Airport News.

Groups urge FAA to rethink approach to flight caps. The Federal Aviation Administration should extend flight caps at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport only if it also raises caps to take advantage of unused capacity, according to Airports Council International and the City of Chicago. The groups note there is more capacity at the airport now because of the demise of Independence Air. Mar 29, 2006

Close calls at O'Hare send a message. The large volume of traffic at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, combined with its straight, intersecting runways presents a threat of collision, ABC's John Nance writes. Two close calls at the airport last week indicate airport officials should consider changing the way takeoffs and landings are handled, Nance says. Mar 29, 2006

Two planes abort takeoffs to avoid collisions at O'Hare. The Federal Aviation Administration said two planes aborted their takeoffs last week at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to avoid colliding with other jetliners. An FAA spokesman said such incidents are "extremely rare." "We have gone an entire year without having a serious incident like that at any U.S. airport," he said. Mar 27, 2006

British Airport Authority

British Airport Authority intends to close London Heathrow's Terminal 2 in 2009 as part of the reorganization of its airport infrastructure that will follow the March 2008 opening of Terminal 5. T2 opened in 1955 and is LHR's first and oldest terminal. The airport operator expects passenger throughput in T2 to fall to fewer than 1.5 million a year, compared to 9 million at present, once the relocation of airlines and co-location of various alliances is finalized. "As a result, the forecast passenger flows in Terminal 2 are significantly reduced, thus giving rise to questions around the economic and operational viability of the terminal," BAA said in a statement. Oneworld will move into T5 and T3 (, March 14), Star Alliance will occupy Terminal 1, SkyTeam will take Terminal 4 and Virgin Atlantic will be in T3. Nonaligned airlines now in T2 probably will be relocated to T4. Mar 28, 2006

Canadian airports

Canadian airports eliminate security questions. Airline passengers will no longer be asked routine security questions about baggage contents when departing Canadian airports, the government announced Wednesday. "We are confident that this move will improve efficiency, provide a better flying experience for passengers and reduce air carrier costs -- all without compromising security," Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon said. Mar 30, 2006

Cardiff Airport

Cardiff Airport has a "wish list" with flights to Germany at the top, according to managing director John Horne. Speaking at a "Headlines" press lunch last week he said that Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Munich were priorities, as well as scheduled services to Italy to support the large ex-pat community in Wales. Cardiff expects to handle over 2m this year, a 22% increase on the 1.73m in 2005. With the sudden decision of Air Wales to stop scheduled services the airport is delighted that virtually all the routes and schedules have been taken up by other operators (see last week's ). On the leisure front Excel Airways is launching ten new holiday destinations, whilst new Maltese airline British Jet plans to launch regular charter flights to Malta from July. With these new services Cardiff International is offering more leisure destinations than ever before, with over 60 destinations this year. Mr. Horne hosted amongst others David Bryon, managing director, bmibaby; Malcolm Naylor, managing director, Air Southwest; Maurice Boyle, managing director, Thomsonfly and Hugh Boyle, chairman, Zoom. http://www.cwlfly.com Apr 2, 2006

Dallas Love Field 

Some Dallas council members support Wright repeal. Most members of the Dallas City Council support an immediate or eventual repeal of the law that limits flying from Dallas Love Field, according to one council member. The members also believe some gates at Love should be eliminated to reduce traffic and noise. The council has not reached an agreement on the Wright amendment issue. Mar 28, 2006

Dallas Love Field

One-stop flights could solve Wright dispute. Officials in Texas are considering solving the Wright Amendment dispute with "through-ticketing" rights. The compromise would allow Southwest Airlines travelers to fly anywhere from Dallas Love Field on one ticket as long as they stop within certain states. Wright currently limits flying from Love Field. Mar 27, 2006

Delta Air Lines, Atlanta airport

Delta Air Lines announced yesterday that it will make a significant investment in improving passenger service at its Atlanta hub, adding 50% more lobby space, 24 self-service kiosks with international check-in capability, 14 lower-level check-in positions, redesigned gate seating and a new Crown Room Club on Concourse C. It has added 24 international routes from Atlanta since September and launched or expanded service in more than 30 domestic markets. Most changes will be completed next month. The lobby expansion and redesigned gates in Concourses A, B and T will be finished by summer 2007. Mar 29, 2006

Finnair Group, Northport Oy

Finnair Group's airport ground handling service company, Northport Oy, is forming a subsidiary to provide services at Oslo Gardermoen from Oct. 1. The new company's first contract will be with Norwegian Air Shuttle. Mar 28, 2006

Grupo Ferrovial, BAA

Grupo Ferrovial of Spain, along with Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec and an investment company managed by GIC Special Investments, announced that Macquarie Bank will join Citigroup Global Markets as an adviser in the consortium's effort to acquire UK airports operator BAA. Ferrovial's initial all-cash buyout offer was rejected two weeks ago. In addition, Ferrovial and Macquarie Airports agreed to grant each other conditional call and put options on the holdings of Ferrovial Aeropuertos in the capital of the companies managing airports in Sydney and Bristol. Exercise of the options is conditional upon the acquisition of a controlling interest in BAA, Ferrovial said. Macquarie then would have the right to purchase 20.9% of the capital of Sydney, a share valued at A$1 billion ($715 million), and 50% of Bristol, a share valued at [pounds sterling]106 million ($185.3 million). In turn, Ferrovial can exercise its put options at a 7.5% discount on the price of the call options, amounting to A$934 million at Sydney and [pounds sterling]98 million at Bristol. Mar 30, 2006

London Heathrow

London[sup.1]s Heathrow is forecasting more congestion problems over the Easter weekend and users of T4 would have seen a canvass roof covering already in place at departures. This is due to extra security measures that have been put into place and BAA is emphasizing early arrival and minimum hand baggage. Even "Fast Track" is now becoming a bit of a misnomer. http://www.baa.com Apr 2, 2006

Moscow Domodedovo

Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, the home of British Airways for the Russian capital, has passed an audit by the US Transportation Security Administration that it fully complies with the ICAO requirements. The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created in response to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, as part of the legislative measures introduced by President George W. Bush after the tragic events. TSA was originally in the Department of Transportation but was moved to the Department of Homeland Security in March 2003. The assessment panel that conducted the audit at the airport used ICAO's Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs). http://www.domodedovo.ru Apr 2, 2006

Singapore Changi

Singapore Changi opened its new Budget Terminal Sunday. Tiger Airways, which operates a fleet of four A320s, is the first and only airline currently operating out of the $27.5 million facility, construction of which was completed in January. Tiger operated 16 flights (eight departures and eight arrivals) Sunday. "We are happy to have so many flights on the first day of operations at the new Budget Terminal. This will allow us to put our operational systems and procedures through the mill and ensure we are well placed to scale up our operations when our two new A320 aircraft start operations next month," Tiger CEO Tony Davis said. "We will be announcing more new destinations in the coming months." Mar 28, 2006