German airport operator Fraport AG said Friday a court had cleared its €4 billion ($5.7 billion) plans to expand Frankfurt's main international airport. The plan, which was cleared by the administrative court of the state of Hessen, includes building a new runway at the airport. However, the court also ruled that the state of Hessen must come up with new rules governing night flights over the Frankfurt area.
The move comes as other large European airports are also considering expansion plans, even though the industry is undergoing one of its worst ever downturns as economic woes have slashed passenger numbers and cargo volumes. In each case, expansion plans have polarized opinion, with businesses saying expansion is key to the growth of the economy, and local and environmental campaigners complaining about noise levels and the environmental impact.
On Wednesday, June 17, Barcelona El Prat took its newly build terminal building into operation. With a capacity of 30 million passengers per year, overall passenger handling capacity is boosted to 55 million annually. The new terminal is able to facilitate 43 aircraft at the same time while surrounding platform facilities raise this number to 73.
Canada geese are one of the most familiar wildlife species in New York. In fact, these birds are important for the recreational opportunities they provide, and, more importantly, the problems they can cause. Earlier this year a US Airways Airbus A320 was forced to make an emergency landing in the Hudson river after both engines failed resulting from colliding with some of these animals. The last ten years have shown seven similar incidents, with some of them not ending as favorable as the latest.
US Airways Flight 1549 had just taken off from New York's LaGuardia Airport, when it collided with a flock of geese approximately 2,900 feet above the ground, extensively damaging both of the aircraft's engines. The pilot was able to conduct an emergency landing in the Hudson River and all 155 people on board survived.
In order to reduce the risk of bird collisions in the future, the state of New York decided to decrease the number of geese by approximately 2.000 in area's around the airport.
Management executives of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol recently announced that the addition of a sixth (seventh if you count the smaller GA runway) runway is still necessary in order to maintain its growth strategy and guarentee sufficient airport handling capacity. Although recent plans for such a runway were set aside, Schiphol underlines that this need is likely to arise after 2020. The new runway, parallel to the current Kaagbaan (06-24), would be capable of handling increasing traffic loads in a more efficient way while at the same time neighboring communities around the airport are further relieved from noise nuisance.
At the same time the airport management officials announced that it is planning to contruct a facility in the North sea that consists of several windmills that are capable of providing 20% of the airports' power supply. Currently the amount of self-generated power consists of a mere 1% and Schiphol hopes to increase this amount gradually and has advanced plans to achieve this goal of which this windmill facility is an important part.
Despite the economic crisis and its severe impact on the aviation industry, and in particular passengers and freight numbers, Dubai airport managed to record a 6.5 per cent passenger growth last April compared to the same month last year.
Canada geese are one of the most familiar wildlife species in New York. In fact, these birds are important for the recreational opportunities they provide, and, more importantly, the problems they can cause. Earlier this year a US Airways Airbus A320 was forced to make an emergency landing in the Hudson river after both engines failed resulting from colliding with some of these animals. The last ten years have shown seven similar incidents, with some of them not ending as favorable as the latest.