Haneda, Japan (HND) airport opens 20 minutes from Tokyo

To help celebrate Japan's launching of Haneda (HND) airport, we are launching Haneda airport Air Wear travel bags, t-shirts, and more - click here.



From the Wall St. Journal

BUSINESSOCTOBER 20, 2010
Japan Offers Long-Awaited Alternative to Narita
By MARIKO SANCHANTA

TOKYO—Narita International Airport has long been the scourge of frequent fliers and business travelers because of its distance from Japan's capital, but now Tokyo is offering an alternative after decades of delay.

On Thursday, Haneda Airport—a mere 20 minutes from downtown Tokyo—is set to open its doors to scheduled international flights and increase its capacity by 40%, in a move that analysts have called the "big bang" in aviation liberalization in Japan.

Despite Japan's reputation for efficient infrastructure, the country has lagged behind its Asian peers when it comes to its main international airport, which is located among rice paddies about 90 minutes from central Tokyo.

Traditional Japanese tea lounge is seen inside the new international terminal building of Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan. The terminal is due to open on Oct. 21.

"If Narita disappeared, I wouldn't mind," said Hiromichi Shirakawa, an economist at Credit Suisse in Tokyo who travels abroad six or seven times a year. "Access to Haneda is so much easier. Think of the opportunity cost of travel time: it takes over an hour [to go to Narita], versus 15 minutes" to reach Haneda, he added.

Haneda, which had been operating just a handful of international charter flights to Asian destinations such as Beijing and Hong Kong, plans to unveil its new international terminal Thursday. The introduction of scheduled international service will be staggered from Oct. 31, and by next spring, passengers will be able to fly from Haneda to Paris, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, Singapore and Bangkok, among other destinations.

The new runway will create an additional 110,000 landing slots a year, 60,000 of which will be used for international flights. By 2013, the government aims to increase international slots to 90,000.

Japan has consistently been left off the top-10 international-airports list, which is dominated by Asian gateways. In 2010, Changi Airport in Singapore, Incheon International Airport in South Korea and Hong Kong International Airport were the top three airports in the world respectively, according to the Skytrax World Airport Awards.

Part of the impetus to expand Haneda was to raise Japan's competitiveness against its Asian peers, particularly as low-cost carriers in the region are flourishing. Because of regulations, Japan has the highest landing fees in the world: It costs 770,000 yen, or about $9,400, to land a Boeing 747-400 at Narita, compared with 70,000 yen at Heathrow Airport in London.

Members of the information desk work in the departure lobby of the new international terminal building of Haneda Airport.

The government hopes the changes at Haneda will encourage more visitors to Japan, chiefly from Asia. It signaled a shift in policy when the Democratic Party of Japan came into power last year. Narita had been the brainchild of Japanese bureaucrats when it opened in 1978, and efforts to expand Haneda had, for years, been shelved because of the political controversy it would cause.

"Haneda will mark its first step toward becoming a 24-hour international hub," said Sumio Mabuchi, Japan's transport minister, in a speech last weekend.


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Vancouver airport (YVR) featured in Metropolis magazine

We enjoyed seeing Vancouver's airport in Metropolis magazine. We like the new 'living' wall.

OCTOBER 2010 • METROPOLIS OBSERVED
Green Monster
To beautify an airport eyesore, all it takes is 27,000 plants, a high-tech maintenance system, and constant vigilance.

By Tim Newcomb
Posted October 20, 2010

DESIGNERS: Sharp & Diamond Landscape Architecture
www.sharpdiamond.com

PROJECT: Vancouver International Airport Living Wall
Vancouver, British Columbia

Flying is a fairly miserable experience even in the best conditions, and the drab, confusing, and downright ugly architecture of many airports certainly doesn’t help. Which is why Randy Sharp, the landscape master planner of Vancouver International Airport (YVR), in British Columbia, felt compelled to do something about a massive blank concrete wall confronting international travelers arriving via the city’s new light-rail system. For this 56-foot-tall, 39-foot-wide eyesore, Sharp envisioned a vertical landscape that would create “a more soothing, relaxing environment for passengers,” he says. “Airline companies want people relaxed, so this is a piece of environmental art.”

