Airport check-in
Roger Yu, USA TODAY , 4/14/2008 and 4/21/2008 (excerpted)
ATLANTA: Delay for speedy lanes in Atlanta
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, the world's busiest airport, said Friday that it will postpone its plans to establish Registered Traveler lanes. Instead, the airport will add four security lanes, bringing the total to 32, by the end of summer.
The airport "will defer its decision on a pilot program until we have experience with the new security checkpoint configuration," said Ben DeCosta, airport general manager, in a statement.
The Registered Traveler program provides speedy security clearance through a separate line for prescreened subscribers who pay about $100 a year.
Steven Brill, CEO of Verified Identity Pass, which bid on the Atlanta project, says he still expects the airport to approve Registered Traveler lanes in the future. "It's got to frustrate thousands of frequent fliers in Atlanta who have signed up," he said.
Verified Identity Pass has about 6,000 customers who live in the Atlanta area, he said.
BOSTON: Non-stop to Asia could be coming
Boston Logan is one step closer to getting its first non-stop flight to Asia. The airport said last week that Hainan Airline Aviation Group, an airline holding company in China, has formally applied with the Chinese government to begin daily Beijing-Boston flights.
The route, which would be served by Hainan's Grand China Airlines, would not begin before 2010, partly because of production delays in the long-range Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft the airline intends to use.
In 2006, more than 65,000 passengers flew from Boston to Beijing and Shanghai using connecting service. The airport currently has no direct service to Asia, Africa, Latin America or the Middle East.
Logan has been talking to Chinese officials for three years to develop service. Hainan's application is "an important milestone in the marathon" to establish the route, said Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick in a statement.
DETROIT: Terminal naming rights up for grabs
Detroit Metropolitan said it will sell the renaming rights of its yet-to-open North Terminal to a corporate sponsor. Wayne County Airport Authority CEO Lester Robinson says Detroit will be the first U.S. airport to name facilities after a private company.
The 26-gate North Terminal will open in September and replace the aging Smith Terminal, which serves American, Southwest, United and Air Canada.
NEW ORLEANS: Fees to pay for rental car garage
Travelers at New Orleans Louis Armstrong International will begin paying a $5-per-day "customer facility" charge on airport car rentals this spring, among the highest in the country. The airport will use the collected funds on a 2,600-space consolidated rental car garage that it plans to build by 2012.
The cost of the garage has been estimated at about $140 million. Construction will start in 2010.
The garage, which will consolidate car rental counters and service facilities, would let rental companies triple the number of cars that can be parked near the main terminal. Currently, there's room for about 800 rental cars at or near the airport. Moving sidewalks will connect the garage to the main terminal.
NASHVILLE: Security lanes get adjusted
Nashville International has reshuffled its security lanes.
The airport, which is renovating its concourses, opened a new consolidated checkpoint with four lanes in the middle of its main terminal last week. It plans to have 12 lanes in operation by the end of July.
The airport used to operate two separate checkpoints with nine lanes. The eastern checkpoint with four lanes near Concourses A and B recently closed. But the five lanes near Concourse C will remain open until July, when the remaining lanes at the consolidated checkpoint open.
PALM BEACH, FLA.: JetBlue to relocate for more space
JetBlue will move to Concourse C from Concourse B at Palm Beach International Airport later this year, a move aimed at giving the airport's largest tenant more room to grow. The airport is adding three more gates, for a total of 15, at Concourse C for the move. JetBlue will probably move by the end of the summer, airport spokeswoman Sandy Davis says.