Airport Check-in: New runways for Chicago, D.C., Seattle

ByABC News
November 17, 2008, 5:48 AM

— -- Construction updates

Three airports will unveil new runways on Nov. 20. Seattle-Tacoma's 8,500-foot-long runway cost $1 billion to build and is designed to cut down on delays by allowing two streams of traffic to land in poor visibility conditions. Currently, Sea-Tac's two runways are too close to each other for two streams of traffic during such conditions.

Chicago O'Hare's 7,500-foot runway, its sixth, will help reduce the average delay at the heavily congested airport to 16 minutes from the current 24, the airport estimates. Its cost, which includes a new dedicated control tower, totaled $460 million.

Washington Dulles' 9,400-foot runway, which cost $355 million, allows the airport to handle three parallel, simultaneous landings or takeoffs. The airport, which handled about 380,000 landings and takeoffs last year, currently has three runways.

New at airports

Kansas City International will display large adhesive banner ads on the moving metal panels of its baggage carousels. Similar ads are on display at Dallas/Fort Worth.

Oakland International's Wi-Fi Internet is now free. It will finance the service, run by FreeFi Networks, through online ads.

American Airlines customers departing from some airports can now choose to receive their boarding passes via e-mail on their mobile phones or PDAs. The mobile boarding passes are available for passengers departing on domestic flights from Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles International and John Wayne Orange County. The airline may expand the program to other airports if the trial is successful.

Denver International is adding several stores and restaurants to its current roster of 148 concessions. Among the new offerings at Concourses B and C: Brookstone; Caribou Coffee; Jamba Juice; Johnston & Murphy; Kazoo & Company Toy Store; Mile High Harley-Davidson; and Tamales by La Casita.

Route news

JetBlue is adding a few extra flights and a new route entirely to Washington, D.C., to account for strong demand surrounding the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration. The carrier will add one extra round-trip flight to Washington Dulles from New York JFK, Long Beach, Calif., and Oakland on Jan. 16, and another round-trip flight on the routes on Jan. 21. The airline is also adding flights from Chicago O'Hare to Dulles, a route it currently doesn't serve non-stop, on Jan. 18 and Jan. 21 to "cater to the surging demand for air travel from President-elect Barack Obama's hometown," says JetBlue spokesman Sebastian White.