- EasyJet and the operator of Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport have reached a deal for a new maintenance hangar. Work on the new hangar, which will service EasyJet’s European fleet, is scheduled to start this autumn with operations set to begin in early 2023. The entire project is expected to cost around €20 million ($23.5 million). EasyJet is the largest airline in Berlin with roughly 23 percent of departures in July, according to Cirium schedules.
- Alaska Airlines and Los Angeles International Airport have begun work on a $230 million upgrade to Terminal 6. Works include an expanded security checkpoint, remodeled concourse and gate areas, as well as new boarding bridges. Work is scheduled to wrap in 2023, the same year a new automated people mover connecting the airport with the Los Angeles Metro system is due to open.
- As many had guessed, JetBlue Airways will be splitting its operation at New York LaGuardia in the near future. The airline’s plan to operate more than 50 daily departures from the airport by Summer 2022 under its alliance with American Airlines will force it to soon split departures between Terminal A — also know as the Marine Air Terminal — and Terminal B, it confirmed last week. JetBlue plans to fully relocate to Terminal B in the near future.
- Airline moves are not the only news at LaGuardia. Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration signed off on a planned automated people mover — or AirTrain — connecting the airport with the New York City subway and Long Island Rail Road. The $2.05 billion line will connect the Willets Point train station with two stations at LaGuardia: Terminal B and Terminal C. However, the plan is not without controversy; Willets Point is east of the airport requiring any Manhattan-bound traveler to backtrack to get to their destination when using the AirTrain. This routing has earned it the dubious nickname the “backwards AirTrain.” Work is scheduled to begin this year with the train operational by the end of 2025.
- In a throwback to Pittsburgh’s history as a major airline hub, American has renewed its lease on the former US Airways maintenance base for another five years, or through end-2025. The Pittsburgh base complements American’s large — massive might be a better word — Tulsa Tech Ops facility that Airline Weekly visited in April. American does work on its Airbus A320 family fleet in Pittsburgh.
— Edward Russell and Rashaad Jorden