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.

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.

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?!!

good one

Carl Terreros yeah agreed

Carl Terreros Everything is green screen now

Carl Terreros Another Stephen King movie

Carl Terreros I

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?!

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”.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

He'll say anything to keep that job

@@artistgilmore3982 Absolutely. Typical rich businessman.

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

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??

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

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

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.

Mio? Bio? Huh?

You win the ghost airport war

😂

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.

DaBlazesUSay does not justify 300,000,000$ especially for the state known as 'the deadbeat state'

Scott AFB is closing

Now they are expanding the terminal. Since Allegiant’s traffic apparently now justifies doing so.

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.

?? ...$300 Million of taxpayer money for a nice, quiet place to relax and plane spot 4 times a day ...??

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

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. 😂😂

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

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

Rick Stone Travels were u waiting 4 the pilot to get there😯

YOOO COOOKKK

Idk

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.

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.

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.

Stephen McMullen Airports need to have several runways due to wind directions.

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

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.

Some people were born to lie.....

He spoke like a true Illinoian, out the wrong end.

@Jeffrey Epstein you must be getting a-lot of old video recommendations as well then..

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.

6 billion $...

BER=Berlin Brandenburg Airport

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.

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.

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.

You can have it. Looks like a dirt hole with dirt hole hotels.

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.

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.

Well, what would they do now? Tear it down? That would just waste even more tax money.

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

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

300 mio? What's mio?

😂 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

What airport?

My Brother and his family have taken that flight several times, at first I thought "what?" but it turns out to be a great way to go to Florida, beats fighting your way through Dulles. So, I would think with proper planning and advertising they can make a good showing. I was stationed at Scott AFB, 78 til 83 way before this airport was built. It is here now and needs to be used, so good luck to those trying to make it work.

How stupid are you?

Jamez Martinez lol

Jamez Martinez pretty stupid

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.

Tommy Hartigan ikr