Member

Joined: 11 Oct 2006
Posts: 248
Location: Lexington ky

can midwest connect and air canada share a gate so we can get another gate to work with?

Member

Joined: 15 May 2006
Posts: 728
Location: West Lafayette, IN

Can they? yes
Will they? probably not

It's called a common use gate, but I don't think the idea is too common (haha punny I know) in the U.S.

Site Admin

Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 949
Location: Carmel, IN

Actually, it's done quite often at smaller and midsize airports. In fact, Frontier used to share a gate in IND with someone - can't recall who, HP maybe? And doesn't Midwest share a gate now?

I've also seen members of certain airline alliances sharing gates, such as UA/US. And certainly airlines with deep codesharing, like CO and NW, share gates as well as contract with each others' ground crews and luggage handlers.

Site Admin

Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 2316
Location: Indianapolis, IN

Actually I think Midwest and America West shared a gate until the merger when the America West operations moved to the D concourse and left Midwest alone.

AirTran Reporter

Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 341
Location: Indianapolis

Frontier shared a gate with Continental for a while. I remember the Frontier square sign that would be put up when a flight was using the gate, i believe it was gate C5 (or the one all the way on the left if you were facing toward the runways).

Member

Joined: 14 Jun 2006
Posts: 142
Location: IND

There are quite a few international airports that have shared gate systems. LAS is one of them (in fact, they are getting to the point where they have shared ticket counters too...meaning, you can check in at ANY kiosk and head for your gate).

Basically, you have a podium with a backdrop that can change, and a computer system that is able to log onto any of the airline ticketing programs (as long as you have a sign-in for that airline). It is pretty slick, but, it is an investment for the airport. I would believe it is easier for an airport to collect rent from airlines that have a specific gate - rather than shared gates. Not sure though.

Site Admin

Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 949
Location: Carmel, IN

And a lot of international airports don't use gates at all, per se. They use remote stands for arrivals, and a totally shared gate/ramp for departures. One example is MAN (Manchester, UK). When I've gone there it's always been on CO. When you arrive, they usually park the plane at a remote stand and you either walk or take a bus from the plane to the terminal. Sometimes you use a boarding ramp, but it's not specific to CO or any airline. When you depart, you use a boarding ramp and the only CO logo you see is on the gate agent's uniform. The agent just walks up to the podium and does his/her thing. I think they do this at MAN for most foreign airlines that just have one flight per day in and out.