* A new regional airport is under development at Pajalai in the Lapland region of northern Sweden, which will open with a single paved 1,420m (4,655ft) runway equipped with an initial NDB approach. This will be followed by an eventual global positioning system procedure. The airport is due to be opened in August.
* Plans have emerged for a $1 billion expansion at Chicago O'Hare, with the construction of two new terminals that will add more than 20 gates. One of the new terminals will be built on the site of O'Hare's heating and refrigeration plant, while the other will be situated to the east of Terminal 5.
* London Heathrow, Frankfurt and Paris Charles de Gaulle were the three busiest European airports in 1998, a year when overall traffic increased by 6.4%, according to the latest figures from the Airports Council International. Heathrow remains the busiest, with 60.5 million passengers - a rise of 4.4% - passing through its four terminals. Frankfurt's traffic rose by 6.2%, to 42.1 million, and Charles de Gaulle's by 9.5% (reflecting the development of Air France's hub) to 38.6 million. Freight traffic stagnated, however, rising by just 1%.
* Construction will start this year of a second terminal at Munich's Franz-Josef Strauss Airport. The building will become operational during 2003 with an annual capacity of 15 million passengers. Finance and management will be provided jointly by Lufthansa and Munich airport company Flughafen München.
* Bombardier Aerospace is to spend £30 million ($50 million) expanding Belfast City Airport. The first phase of the development will include construction of a terminal, plus a new apron for 10 aircraft and taxiways. Work should start by June and be complete a year later. The airport handled 1.3 million passengers last year.
* A second terminal at Taiwan's Chiang Kai-shek Airport in Taipei is about to be completed so that it can be opened in June.
Source: Flight International
