St Croix airport: redesign unveiled

A design charrette for the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix came along with some positive news that both the territory’s airports were placed ahead of states to receive funding from the federal government for their redevelopment following the 2017 storms.

That’s according to Virgin Islands Port Authority Director David Mapp, speaking at the St. Croix airport’s terminal cruise lounge to a packed audience during the charrette on Tuesday evening. He said the U.S. Department of Transportation, whose arms include the Federal Aviation Administration, had set aside $1 billion for U.S. states and territories affected by disasters.

Mr. Mapp told The Consortium that it would cost $130 million for the redesign of the St. Croix airport, however, he did not give a timeline for completion. Instead, he said the redesign effort would be a balancing act of maintaining operations while work is performed.

Asked whether he was certain that the territory would receive the funding (the Cyril E. King Airport redesign costs an estimated $230 million), Mr. Mapp said, “I think with the money being available and us being number 1 to get it, I”m pretty sure we’re going to get it.”

The territory has to submit its proposal to the Department of Transportation by October 31, according to Mr. Mapp. It will be competing with Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico for a portion of the $1 billion. “We have the highest priority is what we were told, and we don’t want a whole building, that’s the answer,” Mr. Mapp added.

Mr. Mapp said the redesign would take into consideration the recommendations of residents.

According to the pamphlet provided, the current redesign plan includes the following:

⇒ Redesign, expansion and modernization of the interior of the terminal

This includes:

Addition of a second level
Integration of jet bridges
Increasing of concession/retail space
⇒ Revitalization flow between compartments

This includes:

Improvement of passenger flow
Expansion of baggage handling
The design also includes the incorporation of tropical landscape and improvements to assist with the flow of vehicular traffic, among them a plan to reposition pay kiosks. Solar energy will also play a big role in powering the redesigned airport.

Mr. Mapp said the redesign, once completed, would increase airport traffic by 50 percent.

Source: The Virgin Islands Consortium

Costa Rica: proyectan un nuevo aeropuerto internacional en Limón

Una firma de los Estados Unidos ha presentado el estudio de impacto ambiental para la construcción en Limón, Costa Rica, de un nuevo aeropuerto internacional, que tendría una pista de 4 kilómetros, una terminal de pasajeros de 18 mil metros cuadrados y una bodega de 30 mil metros cuadrados.

La empresa Mel Group ELM S.A, que ya en 2015 había presentado la propuesta para financiar el desarrollo del proyecto, presentó el estudio de impacto ambiental ante Setena.

El aeropuerto que se prevé construir en Saborío de Matina, a alrededor de 25 kilómetros del puerto de Moín, sería Multimodal, categoría 4-F, y funcionaría para el transporte de carga aérea y de pasajeros.

El documento indica que ‘el proyecto fue formulado en una zona geográfica técnicamente posicionada, que permitiría enlazar el transporte de carga de la región y actuar como un Nodo, que reactivaría la dinámica y la conectividad aérea, portuaria y ferroviaria’.

La terminal aérea tendría una pista de 4 kilómetros, con capacidad para atender aviones de gran tonelaje, como un Airbus A380 o similares.

El diseño contempla también una bodega de 30.000m2, un hotel para pasajeros en tránsito, una terminal de pasajeros de 18.500 m2 de construcción, y un área de parqueo público de 23.000 m2, para un total de 560 automóviles, con un área parcialmente cubierta.

Fuente: Aerolatinnews

Construirán aeropuerto internacional en el noroeste de Haití

El gobierno haitiano anunció la construcción de un aeropuerto internacional en Port de Paix, departamento Noroeste, que deberá comenzar a funcionar en diciembre de 2019, destaca hoy la prensa local.

 

Según la plataforma digital Haiti Libre, Wilson Laleau, jefe de Gabinete del presidente Jovenel Moïse, visitó la región para comenzar el análisis del proyecto, que contará con la asociación del Estado y los sectores privados, y cuyo costo y soporte financiero se desconoce hasta el momento.