Sharp is no stranger to creating living walls. He and his firm, Sharp & Diamond Landscape Architecture, built Canada’s first one, at the Vancouver Aquarium, in 2006. But that piece spanned about 500 square feet. The YVR wall is more than four times that size—indeed, at 2,173 square feet, it is the biggest green wall in Canada and one of the largest in North America. More daunting than its sheer size, however, was the location—facing north. “Heavy shade on a north-facing location is a limiting factor for most green-wall plants,” Sharp says. “Climbing plants in the heavy shade are too thin and do not produce lush, dense foliage.” And fruiting plants were out of the question, since the airport does not want to attract birds. So Sharp, inspired by a lush canyon wall he saw on a trip to nearby Saturna Island, selected a range of hardy native species—including green and silver versions of Japanese euonymus and licorice fern—and arranged them in long curving patterns that reference the flight paths of planes.

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Airport EATeries

We all know that the place to EAT is Wenatchee, WA (its 3 letter code).
;)

Best Airport Eateries
Wall Street Journal
SEPTEMBER 25, 2010
—Jackie Cooperman

Fed up with indecent cuisine and infuriating service, enterprising restaurateurs are bringing gustatory pleasure back to travel, opening airport wine bars and plying flyers with charcuterie on the run.

Vino Volo wine bars and shops, at 10 airports including Seattle-Tacoma International, Washington Dulles, Baltimore BWI and New York's JFK. AMBIENCE: The wine bars are sleek and quiet; the attached wine stores have helpful salespeople. EAT: Marcona olives roasted with rosemary; smoked salmon rolls with crabmeat; braised pork tacos with fresh cabbage slaw. DRINK: The wine flights: World Value Reds, Shades of White. vinovolo.com

Read full article - click here

The stories behind oddly named airport codes. PEE? SUX?

Rick Seaney, who runs a website named FareCompare.com, wrote an article featured on ABC News Travel about the history behind some notable airport codes. He mentions the story behind LAX, ORD, PHX, CVG, and more. It's a fun read. MyAirportCode.com offers products for many of the cool locations he mentions (sorry folks from PEE, still no Air Wear available).


The Wacky Logic Behind Airport Codes
How Do They Come Up With Airport Codes? Rick Seaney Explains

Column By RICK SEANEY
FareCompare.com CEO
Sept. 22, 2010 —

Most of you fliers out there are familiar with JFK, LAX and DFW -- the airport codes for New York's Kennedy, Los Angeles International and Dallas-Ft. Worth. But how many of you have flown to SUX?

Yes, SUX - the airport code for Sioux City, Iowa. Luckily, residents there have a sense of humor; instead of bemoaning their unfortunate appellation, they celebrate it: the airport's website sells souvenirs including t-shirts and caps emblazoned with the bold SUX logo.

It could be worse. It appears a kindergartner might have had a hand in picking some of these airport codes: Russia's Bolshoye Savino Airport is stuck with the unlovely designation PEE, while Brazil's Poco De Caldas Airport has to live with POO. Then there's Rotorua, New Zealand ROT while Louisiana's Barksdale Air Force Base is just plain BAD.

Ever wonder how these codes came into being and what they mean? I'm going to tell you, plus I'll give more examples of truly weird ones. Like FAT and GRR.

For more air travel news and insights visit Rick's blog at: http://farecompare.com

First things first: FAT is the airport code for Fresno, Calif. (and from what I understand, the locals aren't crazy about it); and while GRR may sound like an anger management therapy center, it's actually the code for Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Where do these codes come from?

The assignment of these codes is administered by the Montreal-based International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the codes cover locations (mainly airports) around the globe.

