Blue Bird Airways launched service from Moscow Domodedovo to Rhodes(twice-weekly), Thessaloniki(weekly), Heraklion (weekly) and Korfu (twice-weekly) May 30 aboard MD-83s. S7 Airlines launched twice-weekly Moscow Domodedovo-Abakan service aboard an A319. AirBridgeCargo launched weekly Moscow Domodedovo-Frankfurt freighter service.
in the UK launched a free iPhone app for passengers using its facilities. It features real-time flight information for arrivals and departures, Google maps of the terminal buildings and interactive maps of terminal building interiors to help passengers find the location of shops, cafes and other facilities.
unveiled June 1 a new self-service kiosk for passengers flying between New Zealand and Australia that aims to cut check-in times by 50%. Passengers scan their machine-readable passports at the kiosk and are issued a boarding pass and bag tags if necessary. Customers checking bags then take them to the bag drop area, where ANZ staff scan the piece of luggage and check the passengers' IDs. The airline said it will introduce the new kiosks progressively at its Wellington, Queenstown and Christchurch international check-in areas over the next nine months.
An Air China A319 successfully completed a Required Navigation Performance validation flight at Ali in China's Tibetan Autonomous Region, Airbus said. The high-altitude airport is expected to be opened officially for operations "soon," the manufacturer noted, adding that "CAAC has decided that the A319 will be the first aircraft to fly to and from" the facility.
Japan's Transport Ministry said Tokyo Haneda officially will begin handling international scheduled flights on Oct. 31 following the opening of its fourth runway and new international passenger terminal on Oct. 21. Japan Airlines said that from Oct. 31 it plans services from Haneda to San Francisco, Honolulu, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Bangkok and Taipei. It also will convert current charter flights from HND to Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong into scheduled passenger flights.
Northwest Florida Beaches International, located near Panama City on Florida's Gulf Coast, opened May 23, the first publicly owned commercial service airport to be built in the US in the last 15 years ( ATWOnline, Dec. 1).
Airspace closures owing to the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland caused world airport passenger traffic to decline 1.2% in April compared to April 2009 to 268.9 million arriving and departing passengers, according to Airport Council International's PaxFlash traffic report. It was the first global decline since July 2009, according to the association. ACI noted that "at some points, over 300 European airports were closed, affecting nearly 10 million passengers" worldwide.
The new UK government is reversing several elements of the former government's airport policy that included major capacity expansions in the southeast of England. As part of its pledge "to implement a full program of measures to fulfill our joint ambitions for a low carbon and eco-friendly economy," the new ruling Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition struck down plans for construction of a third runway at London Heathrow and second runways at London Gatwick and Stansted.