El aeródromo tendrá categoría 3C (destino y vuelos de menos de mil kilómetros), con una pista de dos kilómetros de largo y de acuerdo al sitio, las aeronaves contarán con capacidad de hasta 100 asientos.

Jean Daniel Decolline, ingeniero de la Oficina Nacional de Aviación Civil señaló que en el futuro existe la posibilidad de ampliar la pista de aterrizaje, lo que permitirá a aviones de mayor tamaño utilizar los servicios del aeropuerto.

Asimismo, precisó que aunque a unos 200 kilómetros de Port de Paix está emplazada la terminal de Cabo Haitiano, segunda en importancia del país, el departamento Noroeste permanece aislado.

Indicó que actualmente casi el 70 por ciento de los vuelos procedentes del extranjero con destino a Cabo Haitiano, sirven a los habitantes del Noroeste.

Fuente: Prensa Latina

The fastest-growing major airports in the world so far this year

Ten of the top 20 fastest-growing major airports in the world during the first six months of 2018 are located in either China or India, a new study by Routesonline has found.

Taking the top spot is Quanzhou Jinjiang International, an airport serving the city of Quanzhou in the south-eastern Chinese province of Fujian. The airport enjoyed growth of 58.6 percent during the first-half of the year after handling in excess of 4.3 million passengers, up from 2.66 million a year ago.

Much of the growth was driven by Shenzhen Airlines and Xiamen Airlines which added a combined 475,000 available departure seats, according to OAG Schedules Analyser. New routes included Shenzhen Airlines’ services to Chongqing and Zhuhai, and Xiamen Airlines’ flights to Haikou and Kaohsiung.

The research ranked all airports by passenger numbers from January-June 2018, using preliminary data provided by Sabre Market Intelligence, and then by percentage annual growth when compared with the same period in 2017. Only airports with more than 2.5 million passengers during the first half of the year were included.

At number two in the list is Nanchang Changbei International, serving the capital of China’s Jiangxi province. Despite the airport suffering a partial roof collapse in March following strong winds, passenger numbers increased by 57.7 percent to 7.08 million.

Nanchang’s largest carrier by capacity is China Eastern Airlines, while Shenzhen Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Jiangxi Air each have a large presence at the airport. Beijing, Haikou and Shenzhen are its top three largest markets by available seats.

Completing the top three is Tehran Imam Khomeini International, the primary international airport of the Iranian capital city. The airport, which recently completed eight development projects, grew passenger numbers by 48.6 percent to 3.93 million, helped by Ata Airlines upping frequencies to Istanbul Ataturk.

Overall, six airports in China feature in the top 20 – Yantai (7th), Hefei (12th), Shijiazhuang (18th) and Fuzhou (19th) in addition to Quanzhou and Nanchang – while four are in India. The Indian airports are Bangalore (8th), Jaipur (10th), Lucknow (11th) and Hyderabad (20th).

Sevilla International (6th) is the highest-placed airport in Europe in the top 20 alongside fellow Spanish airports Tenerife North (9th) and Valencia (13th), with route and frequency increases by low-cost carrier Ryanair a common theme for each. Ethiopian Airlines’ growth fuelled a 25.8 percent passenger increase at Addis Ababa (15th), making it Africa’s sole entrant.

Although no airports in the Americas were among the top 20 ranked by percentage growth, research by Routesonline has found that nine airports in the US featured in the list of airports which added the largest number of passengers during the first-half of 2018, compared to the same period in 2017.

Tokyo’s Haneda International added more than 4.3 million passengers from January to June, compared with a year ago, putting it at number one in the table. Sabre Market Intelligence preliminary figures show it welcomed 43,288,558 passengers during the first six months of 2018.

At number is Bangalore after adding 4.18 million passengers, while Jakarta’s Soekarno–Hatta is third following a 3.9 million increase.

Chicago O’Hare is in fourth place with growth of 3.5 million passengers, the highest-placed of nine US airports in the top 20. Also featuring is Dallas Fort Worth (7th), Los Angeles International (8th), Seattle-Tacoma (13th), Newark Liberty (14th), Denver (16th), San Francisco (18th), Boston Logan (19th) and Orlando International (20th).