TPT May 2008

From the AmericaS

Silver linings Los Angeles International Airport sees the bright side of the weakening American dollar Surveys of frequent fliers bristle with complaints about the crowded, aging terminals of Los Angeles International Airport, customarily ranked among the nation’s worst. But Los Angeles Times staff writer Peter Pae noted that, even as a slowing economy and high fuel costs have US carriers cutting back, international airlines are turning to LAX as more overseas travellers schedule visits to the US to take advantage of the cheap dollar ( ‘Foreign airlines flock to LAX,’ 31 March). Mr Pae wrote that eight carriers have started or announced new international service to LAX since October, including the first non- stop Rome-Los Angeles flights on Alitalia Airlines to begin in June and Air France non-stop service to London begun the last day of March. Emirates Airlines, the world’s fastest growing carrier, announced that it would launch LAX-Dubai non-stop service, targeting Southern California’s sizable Middle Eastern community. Brazilian carrier OceanAir filed an application with the US Department of Transportation to start its first US service with non- stop flights between São Paulo and LAX. The carrier’s Brazilian rival TAM Airlines also is eyeing the route, according to Mr Pae. And Korean Air announced that it, too, would start non-stop flights between LAX and São Paulo. The service by the South Korean carrier would target business travellers in the US as well as provide

connecting service for Asian passengers who currently are without non-stop flights to Brazil. The list goes on, and to no one’s surprise includes a project of British billionaire Richard Branson: a new airline in Australia set to commence non-stop flights from Sydney and other Australian cities to LAX in direct competition with Qantas, the national airline of Australia. The announcement was to be timed to coincide with the signing of a US-Australia accord allowing unrestricted flights between the two countries. LAX officials told the hometown paper that they expect the number of international passengers passing through their terminals this year to be back to pre-9/11 levels. The number of international passengers was up more than 8 per cent in January and nearly 11 per cent in February. Frank Clark is executive director of LAXTEC Corp, the nonprofit group that represents airlines that fly out of the Bradley terminal at LAX. Mr Clark told the Los Angeles Times , “It’s going to be a very busy summer.” Steady traffic through New York’s airports is helping stave off a local downturn The notion of the elderly airport as an engine of economic growth received another boost, this time on the opposite coast from Los Angeles (See item above). It seems that the boom in the travel

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M ay 2008

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