International Airport News

Have you ever been at an international airport and witnessed some funny looking art?

http://gizmodo.com/7-pieces-of-freaky-airport-art-that-defies-explanation-1380146433

Passenger numbers at Etihad's hub of Abu Dhabi International airport grew nearly a fifth in August over the same month last year to 1.54-million. The five busiest destinations from Abu Dhabi in August were Bangkok, London, Doha, Milan and Bahrain.

Current US air traffic controller training programmes and the hotly-anticipated NextGen air traffic control system's future are both set to be affected by the US Government's shutdown, initiated yesterday. The first such shutdown since the mid-1990s, it could last for weeks, business analysts have estimated. According to information contained in the US Transportation Department's shutdown reaction plan, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will have its workforce cut by approximately 30 per cent.

Japan Airlines on Friday asked regulators for a formal review of a government decision to award rival ANA more than half of new landing slots at Tokyo's Haneda airport, saying it will crimp future earnings. JAL received five landing and take-off slots at Haneda compared with ANA's 11, after ANA argued a taxpayer-funded bailout has given JAL a competitive edge. The decision, made this week, could cost JAL JPY¥6 billion (USD$61.67 million) a year in operating profit, said JAL president Yoshiharu Ueki, who called the allocation "skewed."

"We have asked regulators to explain whether they gave consideration to the convenience of travellers and the impact on airline alliances in making their decision," Ueki said at a press conference on Friday. JAL recorded operating profit of JPY¥22 billion in the three months to June 30, whereas ANA recorded a loss of JPY¥5.6 billion. The allocation gives ANA, Japan's largest carrier, the opportunity to operate new routes in Asia from Haneda.

It also gives Star Alliance, of which ANA is a member, 52 percent of daytime international flights , up from 47 percent. It lowers the share of oneworld, of which JAL is a member, to 25 percent from just under 33 percent. There are four unallocated slots - for US destinations - of which JAL expects two, Ueki said. ANA lobbied for a ruling in its favour, arguing that JAL's USD$3.5 billion bailout wiped out most of its debt and left it with tax credits that gave it the financial clout to beat ANA in any fare-price war. JAL, once Asia's biggest carrier, countered that competition issues should be settled through means other than slot allocations which remain valid for as long as the holder stays in business.

(Reuters)

Los Angeles International (LAX) airport is expecting to have seven carriers operating the Airbus A380 on long-haul flights from December, 2013. The airport is crediting this upsurge in the double-decker traffic to its new international terminal. Carriers such as Air France, British Airways, China Southern Airlines, Korean Air, Qantas Airways and Singapore Airlines operate at least seven daily flights on the super jumbo to the airport, with Emirates planning to upgauage its existing service to an A380 from 2 December.

FAA says it is recalling some furloughed employees. The Federal Aviation Administration announced Monday it is recalling 800.

FAA starts contingency plan with 800 employees.

The US air traffic control system is close to hitting a "yellow" alert level as people who keep radar and other equipment running remain out on furloughs due to the government shutdown, the head of the controllers union said. Passengers would face lengthy delays if a radar unit or other equipment broke down at a major US airport because no one is on duty to fix it, Paul Rinaldi, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), told Reuters news agency.

The system's safety has not deteriorated, Rinaldi said. But "we're getting to yellow" in facing a major disruption from equipment failure that could affect thousands of flights, particularly if there was bad weather. Yellow indicates caution and is not based on a risk scale used by aviation regulators. "The impact will come as we continue to run this system without our full team out there," he said. "We're not doing maintenance on radar equipment" or communication equipment. "As that breaks down, that will limit the amount of airplanes we put in certain areas," he said.

Rinaldi's statements on the 10th day of the government shutdown coincided with a rally in Washington, DC, by aviation groups raising concern about the Federal Aviation Administration's continuing furloughs of "non-critical" staff. The FAA said its top concern is safety and that it has contingency plans under which "controllers and other essential employees will continue working in order to maintain the safety of the national airspace system." The nation's 14,600 air traffic controllers are working through the budget crisis, but about 2,800 NATCA members, including support specialists and engineers, are not working, the union said.

