Righty-o, we’re a bit late with this update, so let’s get going as we’ve certainly found a few interesting news items this week again. Our friends from Changi airport, for example, made headlines again and there was a story about buying goats for an airport in the U.S. – intriguing isn’t it?

But first, let us inform you about a New York story from earlier last week: Boston.com wrote on Monday that authorities said two commercial passenger jets had been searched at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) because of an anonymous phone call claiming explosives were on them. They say no explosives have been found. The two planes were Finnair Flight 5 from Helsinki and American Airlines Flight 24 from San Francisco.

It was an article about one particular airport only that actually showed consequences for all European airports this week: The Guardian reported that Manchester airport (MAN) is abandoning the use of controversial security scanners that produce “naked” images after failing to get approval from the European Commission. According to the article Manchester was the only airport in Europe to use the scanners, which were introduced three years ago. The airport had been anticipating that the technology would be approved for permanent use after the study found they posed no additional risk to people’s health. We think it’s now unlikely that we will see these scanners at any European airport any time soon again.

How would you feel if you won something for 25 times in a row? You’d be feeling pretty lofty, right? That’s exactly how Singapore’s Changi Airport (SIN) must feel after winning ‘Best Airport in the World’ for the 25th consecutive time at the Business Traveller Awards, as reported by Passenger Terminal Today. Well, it’s no secret that we love this airport (we wrote multiple times about it, for example here about Changi’s Terminal 3). In fact, we’re in Singapore this week and rest assured that we’ll have an updated story for you soon!

Now to our finally story for this week. It’s a funny one; yes, it’s the goat story: The Mail Online wrote last week that the Chicago Department of Aviation recently put out a bid for someone to supply goats – or sheep – to trim the grass at O’Hare International Airport (ORD). The bid also calls for a goat herder. The department said that they are also concerned about pollution produced by mechanical mowers, so they are turning to the barnyard variety. We certainly like it! So, feel free to apply if you have a few spare goats or are a herder!

Safe travels and happy herding everyone!

[Photo from Flickr – Some rights reserved by Nemodus photos]