A lot of these codes are no brainers: LGA stands for LaGuardia in New York, HOU is for Houston's Hobby Airport and SLC is for Salt Lake City.

History of Airport Codes

But what about, say, LAX -- where did that "X" come from? It goes back to the early days of passenger air travel when airports simply used the same two letter codes that the National Weather Service used for cities, never dreaming they'd ever need more letters for more combinations. When they did, some airports simply added an "X" to their name, and that's why you have LAX or PHX for Phoenix.

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Safi - the inflight magazine for Afghanistan's airline

The Wall St. Journal wrote this past week about Safi, the inflight magazine for Afghanistan's airline. Articles cover topics such as "heroin addicts, photos of bullet-pocked tourist sites and ads for mine-resistant sport-utility vehicles".

I don't know how many souvenirs are sold in Kabul, but every heroin addict driving a mine-resistant SUV is encouraged to wear their KBL t-shirt when they travel.

Please find our Kabul, Afghanistan travel and souvenir items here

Article excerpt:
By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS

KABUL—Safi Airways, a start-up Afghan airline, ventures where few air carriers dare to go: Its in-flight magazine tells the ugly truth about the place where you're about to land.

American Airlines' magazine lists the 10 best pizza parlors in America. United Airlines has a spread headlined "3 Perfect Days: Amsterdam," presumably perfecting its 2007 article, "3 Perfect Days: Amsterdam."

In the seat pocket in front of you on Safi, you will find an article on Kabul heroin addicts, photos of bullet-pocked tourist sites and ads for mine-resistant sport-utility vehicles.

Safi Magazine Articles

View Slideshow

Courtesy of Safi In-Flight Magazine
In a piece in the magazine headlined, "Live Entertainment in Kabul: Dog Fighting," the writer says dogs in Afghanistan don't fight to the death, just until one proves dominant. "They are usually pulled apart before they can inflict serious damage on each other," the article assures passengers.

More photos and interactive graphics
The airline provides this insider's tip about one of the city's leading luxury hotels: "The rooms are individually air-conditioned, accessorized with amenities you will find in 4-star hotels abroad, sheets are clean, view from the room is nice, and—after the suicide bombing that took place—security measures have been implemented."

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Sarah McLachlan to perform at JFK airport

Maybe we can get Sarah to perform in an Air Wear JFK t-shirt...

NY HEARD & SCENEJULY 22, 2010
McLachlan Concert Tour Takes Off at JFK

After performing in sold-out arenas, playing in an airport terminal may seem like a downgrade, but not for the singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan.

In anticipation of her new album, "Laws of Illusion," Ms. McLachlan will kick off JetBlue Airways' Live from T5's 2010 concert series next Thursday at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Fifteen of Ms. McLachlan's fans not scheduled for a flight that day will have the chance via Facebook and radio stations to win tickets to the airport performance.

"Look at the music industry today; musicians have to be more creative with their music," explained Chad Issaq, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Superfly Marketing Group, which is presenting the concert series. (Other acts haven't yet been announced.)

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Send us your pics

Have a favorite spot? Send us your pics. Please e-mail them to: jason@myairportcode.com

Virgin Airline's in-flight magazine Voyeur features Air Wear travel items

View Air Wear website

View Virgin Blue's in-flight magazine website

About Voyeur magazine:

Virgin Blue Voyeur is the free in-flight magazine provided for all Guests flying with Virgin Blue, Polynesian Blue and Pacific Blue Airlines. The magazine editorial is designed to keep both business and leisure travellers entertained throughout their flight, and engaging their imagination. From beautiful island getaways to how the latest entrepreneur made their millions. Short listed as one of the best travel and leisure magazines it has been one of the fastest growing magazines on Roy Morgan for the past 12 months.


