Aviation Daily on Airports

Finally Some Good News: IATA Reports Strong Passenger Demand

International passenger demand was up 6.7% during the first four months of this year while cargo grew at a slower pace, said IATA in a May 31 story (subscribers only) in Aviation Daily.  IATA Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani says that the word for the first four months of the year was stability; passenger demand was better than expected, and freight demand is growing, but showing much more price sensitivity.

"The cargo business is still growing, but competition with other modes of transport is severe," he says. Bisignani says that a strong global economy has added to a loss of cargo revenues to sea shipping, which is taking a greater piece of the pie.

Bisignani is optimistic about revenues, saying airlines are emerging into profitability for the first time in six years. The move to simplify operations is paying off, he says. IATA will release an updated financial forecast for the world's airlines on June 4 at its annual general meeting in Vancouver.

The Schengen Agreement and Airports

The 1985 Schengen Agreement aimed to dissolve the borders between participating European countries by standardizing visa controls and external and internal border checks. Visitors entering the EU through one of the 30 Schengen-signatory countries can travel throughout the Schengen Area unimpeded -- until leaving, that is.

This dissolution of boundaries has had a significant impact on airport design, said Telmo Baltazar, European Commission Justice and Home Affairs counselor. As soon as a country joins the Schengen area, airports and airport systems in that country must be redesigned to process Schengen Area citizens as if they were domestic passengers, he said. Airports must be modified to allow for the "full segregation of flights and flight processes from Schengen and non-Schengen flights," he said. Terminals must provide a secure "sterile" transit area for passengers who have been processed to wait for their flights, he said.

And this is what Europeans find so perplexing about U.S. airports. Although the goal on both sides of the Atlantic is to make the travel experience -- waiting in line after landing -- less frustrating, this is not likely to happen in Europe until U.S. airports are redesigned. Baltazar noted that passport control as it exists in the U.S. is handled by airline agents, not government employees. This is a problem for the EU for two reasons, he said. The first is that a passenger is free to walk around the terminal between having his passport checked and clearing security to the gates. Second, Baltazar said that the EU objects to a government function -- checking passports -- being handled by private-sector workers.

Until these elements of airport design are modified in the U.S., American citizens are unlikely to enjoy the same travel benefits that Schengen Area citizens do. So that means long summer lines, for now.

-- Madhu Unnikrishnan

(map credit: Wikipedia. Click on image for full size.)

U.S., China Ink New Open Skies Pact; Let The Jockeying For New Service Begin

The May 24 issue of Aviation Daily includes a story (see here for free) by my colleague Adrian Schofield about how the new air service deal between the United States and China will more than quadruples the number of passenger flights to be awarded in the next five years.

Under the current deal, the U.S. can add three daily flights by 2010, while the new pact sees 13 added by 2012. The agreement does not set a timetable for full open skies, and while it does call for open-skies talks to resume in 2010, no deadline was set for the completion of these talks.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters noted that the deal will eventually boost China service by U.S. airlines from the current 10 daily flights to 23. She said the goal set at the December SED meeting was to announce meaningful progress by the May meeting, and "we have [made] more than progress... we have achieved a breakthrough agreement."

DOT officials said the department will begin the award process as soon as possible for the 2007 new-entrant designation and single daily flight -- which would be available from the end of August. DOT is "looking for an accelerated process" for this award, although some sources are skeptical there is enough time for a new entrant to set up a flight by August.

Delta appears to be the most likely short-term winner in the new agreement. The airline is regarded as having the inside track for this year's new-entrant designation and the single daily flight. Delta applauded DOT for achieving the deal, and said it would apply to launch Atlanta-Shanghai service.

United is favored to win the Guangzhou flights next year, and US Airways is considered most likely to win the 2009 new-entrant designation and daily flight. Under this scenario, the other three 2009 flights would go to Northwest, American and Continental.

During the last round of applications -- won by United with its Washington Dulles-Beijing service -- our offices were inundated with press releases, calls and experts wanting to weigh in on why INSERT AIRLINE HERE - literally - should win the new service.  At one point, we actually had to stop writing about the issue, because we were being bombarded by one airline in particular that shall go unnamed.

