While Australia’s largest carrier is busy sorting out its issues around the A380 and at the same time celebrating its 90th anniversary, the red continent’s neighbour, New Zealand, is occupied with a different sort of aviation milestone. “MileSTONE” is the perfect word here, as Wellington’s airport (IATA: WLG) reveals this Sunday its newest addition called “The Rock”.
The Rock is the new extension of New Zealand’s capital International Terminal (I reviewed the airport about a month ago; you can read that review here). Continue reading Wellington Rock’s Out!→
I must admit, I’m not the biggest fan of Google, but even I have to acknowledge that every now and then they provide some really great services. The latest one is their “free holiday Wi-Fi at 30,000 feet”. Google teamed up with AirTran, Delta and Virgin America to offer free Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi on every US domestic flight from 20 November 2010 through 2 January 2011. Continue reading Free “holiday Wi-Fi” on US domestic flights→
Aisle or a window seat? I’m sure many of you think about this question already at home weeks before your actual flight. All of us passengers have to make a choice at some point though and I’ve seldom heard anyone saying they are indifferent about their seat selection. I, for example, have a rule where on short flights of 5 hours or less I will always want a window seat, but on long-haul flight I prefer the aisle.
Mark Vanhoenacker will always choose the window seat though. Mark is pilot, but that’s not the point, obviously in the cockpit he has a window in front of him, but Mark goes for the window seat every time he sits in the back of an aircraft too. And no, not for safety reasons, simply because he enjoys the magnificent views one is often presented on landing at many of the world’s airports.
In the New York Times, Mark recently wrote about his experience in the window seat and what you can view on what destination:
While all frequent fliers will have their favorites, some cities are perennial winners. Passengers flying to San Francisco, for example, are regularly treated to marvelous views of its bridges, hills and microclimates.
Read everything in the full article. You can also submit your own window seat views here. A selection of pictures will be published on the 25th April.
Picture by LateDeparture.com – all rights reserved.
The Guardian yesterday published five things Alain de Botton learned from spending a week in Heathrow‘s terminal 5. BAA hired the Swiss philosopher a month ago and granted him unlimited access to all areas in the terminal. Here is what he found:
1 A surprising number of people die at Heathrow every week: around two a terminal. The 20 minutes after you’ve got off the plane are especially hazardous to your constitution. Then again, given the tenderness that parting couples show one another at the barrier, the prospect of death en route can do wonders for any fractious relationship.
2 There’s a British Airways check-in employee at Terminal 5 who, if you manage to be especially rude to her, will pretend that her machine has suddenly designated you for an upgrade. Then, just as she observes your scowl turn into a deferential smile, she will take a second look at her screen, sigh empathetically and announce that sadly the system has mysterious changed its mind and there won’t be an upgrade after all. “That’s a lesson that normally lasts a lifetime,” she reckons.
3 It’s a good deal more interesting to study how an airline meal is made than to eat one. Every weekday at around 4am, a mile from Terminal 5, in an aluminium shed owned by Gate Gourmet, a woman called Leyla sets to work grilling the hundred lamb cutlets that will, a few hours later, face Emirates business-class passengers on EK008 to Dubai.
4 What spoils our experience of airports is that we tend to go there only to catch a flight. We’d be wiser to start going with a view to doing nothing other than have a look around, as people used to do in the 1960s – and which we will probably have to relearn to do, as we wake up to the extraordinary environmental impact of even the most advanced aeroplane engines.
5 To judge by the continuing success of airport-based company Caviar House, homo sapiens manifests a special proclivity for the creatures of the sea as it prepares to take to the skies. Our sea-based appetites perhaps result from a semiconscious desire to savour man’s triumph over both the oceans and the skies, the overworld and the underworld, this duality perfectly reconciled in a man who can in the same afternoon eat a dozen oysters and board a 747 to another continent.
Alain de Botton’s new book, “A Week at the Airport” is available here (Profile Books, £8.99). In addition, Passengers can get one of 10,000 exclusive copies distributed for free at Costa Coffee stores in all 5 London Heathrow terminals.
Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea (Korean: 인천국제공항, IATA: ICN) has been named Best Airport in the world, in the passenger survey results released today by Skytrax, a UK-based aviation research organisation with more than 8.2 million questionnaires completed by passengers across the world, during the 10 month survey period. Skytrax wrote on their website today that
Incheon is an airport that has been in the global top 5 ranking for the World Airport Awards during the past 5-6 years, and it is a great achievement for them to secure this premier mark of customer satisfaction.
