• Winner – Departure performance among major international airports:
  Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
  Seattle, WA, USSEA achieved a 2011 on-time performance record of 86.28%. The average on-time performance was 71.02%% for this category. This is the second year in a row SEA has won the award. “The investments we’ve made improving our facilities and operations continue to pay off,” say’s Mark Reis of Sea-Tac Airport. “Credit goes to the efficiencies built into the airfield, terminal and runway operations as well as the terrific work from the entire team of port employees and our operational partners.”
• Winner – Departure performance among major North American airports:
  Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC)
  Salt Lake City, UT, USSLC achieved a 2011 on-time performance record of 86.55%. The average on-time performance was 76.67% for this category. Portland International Airport (PDX) was a very close second in achieving an on-time performance of 86.38%.
• Winner – Departure performance among major European airports:
  Oslo Airport (OSL)
  Gardermoen, NOOSL achieved a 2011 on-time performance record of 87.17%. The average on-time performance was 73.42% for this category. This is the second year in a row OSL has won the award.
• Winner – Departure performance among major Asian airports:
  Haneda Airport (HND)
  Tokyo, JPHND achieved a 2011 on-time performance record of 95.05%. The average on-time performance was 55.03% for this category.
• Winner – Departure performance among regional North American airports:
  Keahole Airport (KOA)
  Kona, HI, USKOA achieved a 2011 on-time performance record of 92.57%. The average on-time performance was 80.90% for this category. This is the second year in a row KOA has won the award.
• Winner – Departure performance among regional European airports:
  Bordeaux Airport (BOD)
  Bordeaux, FRBOD achieved a 2011 on-time performance record of 90.13%. The average on-time performance was 78.66% for this category.
• Winner – Departure performance among regional Asian airports:
  Itami Airport (ITM)
  Osaka, JPITM achieved a 2011 on-time performance record of 95.60%. The average on-time performance was 69.74% for this category.

For the full results, head to the FlightStats Award announcement page.

Let’s start with some snow as it’s that time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. This time the white powder hit Chicago’s O’Hare Airport (IATA: ORD) as Bloomberg reported on Friday: United Continental, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines cancelled more than 460 flights as a snowstorm moves through the area.

Over in India it wasn’t the weather that disrupted the plans of hundreds of travellers; according to the Times of India, a sudden strike by Air India pilots resulted in massive chaos at the New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IATA: DEL) on Saturday as passengers were caught completely off guard. Another Indian news source, the Indian Express wrote that the strike of nearly 60 pilots was in protest for non-payment of five months’ pay. According to the article the pilots resumed work later that evening after the management promised to release overdue allowances for two months in the coming week.

Egypt has certainly been a lot in the news in recent times, but it rarely made headlines with airport stories. This time though the Egyptian capital Cairo had a brainy moment – if you excuse the pun. According to an article from the Washington Post, officials at Cairo’s international airport (IATA: CAI) confiscated 420 pounds (190 kilograms) of frozen cow brains on Friday from three Sudanese travelers who planned to sell them to Egyptian restaurants. In the article an airport official said it was the fourth time this week that customs officers there had foiled an attempt to smuggle cow brains into the country, reflecting the growth of a moneymaking scheme made possible by some realities of international supply and demand: Cow brains are cheap in Sudan, and Egyptians like to eat them. It couldn’t be more obvious!

Over in the United Kingdom another animal airport story made headlines this week, but this time only one animal was involved and it was (and hopefully still is) alive: the BBC reported that a cheetah has been stopped at London’s Heathrow Airport (IATA: LHR) by border officials who were suspicious about the animal’s missing identity microchip. The African cheetah, called Isaac, was on his way from a South African safari park to Russia when he was seized. He is being kept in the UK until it is known why his microchip was missing, the UK Border Agency said in the news piece.

And finally this: Maybe it was the snow storms in Chicago that lead one of the city’s creative studios come up with an  ingenious and visually stunning idea of portraying airport runways. Architect and designer Jerome Daksiewicz’ screenprint project prints airport runway patterns and airport codes on 18″ x 24″ steel grey posters. Currently you can buy ATL, LHR, MSP, LAX, ORD and SFO with several others to follow. $2 of every poster sold go to the Challenge Air Program that builds self-esteem and confidence of children and youth with specials needs, through the experience of flight.

What a nice end to our weekly wrap-up, don’t you think? Have a great new week and safe travels!

