Airports, Americas, Europe, Weekly

This week: Icy delays in Detroit, drones at JFK & more

Last week seems to have been fairly busy in the world of airport news & delays – some of those to the annoyance of passengers. Here’s our overview of the topics we’re going to cover in this edition:

Last week we heard from Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) via ABC News that flights stopped for a couple of hours Saturday morning when the entire airfield “iced over at once.” Overnight crews applied de-icing fluid and sand, but he says freezing rain “overwhelmed our work.” As a result a Delta Air Lines plane arriving from Portland, Oregon, landed around 7 a.m. but skidded off a taxiway into grass. All passengers were safely removed and bused to the terminal. No one was hurt.

A different issue arose over in New York when The New York Post reported that commercial airline pilots reported two drone sightings in the vicinity of jet landing paths at JFK airport, drawing the attention of federal investigators, federal authorities said Thursday. Federal authorities are investigating, but said there were no immediate signs these incidents were terror-related. And according to the article it was also also unclear if these two drones were operated by one person or two separate parties.

Across town it was all about the future. There Business Insider wrote that it’s about to get a lot more enjoyable to wait for a flight at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). According to the article an ambitious new $US120 million makeover plan of Terminal C by airport amenity manager OTG includes 55 new restaurants headed by celebrated chefs (see the list here), new retail spaces, and visual upgrades galore. It will even include a “beer garden” with an intricate metal roof and an Italian-style cafe area with huge columns. Renovations for the new restaurants have already started and existing restaurants will continue to close gradually so the spaces can be updated. The first new restaurants will be open for business in summer of 2015, with the whole project completed in 2016.

And – as our last little news bite – here’s a hotel story that might be well aligned with our travel focused audience. Our friends at Business Insider wrote about a new offering from AirBNB: a KLM airline bed. Nope, not the one up in the air, this one sits firmly on the ground and forms part of AirBNB’s ‘Night at’ campaign. Having teamed up with KLM, the company gives three winners a chance to spend the night in an aircraft loft. The dutch airline has transformed one of its jets into a temporary living space, and with the help from a design and branding firm the cabin has been transformed into a stylish space. They filled a plane that was parked on the runway of the busy Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) with all the amenities of an apartment. The plane now has a spacious living room, a master bedroom, two children’s beds, eight bathrooms, two kitchens, and even a home cinema (although the cinema will apparently only play films related to flyings, so you might get stuck watching “Snakes On A Plane.”). The contest is now closed, but details of the airplane can be seen here.

That’s all for last week – safe travels!

[Photo Credit: ChaoticMind75 via Compfight cc]