For those of you who might not remember, in the last round we had the following carriers competing for new China service: United Airlines, Dulles-Beijing; Northwest Airlines, Detroit-Shanghai; Continental Airlines, Newark-Shanghai; and American Airlines, Dallas/Fort Worth-Beijing.  Conventional wisdom had American winning that round, but a last-minute change by the carrier to offer one-stop service through Chicago on one leg of the trip -- prompted by unresolved pilot work rules -- effectively scuttled the carrier's bid.

Taking the airport angle of this story, DFW Airport was by far the most aggressive in pushing for American's bid to Beijing, offering financial studies and a special incentive program for the carrier if it got the service.  While the other carriers also got support from their airport partners, none were as openly aggressive as DFW.

So now the battle for the new frequencies begins in earnest, despite the DOT not announcing any opening date for the lone 2008 frequency.  In this round, we have Delta going for Atlanta-Shanghai; Continental going for Newark-Shanghai again; and American, DFW-Beijing again; and Northwest is mulling Detroit-Shanghai, Detroit-Beijing and Minneapolis-Shanghai.  Hawaiian Airlines has also announced plans to go after China service, although it has yet to specify city-pairs, while US Airways will wait until 2009 to go after Philadelphia-Shanghai service.

The May 25 issue of Aviation Daily includes a follow-up story (subscribers only) by Mr. Schofield on how U.S. airlines are already looking at how they can take advantage of the new U.S. China aviation deal, and are eyeing still-scarce flights that will be available through 2009.  The agreement allows a new U.S. carrier to be designated for the China market this year, as well as a single daily flight that will likely go to this new entrant. These rights were previously scheduled to be awarded in 2008. The next new-entrant opportunity would be in 2009.

Aside from the new-entrant designations and flights, the supply of flights is still tight for incumbents through 2009. Incumbents can apply for a daily Guangzhou flight in 2008, three daily flights in 2009, three in 2010, two each in 2011 and 2012. All but the 2008 awards are for Beijing and Shanghai.

Qantas Opens Upgraded First-Class Lounges in Sydney, Melbourne

Qantas has opened new flagship first-class lounges at its Sydney and Melbourne hubs.  The new lounges were designed by creative director Marc Newson, who created the airline’s Skybed business-class sleeper seat in 2003.

Qantas Executive General Manager John Borghetti has described them as “simply the best in the world”. “The services offered in our new lounges will be equal to those found in the world’s best five star hotels and restaurants. For example a full concierge service will help customers book a restaurant in any city around the world or get tickets to the latest Broadway musical,” Borghetti said.  “Nearly everything has been designed by Marc specifically for the lounges and manufactured by leading international craftsman. Even the music has been specially created to complement the atmosphere and function of each area of the lounge.”

Features of the lounges include:

• huge American oak sculptures that separate the lounge space into defined areas;
• a Payot Paris day spa offering a range of complimentary treatments from a 30-minute express energising facial to a 50-minute full body massage;
• a 24-seat open kitchen restaurant with menus by Neil Perry;
• chair-side waiter service throughout the lounge;
• a library area stocked with a selection of newspapers and magazines, best-selling books and board games including chess and backgammon;
• a dedicated entertainment zone with banks of plasma screens showing local and international news, sport and weather, and Sony Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable entertainment systems offering a selection of games and movies;
• a vertical garden designed by international botanist Patrick Blanc covering over 60 sqm;
• luxurious individual marble-lined shower suites with individual stereo volume and lighting controls, radiant heating to reduce condensation on the mirrors, and luggage racks;
• exclusive furniture and luxurious finishes including leather lounge chairs, recliners, and sofas by Italy’s Poltrona Frau, dining chairs and tables by Cappellini, Tai Ping wool carpets from Hong Kong, marble from Carrara and quartzite from Switzerland; and
• state-of-the-art business facilities with five PC workstations, complimentary wireless internet access, power and data points throughout the lounge and two private work suites with conference facilities and plasma display screens.

