Atlanta airport is nation’s busiest
Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has topped Chicago O’Hare International Airport as the nation’s busiest in terms of takeoffs and landings, the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday.
Hartsfield-Jackson finished 2005 with 980,197 takeoffs and landings, while O’Hare was second with 972,246.
The Atlanta airport for the last several years has been the busiest airport in terms of passengers, though FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said that full-year numbers in that category are not yet available for 2005.
The Atlanta airport also is considered the busiest in the world. Bergen wasn’t immediately able to provide numbers of takeoffs and landings and passengers for airports outside the United States.
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport was third in the U.S. in takeoffs and landings in 2005 with 718,291, while Los Angeles International Airport was fourth with 650,539, according to the FAA.
Nintento handheld sales hit 10 million
Redmond, Wash. Nintendo Co. said Tuesday that it has sold about 10 million of its Nintendo DS handheld game systems worldwide, including about 4 million in North America and more than 5 million in Japan.
Perrin Kaplan, vice president for marketing at Nintendo’s U.S. headquarters in Redmond, said the company sold about 3 million of the handheld gaming gadgets to North American consumers in 2005. That’s on top of 1.2 million sold to North American consumers in 2004, following the system’s late November launch.
Rival Sony Corp. said it has sold 3.2 million of its handheld game system, the PlayStation Portable, in North America between its March launch and mid-December. The company did not yet have sales figures through the end of the year.
Nintendo also said Tuesday that it sold 4.6 million of its other popular handheld gaming system, the Game Boy Advance, to North American consumers in 2005. That’s a drop from 7.58 million in 2004.
Kaplan said about 550,000 people worldwide have used Nintendo DS’s Wi-Fi system for playing games online since that offering launched seven weeks ago. The online game play option is free for anyone who has wireless Internet access. Users with a regular broadband connection can buy an adapter for about $35.
EDC hires development official
The Spokane Area Economic Development Council said Tuesday it has hired a veteran economic development official in Seattle to recruit businesses that might want to expand or move to Eastern Washington.
The official, William Stewart, previously was a business development manager for the Washington state Office of Community, Trade and Economic Development. He also previously worked for Avista Corp.’s economic development group.
Stewart, who starts at the EDC on Jan. 16, will focus on Western Washington businesses that are contemplating moving out of the state as well as businesses in Canada and Oregon that are considering moving to Washington, said Theresa Sanders, executive vice president of the EDC.
With the addition of Stewart, the EDC will employ 11, she said.