Quick Facts
Frequency: Monthly
Australian Circulation: 77,342 (CAB audit)
Readership: 288,000 (Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia, January - December 2009)
Core Target: AB/C business and leisure travellers and frequent flyers
Content: Culture, Travel, Business, Technology, Food and Drinks, City Guides

New design for New York City JFK airport code souvenirs

I gave our JFK design an update today. You're invited to view the new NYC souvenirs here

Delta's new terminal at JFK

We're glad that Delta is getting a new home, although keeping the original Pam Am Worldport building (above) would be nice, too.
Either way, we hope the new building will offer JFK airport code t-shirts, bags, and more.

Delta Close To New Digs
JFK Terminal Plan Expected in 60 Days
By DOUG CAMERON And ANDREW GROSSMAN
Wall St. Journal
JUNE 16, 2010

Delta Air Lines Inc. is close to announcing the renovation of its outdated terminals at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport amid an intensifying competition for the city's business-travel market.

The airline has been in talks for months with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey about funding a move that is expected to include demolishing the former Pan Am Worldport—an iconic terminal at JFK famous for its saucer-shaped roof—to make way for new facilities.

Delta President Ed Bastian said at an industry conference that an announcement is expected within 60 days involving the Port Authority and "several other players."

Delta is close to a plan to renovate its JFK terminals that will likely include demolishing the iconic building that once housed the Pan Am Worldport.

"It is the worst facility that we operate," Mr. Bastian said of Delta's two JFK terminals, which date to the early 1960s, acknowledging that they contributed to relative weakness in securing business travelers.

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New Air Wear display board for showcasing product range to stores and consumers

This is our new samples board. This purpose of this piece is to show stores and customers in one 'piece' our product and design offerings. The board shows many of our products, with multiple design approaches including block lettering and barcode lettering.

What do Bob Marley, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Turkish singer Tarkan have in common?

They've all called home a location that we're shipping today. We're sending out:

Toronto messenger bag

Kingston messenger bag

Istanbul mug

Metropolis magazine explores how cutting 2 lbs from an airplane seat can make planes fuel efficient

MARCH 2010 • MAGAZINE
Grn Air
Southwest Airlines’ new “green” plane flies on a message of savvy environmentalism and even savvier marketing.

By Suzanne LaBarre
Posted March 17, 2010
At Southwest Airlines’ media day last fall, the company’s CEO, Gary Kelly, introduced the plane that would supposedly revolutionize air travel. What he wanted to talk about more than any-thing, though, was pleather. “We’re testing two different materials” for the airplane’s seat covers, Kelly explained to reporters in a hangar next door to the company’s Dallas headquarters:
E-Leather, “an ecofriendly, lightweight, and scuff-resistant man-made alternative to traditional leather,” and Izit Leather, “a lightweight product that’s economical. It’s recyclable. It’s durable.” The latter, he continued methodically, as if reading a quarterly earnings re-port, “also has the appearance and the touch of leather.” The airline industry might be on the brink of failure—profits shrinking, fuel prices mounting, Green-peace nagging—but, by God, the pleather feels real.

Read full article - click here

Theme building at LAX to reopen soon

Air Wear is sold at LAX in Terminal 4, a short walk from the Theme building. We're happy to read the building will re-open soon.

View LAX t-shirts, travel bags, and mugs

New York Times
April 17, 2010
In Los Angeles, the Saucer Is Ready to Land Again
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
LOS ANGELES — Before they face traffic on the 405 freeway, grab an In-N-Out burger or zip off to Rodeo Drive to see whatever they think is there, visitors who arrive here through LAX first stare up at the futuristic spider-shaped building at the center of the airport, welcoming them to the edge of America.

The structure, the Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport, is one of the most famous emblems of this city, right up there with palm trees, surfers and the Hollywood sign.

For the last three years, it was shrouded in scaffolding after a 1,000-pound chunk fell off one of the upper stucco-covered arches and landed on the roof of a restaurant. No one was injured, but the need for serious renovation was highlighted.

