Airport

AirTran Airways said yesterday that it plans in May to begin flying five times a week to Seattle from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. It will mark the airport's only nonstop flights to the Northwestern city. The airline also said it would resume seasonal service to Dallas-Fort Worth and Milwaukee, in April and May, respectively. It also will add service to Charlotte, N.C., beginning in May. The news comes on the heels of an announcement that the airline would launch service to Portland, Maine, and fly daily to BWI, beginning in June.

The number of people flying from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport has surpassed pre-Sept. 11 levels for the first time, thanks in large part to Southwest Airlines, which now carries more than half the airport's passengers. BWI this week reported that a record 20.7 million passengers passed through the airport last year, bumping the previous high set in 2001, the year of the terrorist attacks. The initial downturn in travel that followed the attacks, plus a weakened economy and spiking fuel costs, caused financial havoc in the airline industry in general.

A new accord between the United States and the European Union could help bolster BWI's fledgling international business, with low-cost carriers providing much of the service, a panel of government and industry officials and consultants said yesterday. The officials were commenting on the latest "open skies" agreement at a symposium yesterday in Annapolis sponsored by Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. As evidence, they pointed to Ryanair, Europe's largest discount carrier, which announced it would launch service to U.S. cities including Baltimore around the time the latest open skies accord was signed.

Maryland travelers flooded airports, train stations and local roads yesterday, putting authorities on the alert but causing few problems on what was expected to be the busiest travel day of the holiday weekend. The number of people leaving home over the Christmas weekend was expected to be slightly up from last year, despite rising gasoline prices and airfares. "Because Christmas is falling on a Tuesday, it's sort of viewed as a four-day weekend for most people," said Ragina C. Averella, public and government affairs manager for AAA. "That encourages people to travel."

The footage is painful to watch - there's no audio, but from the reactions of other passengers stopping to stare or cutting a wide swath around her, it's obvious the woman is screaming, just losing it, in an airport. Eventually, police officers approach and surround her, she either falls or is wrestled to the ground, and they handcuff and take her away. The rest isn't on tape - some things, believe it or not, still occur beyond the seemingly unblinking eye of YouTube - but soon after this episode was captured by an airport security camera, Carol Gotbaum died, apparently strangled on the chain that police had used to secure her to a bench in a holding cell.

An airport shuttle bus at Baltimore-Washington International Airport went up in flames yesterday morning, destroying or damaging 11 cars, forcing the closure of a satellite parking lot, and sending airport passengers scrambling for parking spaces.The bus driver and the five passengers aboard the airport's Super Shuttle were not injured, and managed to grab their luggage before bolting from the smoking bus, which was consumed in flames in two minutes."It was pretty much a meltdown," said Chuck Holm, a shuttle passenger who boarded another bus with his fellow passengers in time to catch his flight to Detroit.

With all the cheap fares and new routes these days, getting to Baltimore-Washington International Airport is easier than ever -- as long as you're in an airplane.Getting there in a car is a different story.State officials cringe at the thought of it, but Maryland's much-celebrated economic success story has developed a dreadfully congested parking system.The short-term parking lots at BWI fill up routinely, annoying family members who visit for quick pickups and drop-offs.Even worse, the long-term parking lots are filling up more often, too, rattling hurried passengers and possibly chasing business to places with better parking.

THE recent physical confrontation between a Continental Airlines gate agent and a passenger at the Newark, N.J., airport indicates that the airlines have added knuckle sandwich to their menu of rubber chicken, cardboard beef and plastic noodles.The airline's version of the incident is that a male passenger, who was not allowed to get on the plane because he lacked a boarding pass, hurled the agent headfirst to the floor. The passenger says it is he who was attacked first.While doubtless some court of law will sort out who's at fault, most people who fly will have no trouble believing the passenger.

LET ME admit upfront that I am one of those people who spends every moment on an airline flight convinced the plane is about to drop out of the sky and slam into the ground like a lawn dart.So the story of that 12-year-old boy who sneaked on a flight to St. Louis didn't do much for my nerves.Maybe you heard about this little monster.The short version goes like this: The kid got in trouble at his Fairfax, Va., elementary school and was sent to see the principal.But instead of going to face the heat, he did what any kid would do in that situation: He freaked out and hopped a train to Reagan Airport in Washington.

In Allegany CountyCumberland mayor, council transfer airport ownershipCUMBERLAND -- The mayor and City Council voted 4-1 this week to transfer the deeds of Greater Cumberland Regional Airport to Potomac Highlands Airport Authority, the bistate commission that runs the airport in neighboring Wiley Ford, W.Va.The change in ownership relieves Cumberland of paying about $6,000 a year in property taxes to West Virginia and may enable the airport to receive additional funds from West Virginia.The lone opponent, Councilman Harry W. May Jr., has demanded a referendum on the issue.

