Airport Check-in: Inauguration flights added; tops for eateries

— -- NEW AT AIRPORTS

•SuperShuttle International, which offers shared van service from airports, will open at Raleigh-Durham International on Jan. 3. It will begin with 15 vans and build up as necessary. SuperShuttle serves 28 airports, carrying more than 8 million passengers a year.

•Indianapolis International Airport now has free Wi-Fi.

•Customers on British Airways' new business-class service from London City Airport to New York John F. Kennedy — to be launched in the fall of 2009 — will be able to clear Customs and Immigration prior to arriving in the USA. The New York-bound flight will briefly stop at Shannon Airport in Ireland for refueling because the runway at London City Airport, located east of London, is too short for the Airbus A318 aircraft that will be used on the route to take off with a full tank of gas. Shannon has U.S. Customs officials who can clear U.S.-bound visitors on-site. The airline estimates passengers will be on the ground for about 45 minutes.

•John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif., is the latest airport to feature electronic boarding, a pilot program operated by the Transportation Security Administration. It allows passengers on American Airlines to receive electronic bar-coded boarding passes via e-mail on their cellphones or PDAs. American Airlines recently introduced the service at Chicago O'Hare and Los Angeles International.

•Heineken will open a branded lounge at Newark Liberty on Dec. 17. The Dutch beer company already has several bars at airports in Europe and Asia, including Hong Kong and Amsterdam. It will feature private cabanas, Wi-Fi, TVs, movies and other entertainment.

ROUTE NEWS

•Delta and Southwest have joined a growing list of airlines adding flights to Washington in mid-January to accommodate surging demand from travelers wishing to attend the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

Southwest will add 26 flights into and out of Washington Dulles and Baltimore-Washington airports from Jan. 17 through Jan. 23. Delta will add 14% more seats from its Atlanta hub to Washington on Jan. 17 and 21% more for Atlanta-bound flights on Jan. 21. Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton says most of the increase in capacity will come from using larger aircraft on scheduled flights, but the airline has also added a few extra flights.