The lounges will be managed by luxury hotel group Sofitel with all staff undergoing specialist training through its Acadamie Accor hotel school. 

“At the same time we are launching a new premium check-in service at Melbourne and Sydney international terminals, with First customers checked in prior to arriving at the airport and greeted at the curb by a Qantas First Host and porter,” Mr Borghetti said.

Random Airport News

Frontier executives are planning to name the first routes its new Lynx subsidiary will debut in December sometime in the next few weeks. Denver-based Frontier ordered 10 70-seat Bombardier Q400s and created Lynx to fly the aircraft. Late last week, carrier CEO Jeff Potter told analysts Frontier would name four new mountain destinations and five non-mountain routes for Lynx soon. The Frontier offshoot won U.S. Transportation Dept. approval last month.

Aviation organizations have officially launched a new Web site -- www.enviro.aero -- designed to provide information about the industry's efforts on the environmental front. Partners in the new Web site include Airports Council International, the Air Transport Action Group, the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization and the International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations. The site includes an "ask the experts" section, latest industry news, an industry calendar and links to other sites with an interest in environmental issues.

Sacramento International Airport has signed a five-year contract with Prosper Publications to become the sole sponsor of the facility's free Wi-Fi service.  The airport moved to free Wi-Fi in April 2006 after using a pay model for three years. It gave up $100,000 in revenue, but will now make that up with Prosper's minimum annual guaranteed contract, valued at $125,000 a year, beginning in the second year of the contract.

GE is on the hunt for partners in India to invest in that country's private airports, reports The Mint.com.  The company hopes to get a piece of the $12 billion in investment a study says will be needed for India's airports in the next 15 years.  The Mint.com cited potential partners including Larsen & Toubro Ltd, India’s largest engineering construction company, Gammon India Ltd, GVK group, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corp. and Maharashtra Airport Development Co.

The U.S. Visa Waiver program must be applied equally to all European Union countries, or a new method of granting visas must be found, a senior EU official told Aviation Daily.  Citizens from some new-entrant EU countries -- Poland, for example -- are not eligible for the U.S. Visa Waiver program despite being fully fledged citizens of the EU, Telmo Baltazar, Justice and Home Affairs counselor, said. Countries that have signed the Schengen Agreement, the 1985 European agreement that abolished border controls between participating nations, should be treated equally by the U.S. in the Visa Waiver program, he added.  "U.S. citizens have access to all of the EU, but the U.S. picks and chooses [which EU] countries have access to the U.S.," Baltazar said. The Schengen Agreement centralizes police data, so that a person who is wanted for a crime in Germany will be stopped when he or she attempts to leave the EU from the Netherlands, he cited as an example.

Air France's attempt to block the launch of Geneva airport's low-cost terminal T2 was considered inadmissible by Switzerland's Federal Administrative Tribunal last week.  The French carrier, which is waging a battle in an attempt to prevent EasyJet from gaining access to cheap infrastructure in Geneva, now has until June 13 to take the case to a higher jurisdiction -- the Supreme Court or Tribunal Federal, which would be its last resort. T2 was initially scheduled to be opened in November 2005, but the project was put on hold while awaiting the outcome of the legal battle.

BWI Airport Could Win New International Flights Under Open Skies

I had the chance to attend Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall International Airport's second annual air service symposium in Annapolis, Md., last week.  The airport had several good panels made up of government, airline, airport and industry experts who outlined what the new U.S.-European Union Open Skies pact could mean for airports like BWI.

In my May 29 Airports article (see here for free), Christina Cassotis, VP of SH&E and a consultant for BWI, said that European low-cost carriers looking to expand across the Atlantic under open skies might be the best opportunity for BWI Airport to attract more international service.