As the building was being repaired, and retrofitted to better withstand earthquakes, it served as a disorienting eyesore, rather than a welcoming icon.

Its completion was delayed several times, to the consternation of airport officials.

But now the $12.3-million project is nearly done — all but some roof treatments and a few coats of paint — and it will soon be back to its former glory, only with earthquake protection.

Maintaining the Theme Building’s midcentury flying-saucer shape while correcting for significant flaws in the design that threatened its structural integrity was a major challenge for architects, engineers and contractors.

Read the full article - please click here

Tel Aviv mug from Air Wear

We're shipping a Tel Aviv Air Wear mug to Alison in Seattle

View all Tel Aviv travel bags, mugs, t-shirts, and more - click here

Air Wear gift certificates shipped to Cape Air airlines

We just shipped gift certificates to Cape Air airlines in Massachusetts. They are giving the Air Wear cards to employees as part of an employee appreciation event. Sounds like a cool company to work for. ; )

www.capeair.com

blogs despoke and Spot Cool Stuff feature Air Wear

Thanks to the blogs despoke.com and Spot Cool Stuff for giving Air Wear a shout out. We found SCS's write up entertaining:

Well, there’s lots of fun to be had combining airport codes. Get an airline ticket from San Vito, Costa Rica to Helsinki, Finland to Anderson, USA and then to Baku, Azerbaijan and your luggage tag would read TOO-HEL-AND-BAK.

As for single airport codes here are Spot Cool Stuff’s five favorites:

#5 SEX – Sembach, Germany

Want to send your luggage away for a weekend of debauchery? Apparently this airport is ideal.

#4 FAR – Fargo, North Dakota, USA

The thing of it being that Fargo is indeed not close to much of anything.

#3 SUX – Sioux City, Iowa, USA

Sioux City isn’t really that bad.

#2 FUK – Fukuoka, Japan

Spot Cool Stuff’s former home airport; our admittedly juvenile selves had to snicker a bit whenever we checked a bag to there.

#1 YYZ – Toronto

All airports in Canada have an airport code that starts with Y. Most have some logic to them; eg. YQM is Quebec’s Montreal airport. But for some inexplicable reason Toronto is YYZ. We love the randomness of that. YYZ is also the only airport code to become the title of a popular song, an instrumental from Canadian rock band Rush. The song is meant to capture the spirit of the Toronto airport, from the stop-and-go nature of waiting for flights to the roar of jet planes. Click below to hear snippets of two versions of YYZ-the-song: the first is the 1981 Rush original, the second is a more mellow version from The Vitamin String Quartet (which does cool classical music renditions of every Rush tune from their album Exit… Stage Right as well as covers of popular hits from Metallica, Michael Jackson and Queen among others, though now we are really getting off topic).

Click here to read the full post at SCS

A more discreet way to say you're interested in SEX...

We should send Louann Brizendin a SEX sticker. We wonder where she'd put it.

From CNN

Love, sex and the male brain

By Louann Brizendine, Special to CNN
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Louann Brizendine: Male and female brains mostly alike, but some profound differences exist
Men's sexual pursuit area 2.5 times larger than the one in the female brain, she writes
She says testosterone drives the "Man Trance"-- or a glazed-eye stare at breasts
Brizendine: A wife's pheromones cause "Daddy Brain." Later, "Lovable Grandpa" or "Grumpy Old Man"?
Editor's note: Dr. Louann Brizendine is a member of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the National Board of Medical Examiners, and a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. She is founder and director of the Women's Mood and Hormone Clinic. She wrote "The Female Brain" and, just released, "The Male Brain." Brizendine will appear on HLN's "The Joy Behar Show" Friday at 9.

(CNN) -- Although women the world over have been doing it for centuries, we can't really blame a guy for being a guy. And this is especially true now that we know that the male and female brains have some profound differences.

Our brains are mostly alike. We are the same species, after all. But the differences can sometimes make it seem like we are worlds apart.

