Briefings Apr11 ...

Massport < approves a mid-year adjustment to its rates and charges for fiscal year 2011, reducing landing fees, baggage screening fees, and most per passenger fees while slightly raising some terminal rents at Boston Logan Int’l Airport. Landing fee is $4.61 per 1,000 pounds, which is .14 cents below the $4.75 landing fee approved last year. Baggage fees declined .05 cents from last year’s approved $1.28 per bag rate to $1.23 per bag. Building rates for Terminal A, B, and C are unchanged, while rental rates in Terminal E will increase slightly but will be offset by a reduction in some passenger fees.

United Airlines < begins two flights a day from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Dulles Int’l Airport.

Flight Design < of South Woodstock CT appoints Premier One Aviation as its associate dealer in Miami, serving south Florida and the Caribbean. Importer Flight Design USA also announced it will choose additional sales representation covering the remainder of Florida and the southeastern USA for its German-made light sport aircraft; www.flightdesignusa.com.

SITA < announces its approval as an electronic fares filing agent by both the U.S. DOT and the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), providing airlines with an alternative system to distribute fares data to global distribution systems and online travel agents covering travel to, from, and within the U.S. and Canada.

PBSJ Corp. < a U.S.-based engineering firm, becomes the North American operations of UK-based Atkins. 

Chicago Department of Aviation < signs a memorandum of understanding establishing O’Hare Int’l and Beijing Int’l Airports as “Sister Airports.”

NEXT GEN < ITT Corp. and a private-equity partner are preparing a loan-guarantee fund of more than $1.5 billion to help upgrade the nation’s air-traffic control system, a financing plan aimed at ending an impasse over how airlines will purchase new equipment.

Global passenger traffic < at airports grew by almost 4 percent in February, with international up by 4.5 and domestic by 3.4 percent. North America’s passenger figures expanded by 2.8 percent.

PHILADELPHIA Int’l Airport < reaches agreement with Adopt-A-Watt®, Inc., which promotes the funding of clean energy, alternative fuel, and energy efficient programs through community sponsorship recognition. Modeled after the Adopt-A-Highway Program, Adopt-A-Watt® provides Sponsor-able Photo-Voltaic Displays (SPVD), which are energy-efficient solar electric system arrays that are mounted and attached to standard electrical service panels and include an acknowledgement sign bearing the name of a sponsor.

AEA < Aircraft Electronics Assn. presents long-time Duncan Aviation manager Ron Hall its 2011 AEA Lifetime Achievement Award during its annual meeting in Reno.

Gulfstream G650 < crashes during takeoff performance tests in Roswell, NM on April 2, killing two Gulfstream pilots and two flight test engineers during type certification flight tests.

EInnovative Solutions & Support, Inc. < of Exton, PA reports FAA has issued it a Supplemental Type Certificate for the Flight Management System (FMS) for the Eclipse Aerospace twin-engine jet.

Vanderlande Industries < of Atlanta is awarded a contract for the design and installation of a new airport baggage handling system at Terminal 4 at JFK Int’l Airport. The contract is scheduled for completion in March, 2013.

Lufthansa Cargo < expands its network in the summer with a direct cargo flight between Frankfurt-Houston-Atlanta-Frankfurt, using a Boeing 777F Aerologic Freighter.

George Bush Intercontinental Airport < reports United/Continental will offer three new markets for Houston, including Bakersfield, CA, Cedar Rapids, IA, and Grand Junction, CO.

Miami Int’l Airport < North Terminal unveils Experience the Everglades, a collection of 26 large-scale photographs featuring the reserve’s wildlife and landscapes that now line the walls of the terminal’s international arrivals corridor.

Van Nuys Airport (CA) < on April 15-17 hosts the EAA Aviation Experience, a three-day event open to the public, offering an expanded program of aviation activities centered on select national tour stops for EAA’s B-17 Flying Fortress “Aluminum Overcast.”

American Eagle Airlines < launches daily nonstop service to the La Romana Int’l Airport in the Caribbean from Miami Int’l. Airport (MIA), using 50-seat ERJ-145 jet aircraft.

Pittsburgh Int’l Airport < announces that most shops at its AIRMALL will now open at 5 a.m. every day.   Passenger traffic has increased in the early morning and the AIRMALL has opened earlier to meet the demand.