A 70-year-old passenger was arrested Saturday at LaGuardia Airport after authorities say he became irate over a $50 fee to check his bag and told an airline worker there was a bomb in the bag. John Park of Farmington, Michigan, was arrested on a charge of making a terrorist threat after Saturday morning's incident at the Spirit Airlines ticket counter. The perceived threat prompted a partial evacuation of the terminal and the summoning of explosives experts. The police action shut down the ticketing area of the airport's main terminal temporarily while the New York Police Department's bomb squad responded to the scene and checked the bag. No explosives were found. Park pleaded not guilty at his arraignment late Saturday and was released without bail. <br/>
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The US FAA has adopted a new noise standard that will result in a volume decrease of seven decibels (dBs) for certain newly designed subsonic aircraft. The ruling, called Stage 5 Airplane Noise Standards, is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2018, and will apply to any new aircraft design with a maximum takeoff weight of 121,254 lbs. (55,000 kg) or more submitted on or after Dec. 31, 2017, or to any new aircraft design with a MTOW of less than 121,254 lbs. submitted on or after Dec. 31, 2020. According to the ruling, as published in the Federal Register, the “change will … harmonize the noise certification standards for those airplanes certificated in the US with those certificated under international standards.” By lowering the noise limit, the standard requires quieter designs and encourages manufacturers to adopt the latest available noise reduction technology into their designs for new subsonic jet airplanes and subsonic transport category large airplanes, FAA said.<br/>
Airports in large cities are gaining passengers — and smaller towns are losing them, a new report shows. Some smaller airports are shrinking in passenger traffic as large airports grow even larger, according to a new industry report by Airlines Council International. The world's airport "mega-hubs" such as Hartsfield Jackson-Atlanta International Airport grew 5.5% year-over-year in 2016, the World Airport Traffic Report shows. Atlanta's airport, the world's busiest in terms of passengers, continues to grow — though not as fast as hubs in Asia and other places around the globe. At the same time, the report found that 27.4% of small airports lost traffic over the last 10 years. That includes airports that started with fewer than 1m passengers 10 years ago. In Atlanta, Hartsfield-Jackson's passenger traffic has grown from 84.8m passengers in 2006 — the year it opened its fifth runway to boost the airport's capacity — to more than 104m passengers in 2016. That's a nearly 30% increase over the 10-year period. Despite gains for major city hubs, "the downside of airline capacity shifts is that a proportion of smaller regional airports have either stagnated or experienced a reduction in nonstop destinations between cities," said Angela Gittens, director general of ACI World and a former Hartsfield-Jackson general manager. Smaller airports have lost ground as carriers like Delta Air Lines reduce their fleet of smaller regional planes often used to serve smaller towns. Those efforts are aimed to increase efficiency by operating larger, more fuel-efficient jets that can handle more passengers per flight.<br/>
Russia’s Air Traffic Control (ATC) handled a record number of flights during the first nine months of 2017, ATC said in a statement Oct. 13. From January-September, Russian and foreign carriers operated 1.2 million flights over Russian airspace, up 8.2% year-over-year, and up 3% compared to the same period in 2014 when the previous peak was reported. Airlines operated 594,628 international flights, up 13.7% YOY, including 208,609 transit flights, up 6.1% YOY. The number of domestic flights reached 560,606, up 2.8% YOY. In addition, the highest peak of daily traffic volume was reached Aug. 25 when ATC handled 5,363 flights in 24 hours; the previous peak was noted in 2015 when ATC handled 5,172 flights in 24 hours.<br/>
Brussels Airport in Belgium is to spend more than E52m to re-equip one of its piers with modern airbridges in a substantial investment program aimed at improving customer services. The airport, at Zaventem, will replace the 24 airbridges on Pier B. The existing bridges are 25 years old and will be progressively replaced to cope with the increasingly large aircraft operating into the Belgian capital’s airport. The new airbridges will be equipped with air conditioning and large windows. “This major investment in new state-of-the-art boarding bridges perfectly fits in with Brussels Airport’s strategy of offering greater comfort to our customers, passengers and airlines, and increasing operational efficiency,” airport CEO Arnaud Feist said. Sixteen of the new airbridges will be dual boarding bridges, which will speed up the boarding and deplaning process. A triple boarding bridge will be installed at Pier B’s gates 31 and 33, which will allow the airport to meet future demands from airlines to operate Airbus A380s.<br/>
Boeing has used Kobe Steel products that include those falsely certified by the Japanese company, a source with knowledge of the matter said. Boeing does not consider the issue a safety problem, the source stressed, but the revelation may raise compensation costs for the Japanese company, which is embroiled in a widening scandal over the false certification of the strength and durability of components supplied to hundreds of companies. The US airline maker is carrying out a survey of aircraft to ascertain the extent and type of Kobe Steel components in its planes and will share the results with airline customers, said the source who has knowledge of the investigation. Even if the falsely certified parts do not affect safety, given the intense public scrutiny that airlines operate under they may opt to replace suspect parts rather than face any backlash over concerns about safety. Any large-scale program to remove those components, even during scheduled aircraft maintenance, could prove costly for Kobe Steel if it has to foot the bill. Boeing's rival Airbus said it does not buy products directly from Kobe Steel but is investigating whether any suppliers have been affected.<br/>
US President Donald Trump's decision not to re-impose sanctions against Iran is good news for Boeing and its European rival, Airbus, which can continue doing business with Iranian airlines that are desperate for new planes. Between them, Boeing and Airbus have announced deals with Iranian airlines that, if finalized, could cover nearly 300 planes worth $40b. Still, those numbers pale in comparison to standing orders at both companies. Boeing has a backlog of orders that would take more than eight years to fill even if it never made another sale. Airbus has a similarly long list. "This isn't a make-or-break type of thing for either company, but it is definitely good for both Boeing and Airbus," said Douglas Harned, a Bernstein analyst. Boeing declined to comment beyond a brief statement saying that it follows US guidelines and is in close touch with regulators regarding sales to Iran. Airbus declined to comment.<br/>