Total Enplanements Forecast
In June 2009, the Master Plan Study Team forecast Lambert's enplanements for the next twenty years (an enplanement is a passenger boarding an aircraft departing Lambert). The Master Plan study team developed a "most likely" forecast and also "High" and "Low" scenarios in order to evaluate a range of potential traffic outcomes and facilitate a flexible master planning process. In September 2009, American Airlines announced a significant reduction in flight activity at Lambert. While the future of the American hub at Lambert had been evaluated as part of the original Master Plan forecasts, the Team conducted a specific sensitivity analysis to evaluate the potential outcome of the American Airlines downsizing. Over the long term, the impact of American's flight reductions is expected to impact connecting traffic at Lambert rather than the volume of local passenger traffic derived from visitors to, and residents of, the St. Louis area. As a result, 9.0 million enplanements are forecast in 2028 to account for American's downsizing versus 9.9 million projected in the original forecast.