BWI is in a unique position because it is the home to two low-cost carriers -- Southwest and AirTran, said Cassotis, who consults for BWI. "If you look at BWI's domestic market, it captures 40% of local traffic because the Southwest and AirTran service is there," she said.  (Photo courtesy Southwest Airlines)

International carriers want to see minimal risk and a system they can connect to when considering U.S. service, Cassotis said. "And it's a tougher sell with Southwest and AirTran. Southwest has really put BWI on the map as an alternative airport for the region, but that message isn't as well known on the international side," she said. "European LCCs like Ryanair and EasyJet have already expressed interest in serving BWI partly because of the Southwest and AirTran feed. It's very attractive to them."

There are 27 LCCs operating in Europe, Cassotis said. "And they all now have the opportunity to go beyond just their countries of origin. The good news is that some LCCs in Europe know who Southwest is and have modeled their operations after them," she said. "What LCCs offer are great route networks in Europe, and BWI is well positioned to give them access to the U.S."

Current international carriers serving BWI include Air Canada, Air Greenland, Air Jamaica, British Airways, Icelandair and Mexicana.  That is not bad for an airport that does not serve as a major carrier hub, and is in the shadow of another airport -- Washington Dulles -- that has a large international airline presence.  If the strategy outlined by Cassotis in her presentation should come to fruition at BWI, it could serve as a catalyst for similar airports across the country -- such as Sacramento, Richmond, Nashville and Indianapolis -- to also take advantage of Open Skies using LCCs.  Watch this space!

Secret Service May Look To TSA For Help During 2008 Presidential Campaign

Today's issue of the Washington Post has a story (see here for free, but registration required) by Spenser Hsu on how the U.S. Secret Service needs to "borrow" more than 2000 Transportation Security Admininstration (TSA) and immigration officers to help it guard the large field of presidential candidates in 2008.  The agency, part of the Dept. of Homeland Security also plans to transfer 250 of its own agents from investigations to security.  (photo courtesy of the Secret Service)

The Secret Service provides protection for the president, vice president, president-elect, vice president-elect, past presidents and their spouses, certain candidates for the offices of president and vice president within 120 days of a presidental election, children of former presidents until age 16 and visiting foreign heads of state and government and their spouses and anyone designated by Executive Order of the president.  But it also investigates crimes that involve financial institution fraud, computer and telecommunications fraud, false identification documents, access device fraud, advance fee fraud, electronic funds transfers and money laundering.

The agency had already been struggling to handle the White House's wartime security needs, increased terrorism threats and including presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), said the report.  And it did not expect to have to start tapping into its $110 million-plus budget for campaign protection until January, but threats on Obama's life forced a change in plans.

This cannot be good news for the nation's airports, many of which continue to struggle to not only get more TSA screeners on site to keep lines down, but just try and stem the tide of TSOs quitting the job.  And I wrote a story (subscribers only) in Aviation Daily in March on a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report saying TSA needed to continue to reasses its staffing allocation model to perform passenger and bag screening at the more than 400 airports where it covers these duties. As of Oct. 31, 2006, these airports had 761 checkpoints and 2,002 screening lanes.

And I just did a post on May 25 about how airports are facing a summer of shortages among the Customs and Immigration agents that help process travelers in and out of the country. A USA Today story on May 21 quotes a Customs official as saying that it has hired all the agents that were in its FY 2007 budget.  And the trade group Travel Industry Association has called on Congress to pay for 200 more agents at airports in a move to get average processing times down to 30 minutes, versus Customs' current goal of 45 minutes.

So the industry will play the wait-and-see game while the Secret Service decides exacly how many screeners and agents it will borrow to handle its upcoming shortage.  Watch this space!!

Guest Blog: Overview Offered From Recent China Airports Conference

Editor's Note: today's guest blog comes from Aileen Cho, senior transport editor of our sister publication Engineering News-Record.  ENR and Aviation Week recently held a China airports construction summit in Xi'an, which focused on the transformation of China’s airport infrastructure in the next 20 years.  Cho discusses highlights from the conference and issues facing the country as it brings its infrastructure up to speed.

Could China become the pioneer in building exemplary airports? It certainly has the opportunity, agreed aviation leaders at the McGraw-Hill China Airport Construction Summit held in Xi-An May 15. After all, China plans to build almost $18 billion worth of airports in the next five years, bringing its total number of airports from 137 to 186. And if its officials absorb the lessons learned offered by Europe and North America, they'll design these greenfield airports to truly be green, secure and high-tech.

