Today, Detroit Metro Airport will be opening its North Terminal. The new terminal will serve 11 airlines, which includes: Air Canada, American Airlines, AirTran, Frontier, Lufthansa, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Southwest, Spirit, United, US Airways, USA 3000. Charter service is also expected to use gate space at the new terminal. 6 out of the 24 gates will be vacant, as airlines struggle financially. It will have 44,000 square feet dedicated solely to concessions, which includes various restaurants and electronic shops / reading material. Parts of the old Smith Terminal will be demolished immediately, pending on whether film production companies decide to use it or not (apparently they’ve been getting many phone calls, says Ben Mutzabaugh)
After speaking with many travelers and frequent fliers, I’ve been told that the Smith terminal was bad enough to keep you from flying any of the non-SkyTeam members (like US Airways, United… etc). Instead, customers flew Northwest Airlines because of the airport and not truly because of the airline. I’m sure that Northwest will be a bit unhappy to see this terminal open, since this is a major hub for them. This also leaves open 6 gates for expansion to any airline. Airlines are in a financial struggle right now, as they continue their battle with the high costs of oil. However, overall this is great for the city of Detroit, and I’m sure many business travelers based in other cities, who fly the non SkyTeam carriers, will appreciate this greatly.
Note: Image from existing terminals at DTW.
Image: flickr.com
