TPT May 2008

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From the AmericaS
May 2008 82 ›
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