The only flights into storm-ravaged Houston right now are carrying much-needed supplies. United, Southwest, Spirit and American Airlines each say they've airlifted supplies into or people out of the city since Hurricane Harvey hit on Friday. With those limited exceptions, Houston's two airports remained closed to passenger air travel. On Tuesday afternoon, the FAA issued flight restrictions over the greater Houston area. Those restrictions cover 1,200 square nautical miles over the city and are intended to keep airspace clear for search and rescue flights, the FAA said. Houston has two airports. Flights "are limited to humanitarian flights and first responder support for Hurricane recovery," Houston Airports said Monday. The closed airports are being used as a staging and re-fuelling area for the search and rescue aircraft currently flying about Houston. United said it would fly two 777 jets loaded with water, blankets and donated amenity kits to Houston from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Tuesday. The first plane departed with 36,000 pounds of relief supplies, the airline told CNN. American flew a 757 with supplies to Houston from Dallas late Monday, although it said the items on board were "for their team members." The plane departed Houston with employees of American and a regional airline it works with.<br/>
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Tropical Storm Harvey has already caused thousands of flight cancellations around Houston and could cripple regional aviation through the U.S. Labor Day holiday, taking a bite out of airline profits during one of the year’s busiest travel periods. Since making landfall Friday, the deadly storm has dumped several feet of rain on Houston and surrounding areas, forcing the temporary closure of three airports. Normal regional airline operations will likely not resume until Wednesday or Thursday, even under the best-case scenario. The Houston airport authority has not said when it will reopen, but the Federal Aviation Administration said it would not be before Wednesday for Hobby Airport and Thursday for Houston Intercontinental Airport. “They are going to be opened when conditions allow us to operate safely. Period. I don’t want to put a date on it,” a Houston Airports System spokesman said. A government official briefed on the matter said with limited jet fuel in place and impassable roads, Houston airports may officially reopen this week but are not likely to resume anything close to full operations until next week. Currently just one road to Hobby is open and all roads near Houston Intercontinental remain impassable. A big issue is getting TSA officials, flight crews and passengers to the airports. This could mean service disruptions that last through the close of the Labor Day travel period, which had been projected to be even busier than normal this year.<br/>
Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport began operations from a newly built third terminal and third runway Aug. 29. The 530,000 sq m terminal, which began construction in August 2012, can handle an annual capacity of 45m passengers, 1.1m tonnes of cargo and 373,000 aircraft movements. It has also added 94 aircraft parking stands. Chongqing Airport’s first two terminals have a total area of 200,000 sq m and can handle 30 million passengers annually. Last year, the airport transported 36m passengers. Four domestic carriers—Sichuan Airlines, West Air, China Express Airlines and Spring Airlines—will stay in Terminal 2 while the other carriers will move to the new Terminal 3. Chongqing Airport said the new third terminal is equipped with advanced technology including RFID in baggage handling. As the third runway goes into formal operation, the airport has become the first Chinese airport with three runways in West China and the fourth Chinese airport with three runways after Beijing Capital, Shanghai Pudong and Guangzhou Baiyun airports.<br/>
Asia’s second-biggest aircraft lessor, BOC Aviation, posted a 13% rise in half-year net profit but its CEO warned of a potential fall in industry yields from next year as lessors globally absorb more aircraft deliveries. “There is going to be some downward pressure,“ CE Robert Martin said. ”We are pretty much placed for next year already. For us, that will affect us in 2019.” The company, which is based in Singapore but majority owned by Bank of China, reported a net profit of $240m for the six months ended June 30, up from $212m a year ago. Its net lease yield remained steady at 8.5% as its fleet of owned and managed aircraft grew to 297 as of June 30 from 265 in the prior year. Asian lessors are investing billions of dollars to expand in a sector that offers long-term and dollar-based revenue, underscoring the region’s importance to an industry that makes up about 40% of the world’s airline fleet. The majority of BOC Aviation’s aircraft are deployed with Asian airlines, with Cathay Pacific Airways and Indonesia’s Lion Air Group among its main customers.<br/>
Queenstown Airport will need a new terminal to accommodate passenger movements which may be capped at 5m a year by 2045, airport bosses say. Wanaka Airport might also be developed as a "dual airport" to take some pressure off Queenstown. A master plan for the airport for the next 30 years was released by Queenstown Airport Corporation CE Colin Keel and property and planning general manager Rachel Tregidga yesterday. Keel asked the community to imagine what the resort would look like in 30 years. Forecasting showed passenger movements, arrivals and departures, would reach 7m a year. That equated to about 3.5m residents or visitors moving through the airport. The company had decided that number was "not a sustainable growth figure for Queenstown Airport". "It's potential growth. It doesn't have to happen if we don't want it to." Keel said, instead, the airport was planning for five million passenger movements.<br/>