the budget traveller is starting to take to planes in Europe

Quote: Pacomartin

I think that there are actually a fair number of connections in Mexican domestic flights, but most of them are in MEX (some in GDL and even fewer in MTY).

I can't tell you much, because I ignore them or remove them from the listings when I look up business flights. But one time a flight to Hermosillo was more convenient if taken via GDL. I mentioned it and was met with exasperated admonitions not to offer connecting flights.

One other thing, there aren't as many airlines covering multiple flights either. So if you miss your connection, you're likely stuck in a different city for a very long time.

Oh, and some connections offered are ridiculous. Aeromexico actually offered one MEX-TIJ-MTY which would mean over 5 hours in the air, and over 11 hours trip total. Driving under ideal conditions is about 10.5 hours!

On my personal travels, I've flown in the past ten years only to Orlando and Vegas. I did look at connecting flights, but the non-stop options were cheaper in the end. As for missing connections, the one to MCO would have been through IAH, so I'm confident missing the connection there would be more nuisance than catastrophe. To Vegas it would have been through Phoenix. In case of catastrophe, a bus ride wouldn't have killed me (probably).

Quote: Nareed

But really I haven't flown much as compared to most people.

Air travel is really picking up in Tijuana with the new cross border bridge.

Tijuana (YoY % increase, passengers in thousands)
26.1% Sep 2015 282.0 ->355.7
22.1% Oct 2015 324.0 ->395.6
25.9% Nov 2015 339.5 ->427.4
30.2% Dec 2015 416.9 ->542.6
32.1% Jan 2016 377.9 ->499.0
40.3% Feb 2016 290.8-> 408.1
41.0% Mar 2016 355.2-> 500.7

March 2016, Tijuana airport is only 18.6% smaller than Guadalajara Airport, and 31.6% smaller than Monterrey Airport

The traffic for the Top 30 airports around the world has just been released. Global flying is increasing at unexpectedly high rates. Atlanta has finally surpassed 100 million air passengers.

Dubai (DXB) is billed as having a total capacity of 90 million passengers per year, but a new concourse is being built, and ultimately a new airport with capacity 160 million is being built.

ATL 101,489,887 United States
PEK 89,938,628 China
DXB 78,010,265 United Arab Emirates
ORD 76,942,493 United States
HND 75,316,718 Japan
LHR 74,989,914 United Kingdom
LAX 74,704,122 United States
HKG 68,342,785 Hong Kong
CDG 65,771,288 France
DFW 64,072,468 United States
IST 61,836,781 Turkey
FRA 61,032,022 Germany
PVG 60,053,387 China
AMS 58,284,848 The Netherlands
JFK 56,845,250 United States
SIN 55,449,000 Singapore
CAN 55,201,915 China
CGK 54,053,905 Indonesia
DEN 54,014,903 United States
BKK 52,808,013 Thailand
SFO 50,057,826 United States
ICN 49,412,750 Republic of Korea
KUL 48,934,118 Malaysia
MAD 46,814,739 Spain
DEL 45,981,773 India
LAS 45,356,580 United States
CLT 44,876,627 United States
MIA 44,350,250 United States
PHX 44,025,393 United States
IAH 42,962,381 United States


It is illegal to limit the number of passengers that use an airport, but in December 2005 the city of Los Angeles agreed to limit the passenger gates at LAX to 163. Once passenger usage hits 75 million, a maximum of two gates a year for up to five years will be closed, intending to limit growth to 79 million passengers a year. In exchange civil lawsuits were abandoned, to allow the city to complete badly needed improvements to the airport.

Without such a legal restriction, Chicago (ORD) has once against surpassed LAX for the #2 spot in the USA.

In 2007 airport officials at Las Vegas estimated the maximum capacity for the airport at 53 million passengers, but I am predicting disaster there as I think major carriers will abandon Las Vegas rather than move to Ivanpah.

Emirates is now flying 75 A380s part of a purchase order that dates back to 2010. That purchase order brought the total orders with the Engine Alliance engines to 90 (although 2 planes since abandoned by Russia were added to the order). In 2013 they made an additional order of 50 A380 with Rolls Royce engines that saved the A380 program. I still maintain as they are approaching their limits at DXB that they intended the order of 50 as a way to allow Airbus to transition to a "new engine option" program for the A380. If Airbus never starts the neoA380 program, Emirates will cancel that order. Possibly they will reinstate the order for 70 A350 planes that they cancelled in 2014 to avoid a lawsuit and to prevent an angry reaction in Europe.


Istanbul has finally surpassed Frankfurt as the #3 airport in Europe, and may eventually move to #1 as LHR is constrained by 2 runways.

LHR 74,989,914 United Kingdom
CDG 65,771,288 France
IST 61,836,781 Turkey
FRA 61,032,022 Germany
AMS 58,284,848 The Netherlands
MAD 46,814,739 Spain