$300 million spent on near-empty Illinois "ghost airport"
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- Опубликовано: 21 сен 2024
- An airport built with dreams of becoming one of the nation's busiest is sitting almost empty. Mid-America Airport outside St. Louis cost hundreds of millions to construct, but today it sees just four flights a week and has faced years of financial losses. Management is hoping new service to Las Vegas will attract more passengers. Dean Reynolds reports from the airport in Mascoutah, Illinois.
Really RUclips you gave me a news video on an airpot that's about 4-5 years old
AirpoRt.
And you watched it just like I did haha
@@arvelle4 actually I didn't, i clicked on the video thinking it was recent then saw its from 2015
@@itscsteph My first clue came when I saw the MD-80s; I knew Allegiant had gotten rid of those.
Right?!!
Maybe they could turn it into a flight school, so they could still use the runways.
Scott Air Force Base already uses the runways.....the base was there for a long time before Mid America's terminal and ramp were built. It is a major base, so they definitely use the runways! So the only part that is unused is the (relatively) unused newer parts.
@Leanne The runways are used every day. Opening a flight school is fine, but doesn't bring in that much activity. Not really a "problem solving" idea you have there.
Thats what I though! There is a pilot shortage!
Turn it into a drag strip
@@gmarod6099 There are plenty of pilots. There is a shortage of *qualified* pilots for the positions that need to be filled.
No wonder illinois is always broke.
The ironic part is Chicago's O'Hare International Airport is overcrowded
O’Hare (Chicago) is far away from the Mid-America airport.
DEMORATS
Illinois: “We’re broke, have horrible leaders, and our roads are awful...
Come live here!!!”
Visited Chicago this summer. Sales tax over 10%. How is this state still broke lol?!
okay but it looks cool as heck
Could say the same about the UK, especially London's Telephone boxes. (I'm British BTW)
aye yeah that is cool
@@casey9559 yes.
It looks like an airport.
BLV (Mid-America) is actually my home airport! It is quite a cool space going there, but most of the time quite bare. Being most of the building is glass you get great views of the ramp, sadly it’s only 1 flight when you’re there, or some military/ga aircraft.
Hey somebody call Jeff Bezos he can have his own airport distribution center in the middle of the country
Andres Miller I don’t know if you meant this sarcastically, but I think this is a brilliant idea. 🙂
@@monas.6839 Nope. No sarcasm. Completely serious. All I ask is that when he purchases the airport, that he pays off my student loans/grad school as a finder's fee😂
He already did that with cvg after delta made it a ghost town
Check out the proposed peotone airport near Chicago that is trying to get Amazon or someone to do that
I like this idea, but yeah, it is in the middle of nowhere.
Use it for a movie set?
good one
Carl Terreros yeah agreed
Carl Terreros Everything is green screen now
Carl Terreros Another Stephen King movie
Carl Terreros I
I don't see how anyone thought this would be a good idea. STL airport was never busy enough to build a $300 mil airport 40 miles away.....
It was a good idea at the time when they built and designed it because St. Louis Lambert field is an old airport with only 2 runways and it would have cost millions and millions of dollars to buy out surrounding homes and property in order to build a 3rd runway, and at one point while one of the 2 existing runways was being rebuilt and expanded, they were down to one runway for awhile, plus before TWA was acquired by AA, Lambert field was getting too crowded and it was assumed that something needed to be done for easing congestion there...
Philip Thomas
This was nothing but a congressman’s pet project. Nothing else!
@@poppiarlin5612 THANK YOU! Let's call a spade a spade.
db60615 when this was conceived and opened Lambert was in fact one of the largest airports in the country, and the 25th largest in the world by passenger volume. The hope was to make this a piggy back support airport like Chicago midway. Problem was when TWA was bought by AA and They pulled a lot of traffic from lambert.
I think they were banking on the fact that St. Louis is literally the geographic center of the Lower 48, and this assumed that air traffic would reflect that.
This is the kind of thing you do with other people's money.
Just like Socialism
This is what happens when a Capatalist Corrupt Company like TWA goes bankrupt overnight. Do remember they expected growth from TWA.
@@SuffyanTariq It would be better if airline companies would pay for airports themselves rather than politicians speculating with tax dollars. Same with professional sports teams.
Poor people's/non investors money. You do this to an investor, youre getting sued and going to federal prison.
