Let’s get straight to it – this week we found the following airport related topics for you:
- Teachers block approach to Mexico airport (again)
- Chicago halts airport lease
- Belfast’s emergency operation
- Truck thieves storm into Israel airport
First up we have news from Mexico where according to ABC News teachers angry over the passage of a national education reform blocked the main approach to Mexico City’s airport (MEX) for more than eight hours Thursday, forcing many people to leave their cars and rush through the streets on foot to catch flights. Hang on, you say, isn’t this a ‘groundhog day moment’? Yes, you are correct: Only two weeks ago the teachers already blocked access to the same airport as we reported back then.
Then today we learned from The Wall Street Journal that Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel has halted plans to lease Chicago’s Midway International Airport (MDW) to private investors, a blow to one of the country’s highest-profile municipal privatization efforts. According to the article Chicago and other cities have been seeking to sell or lease infrastructure assets amid debate over such deals. Advocates say they can help plug budget holes without raising taxes, but critics complain that they sacrifice access to long-term revenue streams and give control to private operators who prize profits over public interest.
An emergency operation briefly interrupted one of the UK’s airports this week: The Belfast Telegraph wrote that Belfast city airport (BHD) was at the centre of an emergency operation on Tuesday after liquid was reported leaking from a plane. Passengers from London had already disembarked before the leak was discovered after parking at its usual slot.
A bit more dramatic sounded the news we received through News.com.au this week. The article read that on Tuesday Israel’s international airport in Tel Aviv (TLV) had its flights temporarily grounded after two Palestinian truck thieves stormed through airport checkpoints. In the article an Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says it was unclear why they entered the airport, but it did not appear to be a politically motivated attack. Ben Gurion Airport spokeswoman Liza Dvir said flights were briefly grounded, and some flight schedules were delayed. The airport returned to normal soon after.
That’s all for this week – safe travels!