Greece is considering extending a deadline for bids to build and operate a new airport on the island of Crete, people close to the tender process said. The government, which signed up to a third international bailout last summer and wants to attract investment to help the economy return to growth, had set a May 6 deadline for the submission of binding bids to build the Kasteli airport. "All interested parties have asked for an extension and the ministry is looking into it," said an infrastructure ministry official, declining to be named. Greece is one of Europe's major tourist destinations and the E850m Kasteli project would be its fourth biggest airport in terms of traffic, replacing Crete's outdated Heraklion airport, which is struggling to handle nearly 2.6m tourists a year. Greece has made several fruitless attempts to build the facility since 2010 but its debt crisis scared investors away.<br/>
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Aviation stands to save $2b over the next 20 years by replacing ageing air traffic management systems with modern technology, says New Southern Sky director Steve Smyth. Ground-based radar technology now used to manage traffic dates from just after WWII, and the New Southern Sky programme will see it replaced with extensive satellite tracking. Smyth says the changes echo a similar technology switch elsewhere in the world. "It's all about delivering economic and environmental benefits. We'll see shorter, more direct journeys and a faster turnaround of aircraft. This will reduce the amount of CO2 generated by the industry and the change will pay off in terms of fuel savings, lower operating costs for airlines and less capital investment tied up in aircraft." In many cases, flying more direct routes could mean more noise for people living under flight paths, but Smyth says this is offset by quieter planes than in the past. He says a recent 22-week study looked at international flights taking a more direct northern approach route into Auckland airport. "The result of the changed flightpath meant 720,000kg less CO2 was dumped into the atmosphere", he says. In addition to more direct flights, the new system will link airports to each other. That way, flights can be better timed to reduce the number of planes waiting in costly and environmentally damaging holding patterns above cities as they wait for a landing slot.<br/>
Spanish construction firm Ferrovial may cancel its plan to bid jointly with local builder ICA for a contract to build a US$3.5b terminal building for Mexico City's new airport. The Spanish builder is weighing an exit from a memorandum of understanding with ICA, two people familiar with the matter said, as ICA struggles under US$3.74b of debt. The joint bid memorandum was signed by both companies in Madrid in July 2015. Two of the sources said Ferrovial has contacted other companies seeking possible partners to form a new consortium to bid on the terminal. Ferrovial declined to comment.<br/>