The main airport serving the Indonesian capital Jakarta will next week open a new terminal to ease the burden on the country's busiest aviation hub, the airport operator said Wednesday. Air passenger numbers are soaring in Indonesia, the world's biggest archipelago nation, as a growing middle class increasingly chooses to fly but ageing infrastructure is struggling to keep up. The US$380m terminal at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which will start operations at about midnight on Monday, will have a capacity of 25m passengers a year once fully operational, said state-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura II. The other terminals are currently handling a total of about 60 million passengers a year, way over their capacity. The new Terminal 3 will start off handling only flights operated by Indonesian flag carrier Garuda, and it is hoped it will be fully operational by March next year. "This will be the biggest terminal in Indonesia," Angkasa Pura II CE Djoko Murjatmodjo said. It will eventually be connected to central Jakarta, about 30km away, by a rail link. There is currently no rail line between the airport and city centre, leaving passengers facing monster traffic jams to get into Jakarta at busy times. The terminal's opening has been delayed for more than a month after the government ordered alterations following the discovery that an important part of the airport was not visible from the air traffic control tower.<br/>
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IATA said demand for air freight rose 4.3% in June, the fastest rate of growth for over a year. Capacity, measured in available freight tonne km, increased by 4.9% year-on-year, keeping yields under downward pressure. “Global economic growth remains sluggish, world trade volumes continue to trend downwards and the industry faces heightened uncertainty in the aftermath of the Brexit vote,” IATA DG Tony Tyler said.<br/>
Several major airlines are changing their policies on refunds and changes to travel plans for those headed to areas affected by the mosquito-related virus Zika. At least a dozen infections have been reported in part of Miami, according to health officials. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a recent travel advisory to parts of Florida. Spirit Airlines, American Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest Airlines and Delta all have made changes to how passengers can adjust their travel plans because of warnings about the virus. The dates vary on when travellers have to meet deadlines to make the changes without facing penalties. Travellers are advised to check with their individual carrier.<br/>
Passenger traffic through gateway Suvarnabhumi and five other big Thai airports showed robust growth in the first half of the year. <br/>Passenger traffic grew in tandem with aircraft movements, which rose by 9.1% to 389,740 as the country's political stability and growing tourism industry fuelled traffic demand. Cargo movements through AoT-operated airports, which were in the doldrums, also showed an increase in the first half with 3.9% growth to 689,734 tonnes. Suvarnabhumi continued to hold the lion's share of overall passenger traffic with 28.39 million passengers, representing 46.5% of the total. <br/>