Hungry?

JetBlue's forthcoming Terminal 5 at New York JFK Airport will offer eats including tapas, sushi and rustic Italian.

While I'm not sure what rustic Italian is versus plain Italian, reading about it makes my mouth water.

OTG Management will own and operate the restaurants: AeroNuova, Deep Blue, La Vie, Piquillo and Revolución.

Name change update

Earlier in the month, Birmingham Airport Authority voted to rename its airport for civil rights leader Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth.

Shuttlesworth is the founder of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights.

Birmingham International Airport will now be known as Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport.

The facility was known as Birmingham Municipal Airport when it opened in 1931.

Shuttlesworth is pictured with Dartmouth College professor Susannah Heschel.

(Photo from Susannah Heschel)

No more lounging around

US majors are shuttering lounges in domestic and international airports.

Read the bad news here.

Taxman has a field day

The National Business Travel Association adds up airport taxes.

Cleveland has the highest taxes and Honolulu has the lowest.

USA Today has a handy chart.

Detroit readies wrecking ball

Wayne County Airport Authority voted in favour yesterday of its Master Plan for Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County airport, which includes the construction of a seventh runway.

If approved by the US FAA, the forthcoming runway will need around 1,000 acres outside the airport’s current boundary.

Understandably, some property owners aren't happy, but that hasn't stopped progress in the past.

The airport’s fifth parallel runway will run east of the airport and be used for arrivals.

The authority says in a statement it expects the new runway could be needed in the 2018-2027 timeframe.

Therapy at 30,000 feet

Here's a feel good story from the Los Angeles Times about a Delta flight attendant who gives passengers crayons and paper on flights.

"Toward the end of each flight, [Jewel] Van Valin and other crew members tape passengers' drawings to the aircraft's bulkhead so everyone on board can see them. She also maintains a revolving display of the pictures in Delta's employee lounge at Los Angeles International Airport."

The artwork has also been clandestinely displayed on walls and support columns between Gates 56 and 59 at the airport.

(Photo from Mark Boster, Los Angeles Times)

Another concert I missed

Orlando International Airport celebrated Independence Day a bit early this year.

The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra gave a Liberty Weekend concert at the airport on 28 June.



This year's concert had the theme “A Tribute to Our Troops”.

(Photo from Orlando International Airport)