Airport Check-In: Solar-powered hangar opens in California
— -- New at airports
• A new hangar at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Calif., is powered by the sun.
The $17 million Hangar 25, operated by charter flight operator Avjet, has rooftop solar panels that can provide enough electricity for lights, forklifts and tow vehicles.
The 60,000-square-foot facility has been given LEED Platinum status, an environmentally friendly rating issued by the U.S. Green Building Council.
• Solantic, which operates walk-in clinics at several Wal-Marts, is expanding into airports, opening a 1,100-square-foot care clinic at Orlando International this week. The Solantic clinic, located in the B Terminal, will offer immunizations, X-ray services, prescription drugs and laboratory tests.
Several other airports, including Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Philadelphia and Newark, also have leased space to pharmacies and urgent care clinics.
• A local Italian restaurant chain in Chicago, Phil Stefani Signature Restaurants, has opened a location at Chicago O'Hare. It's in Terminal 1, Concourse B.
Route news
• Virgin America will start service at Logan International on Feb. 12, making Boston the eighth city in its network. It plans to fly three daily round trips on Airbus A320 aircraft between Los Angeles and Boston and two daily round trips from San Francisco.
• American Airlines will begin daily non-stop service between Dallas/Fort Worth and Madrid on May 1. American will fly Boeing 767-300 aircraft in a two-class configuration.
• Korean Air has increased the frequency of its Washington, D.C.-Seoul service from four times a week to daily flights. It flies Boeing 777 aircraft on the route.
• JetBlue says it will begin service to Costa Rica, its first route to Central America. On March 26, it will begin one daily round-trip flight between Orlando and San Jose, using Embraer E190 jets. JetBlue has also recently announced plans to fly from Orlando to Bogota, Colombia, (Jan. 29) and to Nassau in the Bahamas (Feb. 1).
• Aeromexico will end its three-times-a-week flights from Detroit Metropolitan to Monterrey and Mexico City on Jan. 9, says The Detroit News. The report notes that the Motor City "has lost a number of prized international routes" this year, including Paris; Dusseldorf, Germany; and Osaka, Japan. British Airways also ended service.
Airport art
• Baltimore/Washington International has two new exhibits as part of its rotating arts program. About 50 aviation-themed paintings from the United States Air Force Art Collection are currently on display at the international terminal. The other exhibit shows prize-winning works from the annual Governor's Cup Yacht Race professional photography competition and can be seen on Concourse B.
•Check out a traveling exhibit, The Berlin Airlift: A Legacy of Friendship, at Seattle-Tacoma through the end of the year on the south side of the main terminal. More than 60 photos commemorate the 60th anniversary of the airlift, considered one of the greatest humanitarian efforts of all time.