[Picture from Flickr Some rights reserved by Scorpions and Centaurs]

USA Today reported this week that a fire erupted in the cargo section of New Delhi’s international airport (IATA: DEL), but luckily there were no reports of injuries or deaths. According to the news article the fire, however, destroyed cargo awaiting clearance and gutted the offices of some airlines.

A few thousand kilometers Southeast of India, in Singapore, Changi Airport (IATA: SIN) was said to revamp its two-hour free bus tour of Singapore. The Strait Times wrote that the Changi Airport Group wants to refresh itineraries for the current two options – the Colonial Tour, which showcases the Singapore River and the civic district, and the Cultural Tour, which highlights Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam. The refreshed tour is said to become available from April.

Over in the United States it was all good news when NJ.com wrote that JFK International Airport (IATA: JFK) is to take part in a quicker screening process. According to the article some passengers flying out of John F. Kennedy International Airport will soon be able to keep their shoes and belts on during screening, leave their laptops in their cases and even carry a full bottle of shampoo onto the plane. It was also said that the reprieve from those post-9/11 security measures will take effect sometime early this year when JFK becomes the region’s first airport to take part in a voluntary program to speed the screening process. We bet our New York bound travellers can’t wait for this to happen soon enough, right?

Moving on to something different: Well, you surely agree with us that birthdays in the small days of January aren’t exactly popular with the oh-so-hung-over-from-new-years-eve crowd, yet in the case of Abu Dhabi Airport (IATA: AUH), we make an exception and cheer loudly to the 30th birthday it celebrated on 4th January. Hip Hip Hurray!

To finish off the first airport news of the year, we want to leave you with not just one, but two of our famous, weird airport stories. First of all, there was this awesome little piece from 11alive.com that showed us some great examples of weird things people try to take through airport security. You’ll discover land mines, flares and improvised explosive devices to name just three.

And finally, on the same topic of smuggling stuff through security, there was this from Argentina: According to the CBS News a man tried to board a plane at Buenos Aires’ international airport (IATA: BUE) with almost 247 (nope, this isn’t a typo, two-four-seven!) poisonous snakes and endangered reptiles in his baggage. What was he thinking, we wonder?

That’s all for now – we wish you a great start into 2012 and, as always, travel safely! One more thing, make sure you visit us early next week as we’ll be launching something very exciting. You can even win some awesome prizes, so stay tuned!

[Photo from Flickr - Some rights reserved by Lars Plougmann]

First up, Edinburgh Airport in Scotland (IATA: EDI) made it into the headlines this week when Scotsman.com reported that 60,000 people were without power on Wednesday night and about 60 passengers were left stranded at the airport after the storms caused havoc to transport, schools and city centres across much of Scotland. In addition, hundreds of air passengers faced disruption after 100 flights were cancelled at Edinburgh and some 45 at Glasgow (IATA: GLA).

2 days earlier, a different kind of environmental impact hit another airport a few thousand miles to the East. The New York Times reported that Capital International Airport in Beijing (IATA: PEK) was forced to cancel hundreds of flights on Monday because of heavy smog and weather conditions. The article concluded that the cancellations were the latest sign that pollution in China’s largest cities, among the worst in the world, is leading to significant economic losses.

In Australia, the two airports of the ever competing cities of Melbourne and Sydney played cat and mouse this week. First the Sydney Morning Herald broke the story that Sydney Airport (IATA: SYD) is proposing a major overhaul under which terminals would be divided by what airline passengers are flying with, rather than where they are travelling to. The story continued by outlining that under the plan, the current domestic terminals would accommodate Qantas, its international partners and Jetstar, and the current international terminal would take Virgin Australia and other international airlines.

Two days later, the Melbourne based newspaper The Age answered Sydney’s challenge with the story that Melbourne Airport (IATA: MEL) is set to expand, with plans to build a $300 million passenger terminal and improve freeway access. And to score the match making goal against its arch rival, the news report said Melbourne is gearing up to have a new interconnected domestic terminal running by mid-2014, a mere 5 years prior to Sydney’s proposed terminal shuffle expected to be completed by 2019.

For the final two stories this week, we travel to the United States. First up was the story from Reno, Nevada where according to FOX News a woman fired about three weeks ago for refusing to load an emaciated hunting dog on a plane at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport (IATA: RNO) is taking her job back. The news said Lynn Jones, who had worked more than five years as a baggage handler for St. Louis-based Airport Terminal Services, accepted her employer’s offer to give her the job back, and said she hopes to put the flap behind her.

