International Airport News

Bordeaux Airport hits an all-time record with almost half a million passengers in July. Overall year-to-date traffic stands at 2,675,769 passengers, showing 4.5% growth.

Slight decline for Frankfurt...

In July 2013, some 5.7 million passengers passed through Frankfurt Airport (FRA). This represents a decline of 0.7 percent compared to July 2012, which was the record month in the history of Frankfurt Airport.

Interesting news coming out of Florida...

A vehicle was stumbled upon in a drainage ditch/canal not too far outside of the Miami International Airport. Apparently landscaping crews in the area came upon it and subsequently called the police. Upon pulling out the car from the water, a body was discovered. The dead-person was said to be around 70 years old.

Chopin Airport welcomed nearly 1.2 million passengers in July 2013, an almost 9% increase year-on-year and yet another record month for the airport. The airport’s previous all-time high was recorded in July 2012, when 1.084 million passengers were handled. This July, with 1,178,700 travellers, it topped the figure by 8.7%.

“The record passenger numbers are largely thanks to low-cost airlines Ryanair and Wizz Air, which carry nearly one-fourth of all our passengers,” said Michał Marzec, director of Chopin Airport. “The fact that we had to accommodate these two important airlines with our terminal area reduced by almost half and the main runway closed made it all the more of a challenge to us,” he added.

We have had a crash-landing of a Piper today at the Grantley Adams International Airport...Runway was closed while Emergency crews tended to those involved and removed the stricken aircraft. In the process... two American flights, one Jet Blue, one Air Canada, one West Jet, One BA, one Virgin Atlantic had to be diverted...since then pretty much all of them have landed here.

A look at eight LIAT Dash-8 aircraft at the Grantley Adams International Airport all at once. Photo taken last year Aug.

NASA and the FAA are once again working together to enhance safety and efficiency in the nation’s airspace, NASA has handed off to the FAA a new, NextGen software tool that will improve the flow of aircraft from runways to cruising altitudes.

Information has surfaced concerning unsatisfactory and potentially unsafe working conditions for US TSA (Transportation Security Administration) staff deployed at Boston's Logan International Airport. Specifically, it is claimed that working conditions for these employees are potentially hazardous, with more than a dozen risks posed. In the main, these hazards-in-waiting are concentrated around Logan International Airport's security checkpoints, break rooms, baggage inspection facilities and baggage belts. Now, these alleged flaws have been documented in a 'Notice of Unsafe or Unhealthful Working Conditions' sent to the TSA by federal safety officials earlier this month. (AIN)

Some of the parts of the concrete batching plant has arrived at the Argyle Airport site in St. Vincent. This will be instrumental for the paving of the runway which hopefully should start in Novemeber.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.662329680445126.1073741842.255896234421808&type=1

UK's recent heatwave has delayed London Heathrow Airport's runway resurfacing programme but work has now been resumed. Previously, the temperatures had been so high that laying down asphalt just wouldn't have been possible. Now, the project has restarted, giving the airport's two runways the capability to serve on well into the future.

Major drug bust at Chinese Airport.

A man has been detained in Beijing after attempting to smuggle drugs into Hong Kong through the Chinese capital's hub. Last week Tuesday, the 63 year-old man attempted to traffic approximately 24.6 kg of cocaine to Hong Kong from Brazil, the Beijing Times reported on Thursday. According to the report, this was the largest amount of cocaine the custom officers had ever seized at the airport.

French oil major Total has agreed to buy the Egyptian retail network of US energy company Chevron, in a move that it says will create its biggest marketing and services subsidiary outside Europe. Total said the network includes 66 service stations, two oil depots and the aviation fuel operations at Cairo and Marsa Alam airports.

Total made the purchase jointly with two Egyptian partners Beltone Capital and Beltone Private Equity Energy. The Chevron network has annual sales of more than 1.4 million tonnes. The purchase is subject to approval by the relevant authorities, Total said in a statement. It did not give a value for the deal.

(Reuters)

There is a new hangar for technical maintenance that has been recently constructed at the Chopin Airport. It will be able to house 'Code C' aircraft with a wingspan of up to 36-meters. The total area of the hangar is approx. 4,000 sq. m, with a volume of more than 45,000 cubic metres. The building is 45-meters wide, 56-meters long and nearly 17-meters at its highest point. Aircraft like the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 will be housed in the new hangar.

Transatlantic traffic sets record at Dublin Airport

Transatlantic traffic at Dublin Airport will set a new record this year with more than 1.8 million passengers expected to travel on flights between North America and Dublin during 2013. Already this year, Dublin Airport has welcomed almost 1.3 million transatlantic passengers, which is a 14% increase on the same period in 2012. Transatlantic passenger numbers peaked at 1.75 million in 2008, during Ireland’s economic boom, but subsequently declined to just under 1.5 million in 2010. “Transatlantic traffic is growing rapidly at Dublin Airport and the previous record for passenger numbers travelling to the United States and Canada will be comfortably exceeded this year,” said Dublin Airport Authority’s Strategy Director, Vincent Harrison.

More Stores added to the retail line up at Gatwick

London's Gatwick International Airport has announced that Zara, Ted Baker and Snow+Rock will open in South Terminal’s newly developed retail region in the departure lounge in early December. The new retail area is the final phase of an extensive £21m transformation of airside shopping in South Terminal, which has already seen eleven new or refreshed premium stores open since mid-July. New stores included airport firsts for Ernest Jones and Aspinal of London, followed by the launch of a brand new 6,000 sq ft Harrods fashion and accessories department store in August.

China Opens World's Highest Civilian Airport In Tibet

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/16/worlds-highest-civilian-airport-china_n_3933750.html

Massachusetts officials apologized yesterday (at the time) after holding a fire training drill at Boston Logan International Airport on the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. In response to a backlash of negative reactions on social media, the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the airport, said in a statement, "Massport apologizes for conducting the fire training exercise and understands that it may have offended many of those touched by the events of September 11."

Trondheim Airport Evacuated and Closed After Bomb Threat

The airport servicing Trondheim in Norway, was evacuated and shut down on Monday after receiving a bomb threat. The telephone call, which came in just after 10AM, is being taken seriously, the Nord-Trøndelag Police District's Trude Skogen said to the Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK). The caller was speaking in the local Trønder dialect, informing them that there was a bomb, possibly within the confines of the terminal.

Birmingham Airport is celebrating another major milestone with passenger numbers for the year reaching the 9,000,000 mark. Over the past 12 months, 9,000,000 people chose to fly from Birmingham, taking advantage of the Airport’s world-class facilities and its growing network of flights. The 9,000,000 milestone was achieved after the Airport enjoyed the second busiest month in its history during August. The Airport handled over one million passengers last month, a 2% increase compared to the same period last year.

Hong Kong International Airport traffic continued to grow significantly in August 2013. During that month, passengers processed climbed to 5.6 million, while flight movements recorded 32,395 – achieving remarkable year-on-year growth of 8.2% and 6.3%, respectively, and setting new passenger traffic and flight movement records for the second month in a row. Cargo handled also grew by 2.7% over the same month last year to 337,000 tonnes.