Holiday travel is a breeze at Charlotte's Douglas Airport
Douglas Airport is a gem when compared to some of the nation’s equally crowded and busy airports. In numerous measurements, CLT ranks as one of the nation’s busiest and in the top 25 of the world’s most frequented airports. This may come as a surprise to Charlotteans who see the hometown hub as just that, hometown. Charlotte is US Airways’s busiest hub seeing more daily flights than Philadelphia (its second largest focal point albeit its primary international gateway).
What makes Charlotte such a popular airport with the airline and with frequent fliers (especially during the stressful holiday season). For starters, our weather patterns see less extremes than the Northeast, and only an occasional thunderstorm flummoxes operations. The air traffic patterns across the state are busy, yet hardly as saturated as others.
Then, you have the real traveler benefits. CLT is known nationwide for its signature rocking chairs (which have since been copied by airports everywhere) and its free wireless high speed Internet access. Live piano music entertains during the busiest periods as travelers connect between flights. Is this Southern hospitality at its best or what?!
Many locals will argue that airfares are through the roof on certain routes, but holiday bargains abound for travelers willing to trek the short distance to Greensboro/High Point’s Piedmont Triad International Airport. In fact, it’s a commonality for CLT-GSO flights to be emptier than GSO-CLT due to the number of Charlotte travelers starting their itinerary at Greensboro/High Point, and ending their travels during their “connection” at Charlotte. Of course, baggage cannot be checked, and one-way transportation would be needed to GSO. But, the savings more than make up for it.
Thousands of travelers from across the globe make their way through Charlotte each day and are greeted by a smoke-free, business traveler-friendly facility. Many Charlotteans board one of dozens of daily flights from Douglas to the Caribbean escaping connections through busier airports. US Airways and its Star Alliance partners already fly across the pond to London, Frankfurt, Munich, and (by summer 2009) Paris.
And rumors abound that Rome could grace the departure boards some day. Even US Airways proposed Shanghai flight would originate here with an intermediate stop in Philadelphia.
It’s true, Douglas is the hometown landing strip, but its role in the world aviation scene is growing by the day.
http://www.examiner.com/x-1946-Charlotte-Travel-Examiner