Airports Council International adopted a new, collaborative safety initiative at its World Assembly in Bermuda this week, noting that Flight Safety Foundation statistics show 30% of "major damage" accidents that occurred from 1995 to 2008 were "runway related."
US FAA reported in October that "serious runway incursions" at US airports dropped by 50% year-over-year to just six in the 2010 fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the second straight year serious incursions have been lowered by half. Of the six, three involved commercial aircraft.
Dubai International recorded a massive 25% surge in passenger traffic year-over-year for September and an 11.3% rise in international freight. Some 34.09 million passengers passed through the airport in the first nine months of 2010, up 15.8% compared to the same period in 2009. The largest growth was seen on routes to and from Eastern Europe (up 247%), other Middle East destinations (up 36%), Asia/Pacific (up 33%), Africa (up 25%) and Western Europe (up 23%).
Airports worldwide reported 9% year-over-year passenger traffic growth in September, bringing the nine-month traffic gain to 6.5% compared to the same period in 2009, according to figures released by Airports Council International. September international traffic growth (plus 10.5%) at ACI airports outpaced domestic expansion (plus 7.5%). The divide was most pronounced in North America, ACI noted, pointing out that international traffic at the continent's airports grew at more than double the domestic traffic rate.
London Gatwick intends to start competing with Heathrow for A380 traffic now that it has received planning permission from regional authorities for the aircraft to operate at LGW. The airport obtained planning permission in 2008 to make runway improvements to enable it to handle diverted A380s in emergencies, but it was restricted from being served by the extra-large aircraft on a scheduled or charter basis.
Airport officials strongly cautioned against "massive overkill" in response to the recent interception of bombs in air cargo shipments, warning that a significant expansion of airfreight screening at airports could stifle global trade.
Flydubai, Dubai's first low cost airline, made another double route announcement today to take the airline's network to 28 destinations. Flights to the Saudi city, Abha, and the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, will begin later this month.
AirAsia X launched daily Kuala Lumpur–Seoul Incheon service Nov. 1 using an A330. Olympic Air launched new five-times-weekly Thessaloniki–London Gatwick service Oct. 31 with an A319 with 120 economy-class seats and 12 business-class seats.
Sensis Corp. announced that Tasmanian airspace is now controlled using Sensis’ Wide Area Multilateration system, which uses both multilateration and ADS-B “to provide Airservices Australia with enhanced en route surveillance of air traffic across the [Australian] island and down to the surface at Hobart and Launceston airports.
