The London Olympics are over but if you think that’s the end of Olympic airport news, you’re in the wrong. We found two news articles even after the flames were extinguished. Then, there was a jet skier causing troubles in New York, a further worrying update from Berlin and a “Jackass” in North Carolina.
Let’s start with the Jet Skier: On Monday ABC News reported that a man whose jet ski failed him in New York’s Jamaica Bay swam to John F. Kennedy airport (JFK), where he was easily able to penetrate the airport $100 million, state-of-the art security system. “I think he should be given dinner and a bottle of champagne for showing us our faults,” said Nicholas Casale, an NYPD veteran and former MTA deputy security director for counterterrorism in the article. So do we!
On our tours through airports we often wondered whether there are statistics showing how long you have to walk at a particular airport. Surely some airports seem to do a lot more for your leg’s muscles than others. It turns out this data is now available – at least from a few selected airports. Our friends at Airport International quoted the research undertaken by insurance group Direct Line. The findings show that the longest walk is found at China’s capital airport in Beijing (PEK). Here is the full list:
- Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3 – 2.0 mile walk
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – 1.3 mile walk
- Zurich Airport 1.27 mile walk
- Frankfurt am Main Airport – 1.17 mile walk
- Gatwick Airport North Terminal – 1.12 mile walk
- Seoul Incheon International Airport – 1.05 mile walk
- Hong Kong International Airport – 0.98 mile walk
- London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 – 0.76 mile walk
- John F. Kennedy International Airport – 0.7 mile walk
- Amsterdam Airport Schiphol – 0.61 mile walk
- Manchester Airport – 0.57 mile walk
- Dubai International Airport – 0.55 mile walk
- London Stansted Airport – 0.48 mile walk
- London Luton Airport – 0.33 mile walk
Olympic news now. Yay! The first one came from a Business Week article stating that London’s Heathrow airport (LHR) will operate a special terminal for 8,000 departing Olympians as the busiest day for Games travel brings 22 percent more passengers than usual through Europe’s biggest hub. Interestingly, news was very quite on and after this particular day which meant everything must have gone very smoothly. That’s quite “un-Heathrowy”, but good on them for getting it right at last!
The second piece was a statistics news – yes, we love stats – and came from The Guardian: The article stated that the number of passengers using the UK’s main airports dipped [in July] as people stayed at home to watch the Olympics. According to the news the five UK airports run by BAA, which include Heathrow (LHR), handled 9.6 million passengers in July 2012 – a 4.1% decline on the July 2011 figure. Thankfully for the airports, there is a bank holiday coming up on 27 August which surely will make up.
Across the channel now to Germany where Reuters reported that a decision on whether the opening of Berlin’s new airport needs to be delayed for a third time was postponed until next month, [which is] another embarrassing setback for what was meant to be a flagship project for Germany’s capital. According to the article originally, Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (BER) was due to open in 2011 but the opening has been delayed twice already. In May, the scheduled opening for June 3 was scrapped due to problems with fire safety systems.
And now to our last story which is all about that gossip you love so much: Remember Bam Margera? If you do, then you’re probably in your late thirties and remember the name from the hilarious questionable TV show Jackass. Rings a bell? TMZ reported this week that the Bam Margera wound up being dragged through a North Carolina airport in handcuffs this weekend. According to the article Bam spent several hours in a holding cell at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) on Sunday after airline employees refused to let him on his flight … because he reeked of booze and was cussing like a sailor. Well, we couldn’t have written it better ourselves. Cough, cough.
That’s all we have – safe & sober flights everyone!
[Feature image based on Jackass 3D movie poster from IMPAwards.com]