The "defend your turf" area -- dorsal premammillary nucleus -- is larger in the male brain and contains special circuits to detect territorial challenges by other males. And his amygdala, the alarm system for threats, fear and danger is also larger in men. These brain differences make men more alert than women to potential turf threats.

Click here to read full story

JetBlue decides to 'taxi' at JFK for a few more years

We're glad JetBlue is staying in NYC, and keeping up its service for JFK.

We encourage JetBlue's 900 employees to celebrate by putting on some JFK t-shirts.


New York Times
March 22, 2010
JetBlue to Move West Within Queens, Not South to Orlando
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
If running JetBlue Airways does not work out, perhaps David Barger could try his hand at professional poker.

Mr. Barger and his executive team kept city and state officials in New York and Florida guessing past dawn on Monday before announcing that they had decided to keep the airline’s headquarters in Queens rather than decamping for Orlando. Word of the official decision drew a pack of New York politicians, including Gov. David A. Paterson, to a celebration at City Hall but left people in Central Florida deflated.

JetBlue’s choice brought relief to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his staff, who had spent months pulling together a set of incentives to keep Mr. Barger’s team from moving nearly 900 jobs out of the city and leaving New York without a locally based major airline.

Since it started as a low-fare carrier at Kennedy International Airport a decade ago, JetBlue has called itself “New York’s hometown airline.”

Still, it took a package of tax breaks, investments and marketing programs with an estimated value of more than $30 million to persuade JetBlue to stay, according to city officials. They said the competing offer from Orlando, which offered to build a headquarters from scratch, appeared to be worth significantly more, possibly twice as much.

Read full article - please click here

Wedding Welcome Bags: We're making Nassau Bahamas Air Wear tote/beach bags

A bride to be has ordered these tote/beach bags as part of her wedding welcome gift for guests. The New York based bride is getting married this spring in NAS, and will be accompanied by her family and best friends.

Click here to view NAS airport code products

New York Times: Berlin to get new airport

This article is from today's New York Times. The official Berlin airport code will become BER in 2011. (Currently, it is TXL for Tegel). Air Wear offers BER bags, t-shirts, journals, and more - please click here


Berlin’s Airport: Shining Beacon or Waste of Money
New York Times
March 8, 2010

By NICHOLAS KULISH
BERLIN — To get Berliners arguing, bring up the new $3.4 billion airport rising just beyond the limits of this hip but economically strapped metropolis.

Supporters of Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport contend that it might be the salvation of a city that, despite its incredible historical resonance, has become an economic and geographic backwater. Detractors vehemently argue that the airport will be just another misguided drain of money by a local government critics say has failed to help Berlin realize its potential despite the city’s status as one of the hottest destinations on the planet.

City planners designed the airport as a symbol of their dream for Berlin, restored to greatness as the capital of a unified Germany. And so the fight now is about how Berlin has actually turned out: Germany’s cultural magnet and international beacon but also its national poorhouse, struggling to break out of a long slump. Berlin has the highest rate of residents on welfare — 18.6 percent — and received some $4 billion in state subsidies last year.

In a time of rising budget deficits, Germans are loath to bail out Greece in part because they have been bailing out their capital — and other stagnant parts of the former East Germany — for two decades.

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We're shipping Berlin and Paris T-shirts, and Berlin Messenger Bags

View all Berlin airport travel products - click here

View all Paris airport travel products - click here

We're shipping an Amsterdam Airport Belgium AMS messenger bag

View all Amsterdam airport travel products - click here

Just placed Mexico t-shirt order for...

Zihuatanejo Mexico Airport Code ZIH black men's t-shirt solid design - click here

Zihuatanejo is north of Acapulco on Mexico's western shore.

Cool airport shirt

We here at Air Wear love good design, and we're not above giving other designers of travel items some 'props'. I liked this shirt.
You can find it here:

http://babbletees.com/default/new/flughafen-toronto-airport-t-shirt.html