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Assn. of European Airlines expressed concern
Frankfurt International reported that a total of 24.2 million passengers used the airport
BAA reported a total of 55.2 million passengers at its UK airports
Munich Airport saw the number of passengers decline

ATW's Airports Today, August, 2009, p.7

Assn. of European Airlines expressed concern over "the continuing trend on the part of airports across Europe to increase the fees they charge to their airline customers in order to compensate themselves for lower traffic levels during the current recession." It said the practice is particularly evident in Germany, where Frankfurt is proposing an 8.4% boost next January to fund future expansion on top of a 4.6% hike for "central infrastructure." Munich announced a 4% increase in charges. AEA said it saw "similar stories of restraint in airport charges being short-lived" elsewhere in Europe. "In better times, such behavior was unreasonable. During the worst crisis the industry has known, it is completely unacceptable," Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus said. "This current downturn affects all of us, but airlines much harder than the infrastructure providers because we not only have fewer passengers, but they are traveling on lower fares."

Frankfurt International reported that a total of 24.2 million passengers used the airport in the first six months of 2009, representing an 8% decline from the year-ago period. Freight traffic was down 21.5% in the first half of the year to 822,469 metric tons. Aircraft movements dropped 5.7% during the period to 227,844.

BAA reported a total of 55.2 million passengers at its UK airports for the first six months of 2009, representing a 7.4% decrease over the same period a year ago. Passenger traffic at Heathrow was 31.2 million, down 3.8% from 2008; Gatwick reported 14.7 million passengers, down 9.8%, and Stansted had 9.2 million, a 14.4% drop. The declines continue to reflect what BAA described as "difficult economic circumstances" but it noted that the downward trend for the month of June was a 5.9% drop for the UK airports, a slight improvement over the past six months.

Munich Airport saw the number of passengers decline in the first half of the year by 9% to 15.4 million. Freight dropped by 18% to 109,000 tons of cargo. Takeoffs and landings fell 9.1% to 196,883.

Development and construction

Miami International opened a new business center in the South Terminal where passengers can rent a mobile phone, fax or photocopy documents or exchange currency. The center also offers five computers with Internet access and a conference room that holds 10 people.


Dusseldorf International will open a REWE Group citymarket by year end in the public area of Terminal C that will offer a wide range of fresh produce, a wine selection and assorted cold meats and cheeses. The market will be open seven days a week and is designed to serve both passengers and airport employees.

New York JFK is revamping dining offerings at Terminal 4 in conjunction with food and beverage concessionaire SSP America. Well-known brands such as The Palm and the Seafood Bar by Caviar House & Prunier will be among the new concessions.

Contracts

Sensis Corp.'s Low Cost Ground Surveillance was selected by US FAA for evaluation as part of its initiative to reduce runway incursions at small/medium-size airports by providing air traffic controllers with basic ground surveillance of runways and taxiways.

Sensis will deploy its Aerobahn airport automation and management tool at Atlanta under a contract with the City of Atlanta Dept. of Aviation.

Bombardier Transportation signed a contract valued at $255 million with the City of Phoenix to design/build, operate and maintain an automated people-mover at Phoenix Sky Harbor International.

SITA will provide its common use passenger processing system to Continental Airlines to aid in boarding passengers at Orlando International. The CUPPS application, which can run on multiple vendor platforms, was deployed by WestJet at Orlando earlier this year. Also, SITA announced a $9 million contract in Ukraine for airport systems integration for the new $205 million Kharkiv International. It was awarded a contract by the Dublin Airport Authority to act as system integrator for a specialist IT and communications system for the airport's new €395 million Terminal Two.

Siemens Mobility was tapped by ANA Aeroportos de Portugal SA to expand the existing baggage handling system at Lisbon. The contract is valued at €31.5 million and the project is scheduled for completion by 2011.

ARINC was awarded a contract to install its vMUSE passenger check-in platform at Manila International's two main terminals. ARINC recently won the contract to supply the new passenger systems at Manila including 84 check-in counters and 15 boarding gates in Terminal 1 and 40 check-in counters and 6 boarding gates in T2.

Oshkosh Airports Products Group delivered two H-series high-speed blower vehicles to Frankfurt International, marking the company's first sale of snow removal vehicles in Germany. Oshkosh also sold two Striker 3000 aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicles to Incheon International.


Defintech Lifeline installed 65 automated external defibrillators at Madrid Barajas, which serves 130,000 passengers daily.

Quantum Aviation Solutions BagScan was selected to provide baggage tracking and reconciliation at Kansai International for all flights at the airport that rely on ANA ground handling services.

ASIG renewed agreements with American Airlines to provide aircraft refueling services at seven US airports including Seattle-Tacoma, John Wayne, New Orleans and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood.

Changi Airport Group will use ARINC's Common Use Self Service kiosks and its Passenger Reconciliation System to aid passenger check-in procedures.

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