Kevin Crowley's job as a computer salesman for Hewlett-Packard requires a lot of travel, and lately his company is telling him to do it as cheaply as possibly. So even though the Montgomery County resident could fly from any of three nearby airports, he usually bypasses Reagan National and Dulles in search of the cheapest fares. "If I'm going to fly, it's normally going to be from BWI," Crowley said after checking in for a flight to Orlando this week. He said the airport is also easier to drive to than others in the region.

The voices that ring out across Baltimore's airport terminals, paging lost travelers and steering foreigners to a meeting spot, will be a service of the past starting next month. And if you want to get a live person on the line when calling the airport's toll-free number for general inquiries, forget about it. The Maryland Aviation Administration is closing the communications center at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, a move prompted by state budget woes that will save $450,000 a year.

Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport has two big things going for it: It's cheap and convenient. Sure, you don't get a lot of international flights, and it's no match for Reagan and Dulles when it comes to the big carriers. But it's a virtual palace for Southwest and its low-fare rivals, and it?s easy to get to and easy to leave. That's why news that the airport will now charge $2 for the previously free halfhour of parking in the hourly garage is such a disappointment.

BWI Airport officials have agreed after years of wrangling to allow a politically connected Prince George's County businessman to participate in a program for minorities at the airport, according to audit findings obtained by The Baltimore Sun on Thursday. Sandy Roberts, who runs Olympic News, one of the biggest retail operations at BWI, had not previously been counted among the minority-owned businesses at the airport because officials said he was not running the company himself. Airport officials said souvenir giant Hudson News, which recruited Roberts as a minority partner, was behind the operation.

The state has struck a deal with the airlines that use Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport not to collect $32.2 million of the $57.3 million in terminal rents and other fees it undercharged them over the past four years. The Maryland Aviation Administration said it plans to recover only $25.04 million of those uncollected fees over the next five years. Southwest Airlines, BWI's dominant carrier, has agreed to pay $12.2 million of that sum - in exchange for reduced rents and landing fees in the future, company spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger said.

Time moves at a different pace in Linthicum. A railroad suburb carved out of rolling farmland outside Baltimore a century ago, the leafy community in northern Anne Arundel County has retained an unhurried, small-town feel even as development, highways and a sprawling airport have crowded in on its borders in the decades since. On April 25, state and local dignitaries assembled at the old Linthicum train station to celebrate the neighborhood's designation as a National Historic Place. It was first included in the National Register of Historic Places in 2006, but community leaders decided to hold off on an official celebration until Linthicum marked its centennial this year.

Time moves at a different pace in Linthicum. A railroad suburb carved out of rolling farmland outside Baltimore a century ago, the leafy community in northern Anne Arundel County has retained an unhurried, small-town feel even as development, highways and a sprawling airport have crowded in on its borders in the decades since. Last Friday, state and local dignitaries assembled at the old Linthicum train station to celebrate the neighborhood's designation as a National Historic Place. It was first included in the National Register of Historic Places in 2006, but community leaders decided to hold off on an official celebration until Linthicum marked its centennial this year.

Deaf school student is indicted on rape charge A student at the Maryland School for the Deaf in Frederick was indicted on rape charges after an incident reported to have taken place in a dorm basement last year. Assistant State's Attorney Tammy M. Leache said 17-year-old Kaeshaun Malik Willis of Randallstown was indicted Friday on five charges, including second-degree rape. Willis, who was 16 at the time of the alleged assault, was charged as an adult. According to court documents, Willis attacked a 17-year-old woman in the dormitory basement Oct. 27. He was arrested April 8 and released on $35,000 bail.

The state is assessing airlines operating at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport $25 million in new charges, including $13 million it says is owed by dominant carrier Southwest Airlines. Airport officials said the additional charges were being imposed to cover increased expenses, including higher security and utility costs. In Southwest's case, the state said it found that it had been undercharging the airline for its new terminal space. Southwest Chief Financial Officer Laura H. Wright disclosed the "surprise audit settlement charge" that it is negotiating with the Maryland Aviation Administration during the airline's first-quarter earnings conference call yesterday.

The number of people flying through Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport increased less than half as fast as it did in 2006, as Southwest Airlines, the dominant carrier at BWI, ratcheted down growth. A record 21.04 million passengers passed through BWI last year, representing a 1.7 percent increase in annual traffic, airport officials reported yesterday. In 2006, traffic grew by 4.8 percent, to 20.7 million people. Fears of a recession and soaring fuel prices leading to higher airfares depressed travel activity in 2007, said Timothy L. Campbell, executive director of the Maryland Aviation Administration, which oversees BWI. "When fares go up, demand goes down," Campbell said.