And finally to Mr. Alec Baldwin who made headlines this week for getting kicked off a plane at Los Angeles International Airport (IATA: LAX). According to The Scoop the incident happened on Tuesday when Mr. Baldwin boarded an American Airlines flight. In the same article Baldwin’s rep Matthew Hiltzik explained what went down: “Alec was asked to leave the flight for playing ‘Words with Friends’ on his iPad, while parked at the gate. Alec is so in love with ‘Words with Friends’ that he would risk getting thrown off a flight to play. He’s already been re-booked on another American Airlines flight.”
That’s all we have for this week – safe travels everyone!

[Picture from Wikipedia - some rights reserved]

Righty, let’s get this week’s biggest news out of the way: On Tuesday American Airlines filed for reorganization under the United States bankruptcy chapter 11. In an email to it’s frequent flyers the airline wrote the following: “We took this action as part of our efforts to secure our long-term success in delivering the highest standards in air travel. We are committed to meeting your travel needs with outstanding customer service and safety, and it will be business as usual at American throughout our reorganization process. More than 80,000 people at American appreciate your loyalty and look forward to continuing to serve you.” It yet remains to be seen what impact this action has for many of AA’s frequented airports and in particular for its largest hub, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (IATA: DFW).

The second big topic of the week was the public sector strike in the United Kingdom on Wednesday. Many news sites (including LateDeparture) drew gloomy pictures of what would happen to the country’s largest airport, London Heathrow (IATA: LHR) that day. Towards the end of that day, the Financial Times, however, reported that fears of long delays [...] proved unfounded [...] as passengers reported that border controls were operating faster than usual. According to the article a combination of higher than anticipated levels of UK Border Agency staffing and lower passenger numbers meant that queues at passport checkpoints were often small.

Back to the States where we received news from PassengerTerminalToday that San Francisco International Airport (IATA: SFO) has become the country’s first airport to receive a “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” (LEED) Gold certification for its new 64,000 ft2 Terminal 2. The city’s Mayor Edwin Lee said “this is yet another remarkable reminder that San Francisco is leading the way as we welcome visitors to our city in one of the greenest airports in the world.”

Then over to Singapore where our favourite Changi airport (IATA: SIN) made it into the news twice this week. First up was a report in the Manila Standard quoting that six Singaporean airport experts from Changi Airport have arrived to inspect Terminal 1 of the Manila international airport (IATA: MNL) and to identify the areas and facilities that need improvement. The airport is in desperate need of improvement after it was voted the world’s worst airport in October (we wrote about it).

The second news story about Changi then was more home made as the airport revealed its Christmas decorations. According to the airport’s press release, giant topiaries in the form of iconic world landmarks are now on display in both the public and transit areas of Terminals 2 and 3. The topiaries, which stand up to nine metres tall, include the Eiffel Tower, Sydney Opera House, Temple of Heaven, and Singapore’s very own famous Merlion. At the biggest topiary display site at the Terminal 3 Departure Hall, where the Merlion topiary is located, quaint miniature figurines of the Statue of Liberty, Taj Mahal, the Pyramids of Egypt and other famous world landmarks complete the travel road map around the world. More information can be found on the airport’s Christmas website.

To finish off, we want to leave you with a story from Baltimore, USA. There Reuters reported that a woman gave birth in a restroom at the 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Washington, D.C. located Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (IATA: BWI) after arriving on a flight. Quoting an airport spokesperson, the article continued saying that police and emergency medical personnel were called to the restroom and a Maryland Transportation Authority police officer assisted at the birth. The woman and the baby were transported to the Baltimore-Washington Medical Center and are in good condition, a hospital spokesman said.

Have a great week everyone!

[Picture from Flickr - Some rights reserved by loop_oh]

First up finally some encouraging news received us from Thailand. This week we were informed that Bangkok’s second airport, Don Mueang (IATA: DMK) is set to partially reopen in January after it got affected during the country’s devastating floods in October. A Thai news site reported that a budget of Bt490 million (US$ 14.3 million) approved by the Cabinet, will be used for restore the eastern runway of Don Mueang Airport, expected to reopen at the end of January for military aircraft, said Flying Officer Anirut Thanomkulbutra, president of Airports of Thailand (AoT).

