It was a semi-busy airport week, this one. But, as always, it depends how you actually define “busy”. Surely the news kept flowing in in similar rates, but we didn’t see as much drama as in previous weeks. We think, that’s a good thing, of course. We still managed to find you some real jewels though. Let’s call them out: fog, strike, staff training and an airport sell out – sounds interesting?

Let’s start with that fog as this was one of the most recent news article hitting our inbox. Saying the two keywords “fog” and “airport”, most aviation enthusiasts would immediately point to Heathrow or maybe some other European airport often disrupted by the white soupy thing. Not this time though, as the news came from the other side of the world: Auckland. The NZ Herald reported that thousands of travellers had their plans thrown into chaos on Saturday when New Zealand’s biggest airport – the only one in the country equipped to land aircraft in low visibility – was brought to a standstill by fog. It then continued saying that a fault in computerised equipment used to land planes at Auckland Airport (AKL) in poor visibility led to 40 domestic flights being either delayed or cancelled.

Now let us spin that globe back to England where this week we heard from – drum roll please – Heathrow Airport (LHR). The Mail reported this week that airport staff at Heathrow have been put through their paces to ensure they are fully prepared for an enormous increase in the amount of baggage coming through the terminals during the Olympics. The article continued by saying that spectators, tourists and the athletes will swamp the airport with luggage and the number of bags is set to soar by around 20 per cent on the day before the Olympics. Check out the pictures the news article posted, it surely looks like an impressive amount of luggage!

Then there was another article from England that caught our eyes this week. Sadly it contained less good news when the BBC reported that baggage handlers at Stansted Airport in Essex (STN) have begun a 48-hour strike over changes to their working patterns. According to the article GMB union members claim that changes in rosters to a five-day week instead of four days on and two days off would reduce their income. The airport said there had been no delays and passengers were advised to “travel as normal”.

And finally to our “pièce de résistance”, where this week, we found something really special for you: an entire contents of an airport up for grabs. Everything and anything! Yes, even the check-in desks, cabins and baggage trolleys. As reported in The Telegraph all the fittings and fixtures from Plymouth City Airport in England will be sold to the highest bidder, following its closure in December last year. Plane spotters and travel enthusiasts will have the rare opportunity to purchase everything from the check-in desks and baggage trolleys to the runway vehicles and fire engines. The auction will be held in July and run by Peaker Pattinson Ltd.

That’s all we have – happy bidding and save travels!

[Photo from Flickr – Some rights reserved by Dave McLean]