3 Links I Love: Killing COVID With Light, Wizz Looks at Germany, Not Terrible New York Airports

Jun 12, 2020

More Reading on This Topic: Links I Love

This week’s featured link

GermFalcon to take flight as Honeywell UV Cabin System – Paxex.aero
More than four years ago, I wrote about GermFalcon and its effort to get airlines to use UV light to clean interiors. All of a sudden, this became a much more exciting idea this year for some reason… hmm, I wonder why. This disinfects quicker and better, and Honeywell is now marketing it to airlines.

Image of the Week: Quick, what airport is this? If you said “definitely not LaGuardia because it looks nice,” you’re wrong. This is the new Terminal B headhouse and it opens tomorrow serving Air Canada, American, Southwest, and United. It’s a mixed bag on American since the gates are still in the old terminal, but this is a big milestone in the project to replace the old mess.

Wizz Air eyes Lufthansa’s Frankfurt slots with lower fees – ch-aviation
Now that Lufthansa has to give up slots at Frankfurt and Munich, Wizz is sniffing around. Wizz and easyJet are the most obvious candidates for the slots in Frankfurt, but Wizz wants operations to be cheaper and it wants the ability to grow further with more slots. So, uh, as I said, easyJet is the most obvious candidate for the slots in Frankfurt….

The Airports of Future Past – The Airplanes Blog
When’s the last time you thought about a STOLport? Here’s a deep dive for you.

Brett

9 responses to “3 Links I Love: Killing COVID With Light, Wizz Looks at Germany, Not Terrible New York Airports”

Kilroy

Jun 12, 2020 at 4:07 am

I doubt it will ever happen because of the costs and politics (taxi/Uber lobby and more), but I really wish NYC would find a way to run reliable express trains from EWR, LGA, and JFK to midtown or downtown Manhattan, with only a couple of stops (max) along the way. The current public transportation connections to the NYC-area airports are less than ideal.

Places like SFO and ORD have decent airport/city connections via train, to the point where it is often quicker to take the train from the airport to the city than a cab/Uber, even outside of rush hour, and they are able to charge a premium for trips originating or terminating at the airport.

If people are concerned that express trains to the airports will only help the wealthier residents and travelers, and not the working class, charge a higher fare and use the funds to subsidize other parts of the transit system, or to provide for free commutes for those who work at the airports.

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1. Sandy
  
  Jun 12, 2020 at 6:30 am
  
  There was such a service to JFK back in the 80s. It was discontinued because it didn’t draw many riders. With a few exceptions, airport express trains rarely generate enough ridership to be worth their costs. While SFO and ORD both have strong transit links to their city centers, those are both notably not limited-stop services.
  
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  1. BL
    
    Jun 13, 2020 at 5:13 pm
    
    “The JFK Express proved to be unsuccessful, seeing low ridership in part because the service did not actually serve any airline terminals, but rather transferred passengers to a shuttle bus service that was several hundred yards from the station.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JFK_Express)
    
    Conceptually, this is an idea worth re-exploring without the inclusion of a transfer to another form of transit (in that case, a bus). Practically, it’ll probably never get off the ground.
    
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Kilroy

Jun 12, 2020 at 4:15 am

Regarding STOLports, my understanding is that scheduled helicopter flights are beginning to make a bit of a comeback and serve a similar niche as envisioned for the STOLports, though fares are very expensive.

Still, however, helicopter flights are much more palatable to NIMBY residents than plane flights, and there is (was, pre-COVID?) at least one airline running scheduled chopper flights between NYC and places like the Hamptons and Nantucket.

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Harvey

Jun 12, 2020 at 5:10 am

Wow, thanks for sharing my STOLports piece, I’m glad you enjoyed it!

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Maryland One

Jun 12, 2020 at 6:31 am

Remember the Manhattan Airport Foundation and the “proposed” Manhattan International Airport?

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Happy Bob Crandall

Jun 12, 2020 at 6:41 am

LGA laid an egg by not providing direct train service into Midtown. Stupidity at its finest

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1. SEAN
  
  Jun 12, 2020 at 7:50 am
  
  Blame the residents of Astoria & the polls they voted for, as they refused to consider an extension of the N & W lines. All it would have required was 2.3 miles of elevated guideway. However unlike the old stile steal frame structures you see in the outer boroughs, this extension would have been built with precast concrete sections that are quieter as trains pass along them. also most of that route would operate via the Grand Central Parkway where there are no residents since Citi Field & Flushing Meadows Park make up most of that area.
  
  http://www.secondavenuesagas.com has plenty of posts on this subject.
  
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Jay

Jun 13, 2020 at 1:24 am

My concern about using UV cabin cleaning is how quickly it will degrade the plastics and upholstery, considering how chemically aggressive UV-C rays are.

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