Honestly I think I’ve been on the internet too long today. I instantly thought “yep money laundering for child trafficking”.
"Wait a little longer, there'll be more people in here"
*been open for TwO dECadEs*
It's actually doing really good now
It's actually doing pretty good now, a lot different from 4 years ago
Idk what these people are talking about the only commercial airline is still Allegiant so there’s still 80+ empty gates
@@yoked1234 lmao. false facts
@@yoked1234 they do not have 80+ gates lol
That manager is living somewhere other than reality.
Germany is building an airport that should’ve been finished in 2009 costing about 5,5 Billion. Hasn’t even had one flight yet xD
He’s trying to keep his job.. what do you think he’s gonna say?
Zeksteve yeah 4 more people showed up for a flight.
Zeksteve and they still aren’t making any money after millions of dollars. That was some politicians pet reject.
Zeksteve they also have landing slot and gates that are full along with revenue from passengers and fuel that’s given out along with revenue from parking and the concourse for food etc. Things this vacant lot doesn’t have.
Wasting tex payer's money is Illinois's expertise
This airport has grown so much. Flew to Fort Lauderdale a couple of weeks ago and they place was packed. Each gate had a plane and even with Covid, there were tons of passengers.
They have one airline, allegiant, the airport only has 2 active gates, yes 2 gates. They average less than 3 flights a day. Passenger travel is up compared to 2020-2021 during the peak of the pandemic, but not compared to 2019 travel. Lets compare it to a tiny little airport in Mid-Missouri, Columbia regional, it averages 10 departures and arrivals per day. The total airport build cost was 35 million. A 300 million dollar airport should have 20 plus gates and 20-30 flights per day. This airport is a money pit.
@@Reloadeez COU is averaging 5-6 flights a day depending on the day with 50-76 seat regional jets…Erj-145, Crj-700 and Erj-175. I’m not disputing that BLV isn’t as busy as one would expect it to be but it’s not a laughable operation either. My understanding is with the new gate expansion they are in the process of completing, Allegiant is going to open a crew and aircraft base there. I believe the airport is headed in the right direction. Regardless, it serves a niche market that Allegiant is very happy with. Just my opinion and i of course respect yours.
@@Stlfa I think the airport was a mistake, with lambert only a 34 min drive its a tough sale. I understand it's original purpose was an overflow for lambert. But lambert currently has 2 empty concourses with 23 gates that they will lease dirt cheap, and nobody is interested. Now if no major airport was within 80-100 miles I could see the feasibility of it.
Man i live in St.Louis and I never even heard of Mid America
That's in Chicago. This is Mid America
Ben Nelson That’s right, my mistake. I guess that’s how irrelevant it is.
Brandon Truong
Do push ups and never let it happen again.
I used to live like 20 mins away, and it continues to be useless. I never realized how big it is/was. I have family that used to work and fly out of there, and it continues to be useless.
Ben Nelson it is in St Louis not Chicago.
Funny this is in my recommendations. Since this story, nearly 5 years ago, the airport has gone from 31,000 annual passengers to 302,000 according to its Wiki page. Seems like whoever they interviewed is doing a good job!
In 2019, MidAmerica served 301k passengers. Definitely an improvement!
Because no one gives a damn about Lambert anymore. That airport has lost hundreds of flights it once had.
@@jackson5116 That doesnt make sense. Lambert having excess capacity would further negate the need for Mid-America Airport. They seem to have found a way to miraculously drum up traffic.
@@jesdadotcom That's not true. Mid-America has lower landing fees than Lambert, attracting low-cost airlines. These low-cost airlines will choose Mid-America without even considering Lambert because of this. Lambert having excess capacity would not interfere into Mid-Americas passenger numbers.
planes gonna plane
That money went into the terminal and ramp. The runway was there and Scott AFB has used it for years
Scott AFB is known as a joint civilian used air base, that means airlines and even private aircraft are permitted to do operations there without having to consult with the base commander, only thing that separates Mid America Airport from the Air Force Base ramp/apron is a patch of trees and some farmers fields, there's also a connecting taxiway that runs off from the control tower
Much like Libby Army Airfield in Sierra Vista Arizona
Correct......Sierra Vista hosts both Border Patrol and Mexican Cartel air operations. How crazy is that??
And people asking why the U.S. doesn’t have high speed rail.