Learning about worldwide theory and practice is critically important for China as it embarks on its massive airport program, said Wang Jian, secretary general of the China Civil Airport Association. As real-time interpreters valiantly translated, he told his guests that China was ready to learn from their experience. Jian added that China's aviation industry had paid little attention to the issue in the past...but once the environmental issue explodes, we will be baffled.

Integrating concepts for these issues from the get-go is critical, agreed speakers. For example, earth-friendly aspects of airports are not an add-on, but a fundamental integration into design and construction, said Paul Johnson, global business leader for environmental consulting of Arup Group, Ltd.

For new airports, it all boils down to good planning, said Rod Wille, senior vice president with Turner Construction, New York City. He added: "Green buildings need not cost more than traditional buildings." Although surveys indicated that industry officials thought green buildings would cost up to 15% more than traditional buildings, "that¹s not true," he said.

Good planning and integration of factors such as environment and security from the get-go are crucial, officials agreed. So is looking ahead, rather than being reactive. Jeffrey Scheferman, president of the Houston Airport System Development Co., compared designing future airports to buying a
Blackberry: "Six weeks later, there¹s a newer model," he said. He advised China airport officials to think of passengers as packages the way United Parcel Service does‹screened and accounted for during the entire journey. He emphasized that high-tech airports of the future will include screening passengers and their luggage off-airport, before they even get to the terminal.

The technology is there, but we need political will,²he said, adding: "From the very beginning, make information technology part of your design for a new airport. Don¹t backfill IT around the physical structure."

Airport Vendor News

Alpha Airports Group has won a 3.5 year extension of its contract with American Airlines for in-flight catering services at London Heathrow and London Gatwick airports, effective Jan. 1, 2008.  The carrier also signed a new 3.5 year deal with Alpha to handle its catering at Manchester Airport.

Athletic shoe manufacturer Adidas will be opening a new licensed concept store airside at Auckland International Airport's international terminal in July.  The store will stock Adidas apparel and footwear, including team sportswear for the All Blacks, Rebel Sport Super 14 teams, international soccer teams like Chelsea and Liverpool, NBA and cricket. It will also carry some products exclusive to the airport store.

HMSHost has won a 12-year  contract to redevelop and operate the food and beverage concessions at Ireland's Shannon Airport. The deal covers the renovation of all food and beverage outlets, as well as a convenience retail store. The first remodeled outlet is scheduled to open in the last quarter of 2007. New dining options will include:

• A new restaurant offering the best of locally sourced food ingredients with a contemporary twist and a unique coffee roasting unit.
• Sheridans Food Pub, celebrating Irish food, beverages and products.
• International Gourmet Unit, this international coffee concept will offer branded gourmet coffee beverages, a wide selection of pastries, sandwiches, salads, snacks, and fresh roasted coffee by the pound.

Motorola has won a contract through local integrator Amper Sistemas SA to supply Barcelona Airport with a new TETRA (TErrestrial Trunked RAdio) digital radio system for airport operations. The deployment of the new system is scheduled for completion by early July 2007. Motorola's Dimetra IP Compact will support airport operations such as fleet, freight and logistics management. The system will provide Barcelona Airport with resilient seamless communication including advanced voice technology -- which is crucial in noisy environments such as airports -- as well as data communication capabilities.

