Japanese government approved an extension of the second runway at Tokyo Narita from 7,152 ft. to 8,202 ft., sufficient to allow 747 and A380 landings. The runway originally was to be 8,202 ft. but local farmers limited the length. The government now is going to extend it in the opposite direction.
In a direct challenge to Northwest Airlines, AirTran Airways will begin new daily nonstop service from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport to both Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International and Orlando International airports on Nov. 8. Daily service to Sarasota-Bradenton will be added from Detroit starting Feb. 15. Detroit is AirTran's 48th city and the largest market in the country not served directly by the Orlando-based low-cost carrier, according to VP-Planning and Scheduling Kevin Healy. All new flights will use 717s configured for 117 passengers in two classes.
TAP Portugal and Azores Express, part of the SATA Group, announced an expanded codeshare partnership covering all flights from the Azores to mainland Portugal and Madeira. Cities served from Lisbon include Funchal, Terceira, Ponta Delgada, Pico, Horta and Santa Maria. Also covered are flights from Porto to Funchal and Ponta Delgada and between Ponta Delgada and Funchal.
Delta Air Lines will launch daily nonstop service between Atlanta and Punta Cana in November and in December will begin new thrice-weekly service between Atlanta and Barbados. In addition, Delta will expand to daily its three-times-weekly service between Atlanta and St. Maarten from Nov. 19 and on Dec. 1 will begin daily flights between Atlanta and St. Lucia, up from the five weekly flights it currently operates on the route. The new and expanded Caribbean service from Atlanta will use 737-800s except for flights to St. Maarten, which will be flown with 757s.
Qantas announced that its low-fare airline Jetstar will operate new Tasman services from Dec. 1, complementing Qantas services to Christchurch and opening up a new route between New Zealand and the Gold Coast. "The new schedule will enable the Qantas Group to offer the best possible mix of services for business and leisure markets," Executive GM John Borghetti said.
North American Airlines will discontinue scheduled service from California to Hawaii Sept. 1. The service, which started in November, had evolved from a charter operation. North American, a wholly owned subsidiary of World Airways, provides both scheduled and charter services as well as troop transport for the US Air Mobility Command. It said it will continue to operate scheduled service to Accra, Ghana, and Georgetown, Guyana, from New York JFK.
Austrian Airlines Group, in a strategy that complements its expanding network to Central and Eastern Europe, plans to boost its extensive presence in the Near East/Middle East and North Africa regions, adding up to five new destinations and increasing frequencies on established routes. "A good time to start new services to the Middle East will be in March/April next year.
Dnata and PWC Logistics formed a new 50/50 joint venture company, Dnata-PWC Airport Logistics LLC, to provide inter-airport logistics services. Dubai-based Dnata, a member of Emirates Group, is an air cargo and airport services provider, while PWC Logistics is a global provider of end-to-end supply chain solutions. Operating from Dubai Cargo Village, the new company will offer air cargo operators road feeder service between airports in the Gulf region.
Lufthansa's Terminal 2 in Munich will handle more than 20 million passengers this year, a record. Karl-Ulrich Garnadt, head of Hub Management Munich for LH, told ATWOnline that the carrier and its partner airlines are growing at the hub at a faster rate than had been expected; "In June we saw a passenger increase of 13%.
United Airlines will launch new service to Mexico and the Caribbean and expand its service on existing routes to destinations in both areas from Dec. 15. From Washington Dulles it will launch four new weekly flights to Nassau, five weekly flights to Montego Bay, four weekly flights to Punta Cana and two weekly flights to St. Maarten. It will boost service from Dulles to Aruba and St. Thomas. From Chicago it will begin four new weekly flights to Cabo San Lucas and increase frequencies to Montego Bay and St. Thomas.
Lockheed Martin and Covenant Aviation Security each was awarded a Basic Ordering Agreement and now are eligible to receive task orders from airports that are approved to participate in the US Transportation Security Administration's Screening Partnership Program. Under the program, airport operators may submit an application to have security screening carried out by a qualified private company.
Wizz Air will launch service from Amsterdam to Katowice and Budapest Nov. 1 and Dec. 1 respectively. It will operate three weekly flights to Katowice and four to Budapest. The carrier said that in the coming winter season it will start flights on nine new routes and boost frequencies on most of the existing routes, representing in total a 65% increase in capacity compared to last year.
Megadata Corp. announced that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport purchased several of its Passur products including the Passur portal, Passur Pulse and Passur inSight.
Munich Airport operator FMG announced it will start the planning process leading to the construction of a third runway. During peak periods the existing two runways are operating at full capacity of 89 movements per hr., FMG said. It believes that to keep Munich in the forefront of Europe's hub airports, it must be able to handle 120 aircraft per hr. For the first half of the year, passengers increased 7% and aircraft movements rose 6%. No timeframe was given for the third runway project.
American Airlines unveiled the first phase of its new $1.1 billion terminal at New York JFK. Operations in Phase I are expected to begin on Aug. 24 and primarily will consist of the domestic flights now in AA's Terminal 9, which will close owing to Phase II construction. Phase I of the new terminal features a 57,000-sq.-ft. ticketing lobby with 67 ticketing positions and offers an automated baggage-handling system with four carousels. It also includes an 11,300-sq.-ft. Admirals Club with seating for 185.
American Airlines awarded a three-year pan-European security contract to ICTS Europe Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide. Running until August 2008, the comprehensive contract extends ICTS Europe's current services to AA and adds new locations.
Adria Airways will begin four weekly flights between Ljubljana and Warsaw in early September in partnership with LOT. Adria will operate two of the flights while LOT will offer the other two. KLM will launch thrice-weekly service between Amsterdam and Hyderabad using MD-11s on Oct. 30. The airline said the new flights represent its first initiative in response to the recently expanded rights obtained for operations to and from India, along with a further expansion of its global network from its Schiphol hub.
Dauair, a new German Regional, will start a five-times-weekly service from Zurich to Pozen via Dortmund using a former Crossair Saab 340B on Sept. 5. Austrian Airlines will add five extra frequencies from Vienna to Gothenburg on Sept. 26 for a total of 12 weekly flights on the route. Austrian offers 150 weekly flights from Vienna to Scandinavian cities.
American Airlines Cargo will open a new airside export facility at London Heathrow Aug. 8. Its current facility at Heathrow Estate will continue to handle its import operations into Heathrow.
Qatar Airways inaugurated service to Delhi July 15. It is offering daily flights to the Indian capital, its fifth destination in India. It also boosted its Mumbai service to daily from six times per week.
Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) extended the lease on its two A330s for a further five years. The airline also announced that it will launch flights from Manchester and London Gatwick to Ft. Lauderdale and weekly flights from Doncaster Robin Hood Airport to Monastir.
Preston Aviation Solutions will supply its Total Airspace and Airport Modeler software package to Dutch consultancy firm To70 for use in capacity studies of Amsterdam Schiphol. Menzies Chengdu Airport Services was awarded two handling contracts from China Postal Airlines and United Eagle Airlines. China Postal, the first scheduled freight airline at Chengdu, operates six 737 cargo flights a week to the airport while United Eagle will launch its first service at the end of this month.