The US doesn't have high speed rail for two reasons. 1st it is a huge country with lot of empty space in the middle. 2nd politicians always want an outlandish speed. They think high speed means special track an 150mph+ but what would really work is improved traditional rail lines that could handle 80mph but that isn't glamorous enough to sell to politicians or tax payers.
Curt D or to dumb it down politicians are stupid.
You clearly don’t keep up with news
Texas, California, Vegas, and Florida high speed rail is under construction
Rommie26 Define “under construction”. Because we all know all these states are gonna start construction then make an excuse to stop construction. Or they wait till people forget about the high speed rail fad then stop construction all together.
Bob Smith no California’s is already underway
Same with Florida
Foundation are already built
You gotta start reading more news articles my friend
You seem uninformed
I love how Foo Fighters' Learn to Fly was playing at the beginning of the video
same
Wow man thanks I know this is a old comment but been looking for this song for a long time thanks for the name 👍🏽
Didn’t notice it till now
why couldn't they interest private jet companies ??
And General Aviation and Glider Operations
General aviation is free to use this airport currently. Nobody is really interested in going there. It's far from the city.
Don't forget that this airport shares the runways with Scott Air Force Base, which is a major base and has been there a LOT longer than Mid America. (I used to live at Scott, and later worked there...I remember as a kid riding my bike on the dirt road through the woods, where the Mid America terminal is located now). So it is not like they can just use the airport itself for any old thing (gliders, go-carts, races, etc) because the Air Force is using all that infrastructure all the time.
seriously154, it's 25 miles away, but it still takes less time mid weekday or late at night. Midamerica is about half an hour to drive downtown and Lambert is only 15-20 minutes.
Most flights are cheaper, but I've never flown allegiance, nor do I know anyone who has.
You can't force private jet companies to use an airport. There has to be a market for it there.
2:22
*LAUGHS NERVOUSLY*
In no way was it a mistake ha.ha.ha.
He'll say anything to keep that job
@@artistgilmore3982 Absolutely. Typical rich businessman.
3:01
*Because right now any passengers here seem to come disguised as...empty seats*
Mother of lord I hope he mentioned that in the interview lol
why is this recommended to me
YOOO COOOKKK
Idk
Amateurs, only $300mio.
We Germans managed to spend over €5.5bio. on the still empty BER Airport in Berlin. Try beating that.
Mio? Bio? Huh?
You win the ghost airport war
😂
Smells like drug trafficking to me lmao
TeCh ExPlOiTs Any drugs are completely illegal in Illinois. If caught trafficking it’s pretty much life in prison so I doubt any smuggling happens.
@@willfitz94 lmao that airport is almost always empty. There's definitely trafficking that happens. Criminals don't care about the law at all. In the Philippines you get killed but yet there are so many drug dealers.
Willfitz94 politicians, police, govt. are all corrupt and in business w/ the drug lords so wouldn’t be surprised if they were turning blind eyes to traffickers.
57RollsRoycePhantom Not factual if you have no evidence. News link if you have one
Willfitz94 don’t need evidence. Common sense. 😂😂
I flew into mid America once. There was two other people at the airport.
I remember when they opened this, lots of fanfare, with people saying Lambert had a competitor- we all laughed!
Who ran the Starbucks or the Sbarros 🍕?
@@DavidLLambertmobile ????????????
Hey, no TSA wait lol.
I’ve been to this airport several times in my life, as a stl native to see family in FL.
It is incredibly serene and the feeling is nostalgic and beautiful, plus all of the great Midwestern people collaborating for a moment to get on flight, never hectic and always calm. It’s a cool place, but yeah, unlikely this place will turn a profit. But if you want a peaceful flight, honestly this is your place.
?? ...$300 Million of taxpayer money for a nice, quiet place to relax and plane spot 4 times a day ...??
This is a great little airport. Free parking, nice Cafe, friendly airport personnel. Allegiant is now flying to 2 (soon to be 3) Florida cities, and Las Vegas a few times a week. Cheap flights, small, cozy airport terminal, come on people, by a ticket! Go somewhere! Support this wonderful, small, regional Airport!!!
Why support it when the city/town it is in isn't a big center of development?