HMSHost has opened La Tapenade Mediterranean Café, a new quick casual restaurant at Chicago O’Hare International Airport's Terminal 1.  The restaurant serves international dishes including homemade chutneys, Tzatziki sauces, hummus, fire roasted vegetables, fine cheeses and specialty-grilled meats. Seasonal produce and high-end specialty ingredients are what differentiate this concept from other cafés.  It functions as an all-day café serving morning pastries and coffee, breakfast, lunch and dinner sandwiches, flatbread pizzas, entrée salads, snacks and desserts

Strange But True Airport News

Not even Congress is exempt from TSA's liquids rule.  Thanks to Fark.com for passing this one along.  Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) participated in the Food Stamp Challenge, during which he lived on $3.00 a day -- the same amount an average participant in the Food Stamp Program receives  -- for a full week.  You can see his blog about it here.  But his effort hit a major snag on May 20, day five of the challenge.  On his way home after giving the commencement speech at Franklin Pierce law School, he went to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport to catch his flight home.  But he forgot that in his carry-on bag was a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly, which he figured was "4 or 5 meals" on his plan.  The food was confiscated, leaving Ryan with 33 cents and a bag of cornmeal to last for the final two days of the challenge.

Ooops, she did it again!  This week's entry of "Celebrities Behaving Badly" concerns pop princess Britney Spears.  Entertainment Tonight reports that Spears demanded to get off United Airlines Flight 272 out of Los Angeles International Airport to Orlando after discovering that the seats weren't leather.

Another man caught in the Hartsfield bathroom.  Dr. Luis Marti was arrested at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport after being charged with exposing himself and solicting for sex in the facility's restroom, reports WYFF-TV.  Marti, a pediatrician at Greenville Hospital System’s Children's Hospital, is on administrative leave while the charges are investigated.  He says he is innocent, but is among 50 men who have been arrested at the airport on similar charges since the beginning of 2007.

It only felt like $1.5 million.  Airport security at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport confiscated US$2.27 million in cash from a Nigerian diplomat as he was about to get on a flight to Lagos, reports the International Herald-Tribune.  Nigerian Defense Advisor G. A. Ojedokun told airport officials he was carrying $1.5 million in cash in his carry-on bag, but a search found he was actually carrying $2.27 million.  He fully cooperated and was released because of diplomatic immunity.  The case is being investigated.

She was "stuck" on Leeds-Bradford's environmental policies.  A female environmental activist suplerglued herself to a revolving door at Leeds-Bradford International Airport protesting the government's failure to curb the growth in air travel, according to IndyMedia.org.uk.  A sign on her read: "I AM SUPERGLUED IN POSITION.  PLEASE DO NOT HURT ME BY ATTEMPTING TO REMOVE ME!"
In a statement, she noted the following:  “It is my intention to disrupt the normal working of this airport because it is an environmental hazard. In so doing, I am standing up for the poorest of the world's people, and for future generations, who will bear the brunt of climate chaos, caused by the affluent lifestyles and fossil fuel addiction of the rich."  She was unglued by police after about an hour.

A bank teller accused of stealing a large amount of money from an office safe was arrested at London Gatwick Airport, reports The People.  Sara Drage, 23, was caught after police searched for her throughout Europe after she didn't come to work on the day the money disappeared.

Didn't he know about the liquids ban?  Sheikh Qadir, 32, was arrested at India's Chennai International Airport after being caught with a pickle jar containing 19 syringes filled with suspicious liquid, reports the Times of India.  He was on his way to Dubai on Kuwait Airways.  Police will test the syringes to see what liquids they contained.

Frankly, I can think of better ways to spend $3 billion.  An investor from Kuwait wants to invest $3 billion in a deal inked by the Iraqi government to build a new airport in Karbala, reports the Middle East News Service.

You can't just walk through airport security? Almost 1,000 passengers were evacuated from Omaha's Eppley Airfield after a woman sounded off the alarm at a metal detector but kept walking, reports KETV.  Passengers interviewed by the television station said they didn't understand why Transportation Security Administration screeners didn't stop the woman and avoid the evacuation.  TSA had no comment.

He tried to make his own version of "Snakes On A Plane."  A man was stopped by Customs officers at Egypt's Cairo International Airport after he tried to board a flight to Saudi Arabia smuggling 700 live snakes in a carry-on bag, reports the Associated Press. Yahia Rahim Tulba told security about the snakes as he was asked to open his bag.  He opened the bag, but warned security not to come too close, since among the snakes he was carrying were two poisionous cobras.  The snakes were taken and Tulba was arrested and charged with violating export laws and endangering the lives of others.