The Week in brief
- Continental Airlines has awarded Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) a new contract to collaborate with its partner, United Airlines, at London’s Heathrow Airport. WFS has also acquired the lease on an additional 60,000-tonne-capacity cargo terminal in the World Cargocentre at Heathrow Airport. WFS said this procurement has boosted its overall on-airport and off-airport capacity in London to 250,000 square feet.
- An American Airlines flight made an emergency landing in Arkansas on May 15 after the pilot reported an engine fire. No injuries were reported on Flight 1720, which was transporting 136 passengers and five crewmembers from Dallas to Washington. Upon landing, no fire was discovered. The Federal Aviation Administration is currently investigating the incident.'
- Alaska Air Cargo transported the season’s first shipment of Copper River salmon to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on May 17. “We're proud to bring this prized, wild Copper River salmon to the lower 48 and points beyond,” Joe Sprague, Alaska Airlines’ vice president of marketing, said in a statement. “With enhanced food quality procedures and additional flights to support the Alaska seafood industry, we are going the extra mile to deliver fresh seafood throughout the country.”
- The Air Transport Association of America has estimated that approximately 2.24 million people will fly each day this summer. A daily passenger increase of 34,000 over 2010, U.S. airlines are expected to transport 206.2 million people from June through August. Considering the rising cost of fuel, ATA President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio is encouraged by these numbers. “It is encouraging that more people will be flying this summer, despite higher energy prices taxing the entire economy,” he said in a statement. “The trends are pointing in the right direction.”