It also depends of the value that airlines see out of the airport and area in today economy, i know Southwest usually have there heart set more on the big and medium hub airports like St Louis Lambert, or Nashville Tennessee, unlike Allegiant or Delta they only do service at a few small city and reliever airports depending on the money or justification to do service at that airport, that part of St Clair county is more of rural and farm area, the only near by center of major development is probably more up against the St Louis area
Allegiant is one of the most unsafe airlines in the world. Their maintenance is bare minimum and many of the pilots and employees refuse to allow their families and friends to fly with the airline. It's cheap for a reason. If you're going to fly a budget airline, choose a different one.
70sgirl1961 you seem like a happy and lively lady. I just felt like I should say that.
@@richardf.s.4409 They've never lost an airplane
I have been trying to find this video for 3 years and today it has finally reappeared in my recommend.
First problem: It was in Illinois
They should just offer one way flights out of the state of Illinois. Get rid of all arrival gates and make them huge yard sale rooms where you can sell off all your possessions before getting on the plane and the f uck out of there.
Bruh this is southern illinois. Northern illinois is way different and has the 3rd biggest city in the country, Chicago. We had the tallest building on earth at one point
@@ueuuehhh9748 Yes . . .its seems that I've heard of that place. . . .Chicago City? Is it? I've heard that they have very stringent gun control laws and so there is virtually no shootings in the city of Chicago. It must be like being on vacation there but all the time. But seriously. . .I'm sure there are good aspects to Illinois and some wonderful folks out there.
@@pbattis1 God bless, may you have a great 2020
Love and Peace Chicago is a great city they’re just trolling, Illinois is probably much better overall than whatever hillbilly city or state they’re from
The reporter barely mentioned it, but the runways are used by Scott Air Force Base, whose facilities are on the opposite side of the field from Mid America Airport. And, Allegiant is slowly adding flights & building up their business. Perhaps other ultra-low cost carriers, like Frontier, will do the same. But it's still too much building for the business, sort of like building a basketball gym to use as a garage for a Ford Focus.
Funny how they framed all their shots to look empty
The runway are already there before they building up the new terminal. So it's not part of the 300 million dollar budget. Also this airport need at least 50% occupancy to break even.
Scott AFB is closing
Now they are expanding the terminal. Since Allegiant’s traffic apparently now justifies doing so.
Live 5 miles from it is booming now the parking lots are always filled
Ron Bellator no way???
+Pure Luck Yep. I've used it plenty to travel from Orlando to St. Louis. Way cheaper, way more convenient.
Jacato how much cheaper?
Jacato Orlando is such a crappy place that flights there should be free.
Yeah this airport is very cheap
What a great use of tax dollars (because you bet they get tax benefits for building these things)
They said it's a good spot for quiet meditation. I'm done lmao
The director's face screams, "Amazon please save us!"
I flew in and out of St Louis a number of times in the mid 2000s and I would have tried this airport if the light rail stopped at the terminal like it does at Lambert.I remember learning online I had to take a shuttle from light rail to the airport. Is that still the way it is?
I used to live in Mascoutah a couple years ago and last I remember, the metro stopped in Belleville so yes you would have to take a shuttle.
The metro link has its own stop at the airport. It directly connects to it
Metrolink doesn't direct connect, there is now a $3 shuttle to shuttle you over to the station. The reason why is that the Metrolink line would have to run through the airbase, which is not something that is easy to do yet for obvious security reasons. The shuttle actually takes you out to the highway around the base, and then to the Metrolink stop on the other side. From there it's a 20-30 minute ride to downtown
You mean Metrolink? I live less than a mile from one of its stops, and there is work getting it out there- it extends to Scott Air Force Base now.
@@2Beigatti No it doesn't. Scott Air Force Base is as far as it goes right now. Lambert is the only one it connects to right now.
I was stuck outside this airport all night before, not open 24 hours like Google said
Rick Stone Travels were u waiting 4 the pilot to get there😯
Airport: *never turned a profit, no passengers, 4 flights a week*
Primary struggler: “no way was it a mistake”🙂
Some people were born to lie.....
He spoke like a true Illinoian, out the wrong end.
"wait a little longer, and they'll be more people in here"
Sure, once all the urban explorers and abandoned youtubers take over when this place closes up.
EXPLORING ABANDONED HAUNTED AIRPORT *3AM* *OUIJA BOARD* *GONE WILD* *ALMOST KILLED* *DEMON SPOTTED*
Mike Fata Lambert airport is actually really busy now; they got cheap prices and their parking lots are always filled. They are now pending for expansions of the terminals
Another 18 years later, record number of passengers flew from this airport today.