"With fewer FAA employees on the job, some non-critical inspections, registrations and certifications will take longer," said Jean Medina, spokeswoman at Airlines for America, a trade group of US carriers. She said the group believes safety will not be compromised. The furloughs also have affected the ability of planes and pilots to complete their certifications and to register aircraft sales, holding up deliveries of new planes to the market. The FAA on Tuesday said it would begin recalling 800 of those workers this week to help end the delays. Another 1,600 remain off work. Overall, the agency has furloughed 15,500 workers, or about one-third of its 46,000 employees.

Rinaldi said a radar failure at Kennedy Airport in New York could affect thousands of flights, leading to many hours of delay for passengers. He said the FAA likely would recall workers to fix the problem, but the time to fix it would be much longer than normal. Equipment failure also could close runways, or even airports, if instrument landing systems were affected. Also, flight charts that are normally updated every month or two are not being altered to reflect changes in the system, meaning the charts are increasingly out of date, Rinaldi said.

(Reuters)

French air traffic control workers are striking and, so far, hundreds of flights have been cancelled. Among the airlines involved, Ryanair and easyJet have each dropped approximately one-third of their flights and, in general, all carriers that would normally serve French airports or cross through French airspace are set to be affected in some way.

Frankfurt Airport (FRA) welcomed some 5.5 million passengers in September 2013: a new historic September record at Germany’s largest aviation gateway. Thus, the number of passengers using FRA in September 2013 jumped by 191,000 or 3.6 percent compared to the same month last year.

Remember that person that blew up a device in the Beijing Airport a few months ago? Well they received a six-year prison sentence. That sentence now belongs to Ji Zhongxing more popularly known as the 2013 Beijing Capital International Airport bomber. Responsible for detonating an explosive device inside the Chinese airport's Terminal 3 four months ago, Ji Zhongxing was the only person injured.

Malaysia is to replace its existing air traffic control and management system in Subang with a new MYR700 million ringgit (USD$224 million) air traffic management facility to be built at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak made the announcement as part of his government's budget for 2014.

He also announced that MYR312 million ringgit are to be spent on upgrading Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Miri, Sibu and Mukah airports in Sabah and Sarawak are to be upgraded. Malaysia Airports manages and operates all airports across the country except for one in Johor.

(Reuters)

Beijing Capital International is set to gain the title of the busiest passenger airport, according to a China Daily piece published recently. Such a position would see Beijing Capital overtake Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International - the past decade's reigning airport champion in passenger traffic terms.

Abu Dhabi Airports has placed the first buttress for the main structural steel arches of the Midfield Terminal Building (MTB), a week ahead of schedule. The assembled buttress is one of 18 substructures that will form the base of the MTB steel structure. This base will hold the nine arches that comprise the building’s roof, which will have an arch span of 180m at its widest point. Worth noting is that the whole steel structure of the MTB contains 85,000 tonnes of steel and the assembled buttress makes up 0.1% of this entire structure.

The Midfield Terminal Complex (MTC) is destined to become the gateway to Abu Dhabi. The MTB is the key component of the MTC development programme. In its first year of operation, the planned capacity of the facility is expected to reach 30 million passengers. (FC)

Dubai's Al Maktoum International recieved its first comercial flight over the weekend.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/28/travel/dubai-new-airport/

Beijing Airport Explosion Protester Sentenced

A six-year prison sentence has been given to Ji Zhongxing - the 2013 Beijing Capital International Airport bomber-. He was responsible for detonating an explosive device inside the Chinese airport's Terminal 3 approximately four months ago and as a result Ji Zhongxing was the only person injured.

Gunman opens fire in Terminal 3 of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

TSA agent killed, 6 hurt in L.A. airport shooting

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-los-angeles-airport-shooting-20131101,0,6707783.story

Birmingham, Ala., airport evacuated over threat

http://news.yahoo.com/birmingham-ala-airport-evacuated-over-threat-233542765.html

Sochi International Airport is gearing up for the 2014 Winter Olympics, with huge numbers of visitors expected to pass through.

Operated by Basel Aero, Sochi is one of Russia's major airports, with 1.9 million passengers handled in 2010. Equipped with a pair of runways, it is used by a large number of airlines and can handle 750 passengers per hour.

Now, with the Sochi Olympics less than 100 days ahead, newly-implemented infrastructure and systems are being readied and tested, including a 4,000 square metre VIP terminal and a 2,600 square metre Games Terminal, the latter especially for Olympic athletes and supporting personnel. Other additions include 19 new check-in facilities and four additional self check-in desks, supplementing the ten already in place. (Airport News)