At this stage the elephant in this week’s news room should probably be addressed. I’m talking about the planned public sector strike in the United Kingdom. The for Wednesday, 30th November planned actions are understood to severely affect the country’s largest airport, Heathrow (IATA: LHR). One of the many news reports this week was the one from the BBC that read that [Heathrow's] operator BAA warned of “gridlock” and said passengers could face 12-hour delays on Wednesday when immigration officers go on strike over pensions. The same source quoted a letter to chief operating officer Norman Boivin to all airlines operating into Heathrow saying “The delays at immigration are likely to be so long that passengers could not be safely accommodated within the terminals and would need to be held on arriving aircraft.” If you are planning to travel through the airport on Wednesday, make sure to follow the airport’s twitter announcements.

These days airports don’t just compete on the number of flights and basic terminal services they offer, they often (need to) go a step further and come up with some unique ways of differentiating themselves. Singapore Changi’s giant fun slide comes to mind here for example. Now, Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport (IATA: AMS) has had it’s own brainy moment as Reuters reported on Thursday: [Schiphol] now has the world’s first vending machine capable of printing out personalised giant canvas banners in just a few minutes. According to the story, you can pick your message, whether that is “Missed you Mummy”, “I love you”, “Will you marry me?”, or anything else that makes you stand out from the crowd, choose the font and background design, pay between four and 15 euros ($19.98) depending on the length of the banner, and hit the button.

And finally to the United States where, other than expected, we didn’t receive any of those long delay reports from the increased passenger numbers over the Thanksgiving weekend, but instead heard of an “old friend” again: the Bikini Girl. The Daily Mail printed the following headline this week: Air passenger who famously stripped to her bikini in TSA protest returns to LA a year later… and guess what, peels off again. Well, we’ll leave you to judge for yourself or – if you must – have a look at the newspaper’s full story here.

Have a great week everyone – safe travels!

[Picture from Flickr - Some rights reserved by ilConte]

With the US Thanksgiving long-weekend only days away, headlines about airports preparing frantically for a storm of passengers keep increasing on a daily basis. One particular airport caught our attention though: Los Angeles International (IATA: LAX). The Los Angeles Times wrote that shortages of customs and immigration agents have been causing significant delays for thousands of travelers, forcing them to wait on their planes or stand in line for up to three hours before being processed.

Over in Singapore, Changi Airport (IATA: SIN) makes it into the LateDeparture headlines for a second time this week. The first time was when we wrote about their noble efforts of teaming up with Singapore Polytech to provide a real-world experience for students through SPELL, a retail store wholly run by students (read the full story here). The second time isn’t quite so rosy. The Sydney Morning Herald wrote about a Hong Kong Airlines Airbus 330 flight carrying 159 passengers that had been delayed in Singapore for almost nine hours due to a technical fault and a fracas between two groups of passengers which left an old Chinese women with an injured hand. The story continued when the furious Chinese passengers refused to leave the same plane at Hong Kong airport (IATA: HKG) for several hours until they were paid compensation for flight delays. Accused with mishandling the situation in Singapore, Changi Airport responded with an official statement saying “while the passengers were awaiting updates from the airline on their flight arrangements, Changi Airport worked with the airline’s ground handling agent, SATS, to facilitate meal arrangements for the affected passengers. Customer service agents were also deployed to provide assistance such as distributing mineral water to passengers and assisting them in checking on alternative flights to Hong Kong. Airport police officers were also present to assist with crowd control.”

Over in Australia Boeing made some dream headlines this week when its new 787 Dreamliner visited Sydney and Melbourne for the very first time ever. LateDeparture was lucky enough to witness the landing in Melbourne – watch the video on YouTube.

Crossing back to the Northern Hemisphere, in the United Kingdom Passenger Terminal Today wrote that the new-look North Terminal at Gatwick Airport (IATA: LGW) was officially opened by former Prime Minister John Major following the completion of the £73 million (US$115.5 million) project to extend the building to accommodate 20 million passengers per year by 2020.

And finally we finish with a bit of technology news coming from Russia. According to the Wall Street Journal Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport  (IATA: SVO) will launch a service it says will be the first in the world — video flight check-in via Skype. The airport forecasts that between 15% and 20% of all the passengers will be using the Internet-based video phone service.

Have a great week everyone and remember to follow us on Twitter for all the latest up-to-date stories during the week.

[Photo from Flickr - Some rights reserved by cobalt123]

SPELL was created in line with SP’s mission to allow their students to put entrepreneurial thinking into practice through authentic learning. This is also the first time that Changi Airport is partnering with an educational institution in setting up a retail business at the airport. In its initial press release, Changi’s Vice President for Landside Concessions, Ms Hung Jean said, “In addition to the aviation galleries at Changi Airport and visits we host for schools, this is part of our effort to contribute to the learning of students in Singapore.”