How many?
5
I guess the plans with this airport never took off 🥴
They can park 737 Max there.
Osame Hammadi .... Fk off.
They can't. They're not allowed to fly anywhere, and thus they must be stored in Renton, WA, where they're made. Not even ferry flights are allowed.
nightstalker Boeing ran out of space at the plant; I do not know why no ferry flights is mentioned since the aircraft (to my knowledge the answer is with permission from the aviation regulator with jurisdiction the aircraft would be allowed to fly) are owned by the manufacture (in this case Boeing), they would be allowed to fly for(I believe) repositioning.
Why isn't anyone reporting the MASSIVE waste of TAXPAYER MONEY ($ 2 BILLION) on the W-1-W runway ..... that is not being used hardly at all....... This at Lambert St. Louis airport.
Yes, this should have been in the story. The Lambert expansion happened years after this under utilized air port was build. Making any future of Mid America just a dream.
Recommendations be like:
2015: nope
2016: nope
2017: nope
2018: nope
2019: nope
December 2019: Y’ll ready for this?
@Jeffrey Epstein you must be getting a-lot of old video recommendations as well then..
St. Louis is never going to be a Major layover destination when you could stop in Chicago or Dallas. Fly United stop in Chiago, Southwest Dallas, American Airlines Dallas etc. Where was the dire need or demand for this🤔 I used to live in Chicago and now live in NW Dallas between Love Field and DFW these cities are just better equipped with more sound infrastructures.
The report clearly stated that the dire demand stemmed from TWA using St.Louis as a hub.
@Matthew Shields that's what I'm guessing
St. Louis was a major air travel hub during the last half of the 20th century. All of that came to an end when TWA went bankrupt. Plans for Mid-America Airport had been in existence since the 1970s, but by the time it was finally built it was no longer needed.
You have to admit from a passenger standpoint this is a dream airport. Nice leisurely drive to the airport, easy parking wherever you want, a leisurely stroll into the airport. Get to relax all the way up to security and they are probably more relaxed in this easy airport. And meander up to your gate, pick any seat you want and lastly a nice easy boarding onto your plane. This is airport paradise.
someone should do a recent report on this place (maybe someone has). Allegiant now flies to florida 4-5 times a week and vegas on Monday and Thursday (or Friday depends on what time of year). parking lot is almost full all week long as is a free parking lot and even talks of expanding the lot to have more parking.
I used to work for a contractor for Allegiant Air at Destin-Fort Walton Beach airport in Florida, and a pretty significant chunk of our passengers came from this airport - multiple flights per day in the summer months and a flight every day we flew in the slow winter months. While it seems comical that the airport director said the investment wasn't a mistake at the time the airport seemed dead, he eventually was right, lol.
There's quite a few "ghost hospitals" too. One built in monroe county a couple years ago and has never been open.
So in other words, this airport was a victim of 9/11. :\ The reason it was made was to ease the burden on Lambert Airport, but 9/11 made TWA flip over and disappear, stopping the burden on Lambert and therefore takin away the need for this airport. So it was a victim of 9/11, basically.
Mid-America has problems distinct from 9/11. Perhaps if Lambert were somehow so stuffed with flights, people would begrudgingly accept overflow flights out of there. But, Mascoutah is further out than a suburb, further even than an exurb. Lambert is metropolitan adjacent and tied into light rail. So most of the St.L metro area is 20 minutes or less from the facility, and most of that area is 5-8 miles at most, often much less, from a Metrolink stop that will take them there.
Mascoutah is across the river, through East St. Louis and 25 additional miles out into the croplands to the middle of nowhere [relatively].
I don't know how popular it is as a departure site for Metro East residents [Belleville, Edwardsville, Fairview, etc], but for the city from the Mississipi river west, it might as well be halfway to Chicago. MoF, between the time to travel to Mid-America and all the pre-board procedure, you would probably drive into Chicago city limits before your flight would land at Midway or O'Hare.
I landed there once in a light plane and paid a fifty cent landing fee. I did my part.
If you look at the data since this video was published the airport's ridership actually increased significantly:
2014 31,340 Increase 18.47%
2015 62,730 Increase 100.16%
2016 157,433 Increase 150.97%
2017 245,028 Increase 55.64%
2018 302,409 Increase 23.42%
2019 thru July 202,013
BER: hold my beer ....
