Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) granted approval for ATR 42/72 aircraft to operate at Russian airports with non-tarmac runways. Of the 332 airports and airdromes in Russia, 38% have non-tarmac runways. UTair (UT) has 14 ATR 42s and its subsidiary, UTair-Ukraine (QU), has three ATR 72-200s and 14 -500s. NordStar (Y7) has five ATR 42s. According to UT`s website, it has 14 ATR 42s, three ATR 72-200s and 14 -500s, but only ATR 42s fleet fly both at UT and UT-Ukraine, UT-Ukraine doesn`t operate with 72s.
Nice Airport (NCE) has added the option to pay by credit card for excess baggage or other additional services to some of its IER 918 self check-in kiosks in its Terminal 2. The first airline to adopt the new tool was Air France (AF).
Aeroports de Paris (ADP) posted a €348 million ($458.4 million) net profit for 2011, up 15.1% over 2010, though the year-over-year increase was mostly due to nonrecurring items. Annual revenue inched up 0.9% to €2.5 billion on 5.7% growth in passengers handled at its airports to 88.1 million. Cargo throughput declined 3.8%.
Airports are full of talk of clouds these days, but not the clouds dotting the skies. More airports are contracting out some or all of their information technology (IT) functions, particularly data collection, to cloud service providers. Boston-based FlightView provides such services to 120 airports, mostly in North America and the Caribbean, handling data streams coming into airports and placing them into network clouds.
Abu Dhabi Airport (AUH) will finally get its long-awaited midfield terminal complex (MTC), which will have an initial annual passenger capacity of up to 30 million.
Airport privatization got underway last month in Brazil, where officials are rapidly moving to upgrade infrastructure ahead of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. The federal government in February preliminarily chose winners in the international bidding process for private contracts to operate Sao Paulo Guarulhos (GRU), Brasilia (BSB) and Viracopos-Campinas (VCP) airports ( ATW Airports Today, Dec. 7).
Turkish Airlines launched 2X-weekly Istanbul Ataturk – Khartoum – Mogadishu service March 5, beginning the first service to the Somali capital by any European airline. The route will be operated by a Boeing 737-800. FlyDubai will launch 4X-weekly service between Dubai and Sanaa April 22. United Airlines will launch daily nonstop service between San Francisco and Washington National May 14. Westbound service from National to San Francisco will begin May 15.
UTair (UT) has signed a codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines (TK). The agreement gives UT access to TK’s 129 destinations including domestic flights starting at Istanbul Ataturk (IST).
Qantas (QF) said it has begun to implement, and in some areas accelerate, its previously announced five-year plan to remain competitive during the “ongoing reshaping of global finances, the painful economic restructuring in Europe … the rebalancing of global economic weight to Asia … and a profound transition in the Australian economy.”