The most beautiful thing about SPELL is the combined effort of 100 students across various disciplines, including business administration, communications, accountancy and electrical engineering. The students are wholly responsible for the operations of the 54 sqm outlet – from product sourcing and determining the retail mix, to preparing to get the store up and running, and sustaining its business in the long run. Retailing a wide range of street wear including fashion apparel and accessories, the product offerings are targeted at teenagers and young adults, and priced affordably from $7 for a small leather purse to about $99 for a jacket.

Besides tapping on the talented student population, SPELL is also collaborating with industry partners, such as Motorola, to enhance the customer’s overall retail experience through the use of technology. With Motorola’s Magic Mirror, customers will be able to see how they look like in SPELL’s clothes without having to physically try them on.

If you are at Changi airport, make sure you drop in to the SPELL store and check it out for yourself. You can find it in the landside basement level of terminal 3 (#B2-52/53, opening hours: 10 am – 11 pm
, Tel: (65) 62143858, info@spellverve.com, www.spellverve.com).

Then in other news this week, Canada’s airports caught our attention twice: First up was Canada’s 8th busiest (and probably the one with the longest name), Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport (IATA: YWG). This week the airport unveiled its new 51,000 square-meter terminal replacing the 46 year old former structure. In a Winnipeg Sun article Barry Rempel, president and CEO of Winnipeg Airports Authority, called the day “momentous.”

The second Canadian news was a bit less serious but surely equally if not more interesting: Over in Vancouver, 29 year old Jaeger Mah finished his 80 day stay at Vancouver International airport (IATA: YVR). The Canadian won the gig in an airport contest to mark its 80th year. Read the full story in our feature report from Friday: 80 days at the airport without flying anywhere.

The other side of North America also had its news moment this week when during the last days of October an unprecedented winter storm hit the east coast. According to the L.A. Times, power outages were affecting more than 2.3 million residents and businesses from Maryland to Massachusetts, including more than half a million in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. As you can imagine, airports across the region were also severely affected. MSNBC.com quoted the tracking site Flightaware.com which reported nearly 600 flights to Northeastern airports canceled, including destinations such as Philadelphia (IATA: PHL), New York (IATA: JFK), Newark (IATA: EWR), Boston (IATA: BOS) and others.

And finally we received note from a remote area where over 2,000 tourists got stranded due to bad weather: the Himalayan or more precisely Tenzing-Hillary Airport (IATA: LUA) in Lukla, Nepal. According to the Indian Express, the foreign tourists, most of them from the US, UK and Germany have been stranded near a Mount Everest base camp for the last six days facing a shortage of food and medicines. Authorities had to close the only airstrip serving Lukla due to bad weather.

Have a great new, delay-free week, everyone!

[Picture from Wikipedia - some rights reserved]

First of all, a big relieve for all cat lovers. The kitty, Jack that went missing at New York’s John F. Kennedy International airport (IATA: JFK) when its owner relocated – we wrote about it in our last week’s news – has been found. He’s alive and according to our friends at Reuters the pet cat which was missing for two months has been discovered alive in a customs room. The owner now plans to pick the cat up herself to make sure it arrives safely in her new hometown of San Francisco.

Then on Tuesday we wrote about how Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport (IATA: DMK) became a refugee point for hundreds of flood victims. Later in the week it was reported that floodwaters began pouring over sandbagged barriers protecting Bangkok’s second airport, forcing a halt to commercial flights after airlines based there suspended operations (Business Week).

This week we also heard from a continent that rarely makes it into the news: Africa. According to the Agencia Angola Press the minister of Transports, Augusto Tomás, announced that a new airport of the country’s capital Luanda shall be totally concluded within 26 months. According to the article, the minister considered the project as very important for the strategy and socio-economic development of the country. The new airport will be built about 40 km from the city and is scheduled to replace the one currently in use, Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport (IATA: LAD).

And finally we have the TSA in the news again. This time the US Transport Security Administration made news with an agent leaving a note in a passenger’s luggage after finding a vibrator when screening the checked bag at Newark International Airport (IATA: EWR). Forbes published the photo of the actual note which reads “get your freak on girl”. Two days later the same source then revealed that the TSA agent who wrote the note was found and penalized. According to Forbes, TSA has done an impressive job investigating the incident and apologizing to the traveler, Jill Filopovic, who blogs at Feministe.

Let’s leave it at that and conclude our round-up. Have a great new week everyone!

[Photo from Flickr - Some rights reserved by Jairus]