6 billion $...
BER=Berlin Brandenburg Airport
I’m a simple man, I see ghost airport, I click on the video
In Turkey we have “ghost airports” almost in every city, what a waste of money :((((
We had a customer who kept his PC12 here. He was the only customer on the field.
While Chicago's O'Hare Airport is overcrowded
Unfortunately, the Chicago area is a good 280 miles away from this airport.
Right, but this is almost a five hour drive from Chicago. Not to mention O'Hare is in the middle of an 8 billion dollar upgrade which includes dozens of new gates, a new terminal, and expansion of others.
@Big Wheel Midway is at capacity, and is in the top 30 busiest airports in the US. It is in between Reagan and Tampa airports for how busy it is. It is the largest hub for South West, and they use over 80% of the gates. Plus Midway is completely surrounded by developments, and three major roads. It is impossible to expand it.
Building that airport got Scott AFB off of the list of closures and saved the local economy.
How about turning it into a flight museum.
Leanne Strong not a terrible idea considering the Air Force Base on the other side of the runway, but it isn't as unused as this report wants to make it seem.
I could say that this place has definitely improved in the last 4 years. I live like 3 minutes away from this airport and I could see about 7-10 planes coming in and leaving every day. This place is a cheap way to travel in the US but since there are are more people traveling, the service sucks and delays are very frequent.
Turn a profit? It's a municipal facility which should never make a profit, any excess revenue should reduce taxpayer burden.
I’ve used it a few times and you only have to get there 30 minutes before your flight because no one is there 😂
0:03 I don’t think anyone was expecting this to become “one of the nations busiest airports” 😂
It makes sense as a cargo airport.
Not so much for passengers, though.
It was meant to be build up more. They stopped when Pan Am and TWA went belly over.
media doesnt talk about the 2 planes arriving every sunday at 2am while 4 black cars show up and load boxes into the cars, but its none of my business.
Berlin Brandenburg Airport: “Hold my beer”
And here in 2021, the airport is expanding to 4 gates with the likely addition of a crew base from Allegiant. Breeze has been rumored to be looking at BLV as well.
I think its a war time airport
MD ZAKIR SAUDAGAR it's probably used to smuggle 💊😂
Interesting response, and perhaps an intelligent one. Who knows what the US Defense Department is doing to prepare for a future war...keeping these open for security reasons...not out of the question.
This reminds me of Montréal Mirabel Airport and how it was supposed to replace Dorval and it was such a huge area of land and it didn’t attract any passengers and it closed to passenger services in 2004.
And now Illinois is upside down... I wonder why... Central planners using taxpayer funding always know best.
Why can’t I get a layover there instead all of these crazy places
You can have it. Looks like a dirt hole with dirt hole hotels.
Mid America should be for budget airlines and lambert should be full service
Rep John Murtha, D-PA got 💲💲💲 for a small Intl ✈ airport in western PA that few people use. Its fully staffed with 24hr TSA, Air Marshals, support. They run around 2-3 🛩 a day!
Meanwhile, California is spending $300 million on a homeless shelter.
lotto That is a good thing.
@@tizocalonzo7652 You're right. Everyone else should send their rejects out west to be California's problem. They seem to want them.
v12tommy Why are you calling people down on their luck "rejects"? Surely you're not stereotyping a homeless person while not knowing the real reason why each individual person is homeless.
@@tizocalonzo7652 most are homeless by personal choice and drug issues.
This news report is old. While not an insanely busy airport- Since 2012, the airport has recorded a more than 7,000% increase in annual passenger traffic, and is now flying several hundred thousand passengers.
Maybe there's plans for it we aren't allow to know about, plenty of airports like this worldwide kept open for no reason.
$300 million could have been spent wayyyyyy better. And they say poor people are bad with money, who was the decision maker on this airport?
Use it for private flights and general aviation, charge $50/mo for parking and hey, it should break even quickly.
KG7YTS If youngster money for a private jet tour going to go closer to downtown.
It's a public airport, andy non regularly scheduled commercial aviation is welcome to use it.
as a resident of illinois, we do nothing better than spend millions of taxpayers money on useless and irrelavent things. we should get an award.
i remember reading about this airport years ago, still nothing done???
Well, what would they do now? Tear it down? That would just waste even more tax money.
I thought this was an Onion article.
