Industry News April12

Hartsfield — Jackson International Airport - is seeking 1,500 volunteers to try out its new international terminal before the grand opening. The airport plans an operational readiness test of the international terminal on the morning of May 2, two weeks before the terminal is scheduled to open May 16. Plans are to simulate a day of operation and uncover any potential issues that may come up.

Akron — Canton Airport - announces it had the busiest February in history, as passenger traffic surged with a 23 percent increase compared to 2011. It also marks the 11th record-breaking month in a row for the airport. Year to date passenger traffic is up 18 percent compared to the first two months of 2011.

Nevada Airports — are better economic drivers than those in nearly every other state in the country, a report prepared for ACI-NA says. The report says California airports produced the most economic output in 2010, at $158 billion. That state's 29 airports provided 1.4 million jobs with an annual payroll of $47.1 billion. Nevada was ninth on the 50-state list, with economic output of $40.5 billion. The state's five commercial airports provided 313,640 jobs with an annual payroll of $11.8 billion.

Hawker Beechcraft — sees strong future sales in Asia. Hawker Beechcraft saw a 103 percent increase in the number of jets and a 97 percent increase in the number of turboprops it delivered to Asia between 2006-2010 and 2001-2005. Jetnet data shows that HBC accounted for 41 percent of the total number of deliveries in Asia during the past decade.

Cessna — signs agreements with Chinese partners to build business jets in China and explore other aviation opportunities. The Kansas-based company is joining with state-owned Aviation Industry Corp. of China and the municipal government of Chengdu in western China, where the three plan a joint venture to produce midsize Cessna business jets and possibly new models in the future.