Just make it cheap, lowcost airlines will come for sure :)
No they won't. It's an airport in the distant suburbs of St. Louis.
Lowcost airlines still need a reason to go. They aren't adding a destination if there is no demand.
Someone said earlier that the problem was fixed
quinnjim That's exactly what makes it cheap. An airport that's very well populated like JFK in New York is so much more expensive
You need some from Europe. UK. People would probably use it to see your lovely country We do Virgin and United all from my local airport Manchester England. I think you need someone like Richard Branson interested to promote it
A lot of people don't know that Detroit has an airport. A lot of citizens don't even know. Not the International Metro Airport, that's in Romulus, not actually IN Detroit. Detroit City airport is still in operation but now it's mostly private fights and secret flights. Many investors begged the city to expand to international flights but the city stuck with domestic and so the metro airport was built on Romulus farm land, many families became rich over night, and the City Airport began it's decline. Missed opportunities.
Of course it was a mistake, any business that isn't breaking even is a mistake. 18 years of loss, MiStAkE
Well actually in the short run you should still operate if your making a loss (not breaking even) if the revenue covers all of the fixed costs and part of the variable costs. Then, in the long run you will decide to leave or remain in business.
Mapmoney that microeconomics course paid off huh
If Chicago's so busy how come they just have more flights go there instead? I don't understand the entire situation or the intricacies involved. I know Chicago is a major hub. Why isn't St. Louis Lambert and this Mid America Airport turned into a hub? Have domestic and international flights fly in and out of both of these airports.
Airport Berlin Brandenburg (BER):
I'm joke to you?
We would be happy if it had only cost 300 mio and it would be open!
300 mio? What's mio?
Just so people know, yes, it's in Illinois, but it's in the *St Louis* metropolitan region, and this airport was intended to be the St Louis version of Midway that Chicago has.
It still takes 2 hours to go through security!
😂 Bet you the flight andendants get to do the announcements and Safety stuff personally also they're having fun because they won't have to do much with like an average of
It's busy now,just took a long time to take off!!Build it and they will eventually come!
The county that owns it should just sell it to a private aviation company. They will make it profitable. As long as the Government is involved in anything, It WILL fail.
DAVID TRIANA It is an airport. The FAA *HAS* to be involved with its activity in some form or another.
Idiot republicans like you are trained to hate the government no matter what.
David....no private company would spend $300 million on a project that would obviously lose money. Only the government pays for stuff like this.
DAVID TRIANA actually, it's been booming heavily.
Well guess what, the Government made that airport a major success now. It is now a crowded airport pending for expansions
19,000 people in a year? Wow, what a huge piece of the local economy!
18 years of no profit
Mid America is great for our summer trips. You can avoid north stl which is dangerous and has to be drove thru to reach lambert
Maybe have concerts, or soccer games, marathons for charities.
How stupid are you?
Jamez Martinez lol
Jamez Martinez pretty stupid
I flew into there last Summer and it was cool and quick.
Somebody got rich off this scam
Sounds like good location for a theme park. "We have our own airport".
It would make a nice space-port
don't believe everything they say in this video, I live near this airport and I agree it looks empty at times but, there's a lot of comercial/cargo flights in and out constantly out of its runways, a couple of importing and exporting warehouses next door as well. And like any other airport, holiday seasons always bring travelers up whenever the main hubs spill over their extra passengers.Also, with the airforce base next to it, you'll see a lot of their tarmac in use some times....
besides, this is a southern Illinois suburb. ..we like it quiet here.
Aight see ya in 5 years when we get this again
This airport is now busier why was this recommended by youtube years later?
Who need welfare, free education, or free healthcare, or fixing infrastructure, just built a new Airport that's nobody fly, am i right ?
Ernest Jay
Nobody needs welfare.
I'd rather a useless airport than extra welfare.
IngeniousFirefly Why? Because he can work a job?
Because he's heartless and has no empathy.
Ross Gannon
Nope. I have plenty of heart and empathy.
I'm just smart enough to know that welfare has never alleviated poverty. It doesn't work.
Quite the opposite; it makes things worse.
Marlon Moncrieffe Sorry bud, but people need it to survive. Get a life
When was this shot? I have flown out of the airport over the last two years now and this is the year 2020. There were lots of people and flights at that time. I thought it was a great airport.
this was shot in october of 2015. it is much busier now!