Second best airport in this year’s ranking came last year’s winner, Hong Kong International Airport followed by Singapore’s Changi airport. Late.Departure.com fully reviewed three of the top ten airports and will publish the Munich review next week (click on the links below to read the reviews) :
Best European Airport went to Zurich which overtook Munich’s lead from last year. In North American the award went to Dallas/Fort Worth. Other regional winners were Tel Aviv for the Middle East, Auckland for the Pacific region, Cape Town for Africa, Panama for Central America and Lima for South America.
The World Airport Awards are based on the results from 8.6 million questionnaires completed by airline passengers in 2008/9, covering more than 190 airports worldwide. The survey evaluates traveller experiences across 39 different airport service and product factors – from check-in, arrivals, transfer through to departure at the gate.
Congratulations to Incheon; I guess I will have to schedule a trip to Seoul soon to provide my loyal readers with my own verdict. Any sponsors? 😉
The recent disappearance of Air France Flight 447 off the coast of Brazil raises the question of how airports prepare and handle emergencies. Although the A330 did not send out a distress call, or was able to return, or divert to a nearby airport, airports are prepared for such events, and have very strict protocols of how to deal with various emergencies that occur on the airfield.
All FAA Part 139 airports in the United States are required to have an Airport Certification Manual with an outline of procedures for response teams, such as ARFF (Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting), law enforcement, and airport operations in order to respond to emergencies ranging from aircraft alerts to medical situations. Airports in other countries that are regulated or lease any part of the airfield from the government will have similar regulations in place. An airport needs to be regulated and occasionally audited to ensure that airport staff is adequately trained to deal with such emergencies.
Flights that have been victim of a hijacking, bomb threat, or mechanical failure are serious instances that require special training. Typically, when a Captain receives notice of a bomb threat or hijacking, the aircraft will land immediately and airport officials will direct the aircraft to a safe and unpopulated area of the airfield. Law enforcement officials will be escorted to the aircraft where they will take incident command and proceed with their own procedures.
When Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana, the city of New Orleans did not have a plan of scale to evacuate elderly residents and those without transportation. The city, which owns the airport has devised an emergency plan, with the help of a private company, and approved by government officials is now in place for the next potential hurricane. The plan includes preferred routes for traffic flow into the airport facility for those being bused or flown out.
Air France Flight 447, an Airbus 330, was flown into a strong storm off the coast of Brazil where it suffered from severe turbulence and a possible lighting strike which may have induced an electrical failure, ultimately causing it to go down. The flight crew reportedly never declared an emergency, but if they were closer to the shore and were able to glide with or without power to a nearby airport, it would have been classified as an Alert III, the most serious of all aircraft emergencies. The airport would be responsible for responding with ARFF and medical teams to evacuate passengers and crew. If the plane were disabled and crippled on the runway, the airline or owner would be responsible for removing it at their cost. The cost of removal is never the responsibility of the airport, but if an actual large scale crash does occur in the vicinity of the airport, a closure is imminent until it can be cleared.
[Article provided by Jeffrey from Airport Chronicles exclusively for LateDeparture.com – Picture shows the disappeared Air France jet with the registration F-GZCP and comes from Flickr, some rights reserved]
Today, the WHO classified the swine influenza A (H1N1) outbreak as a “public health emergency of international concern.” And while more cases of swine flu were confirmed on Monday in the United States, Canada and Europe (Update:Britain is now also directly affected with one case), country organizations began to take actions, particularly by preventing and monitoring travellers to and from their countries.
Furthermore, financial markets have already “penalized” Mexican airports whose shares traded substiantially lower today: The airport owners are among the “most vulnerable” stocks amid the flu outbreak, UBS AG analysts wrote in a note today in which they cut Mexican equities to “underweight” writes Bloomberg.
It’s pretty clear that this latest threat of an influenza pandemic is going to have further implications on the economy. But how does it affect travellers? Various countries have already tightened their airport checks. Australia, for example, has trained airport staff to spot people with flu like symptoms. According to an article any passengers with flu-like symptoms would be met by quarantine officers. In addition, all incoming international flights would have to make an onboard announcement telling passengers to seek immediate medical advice if they felt unwell with flu symptoms.
Hong Kong, the epicenter of a SARS outbreak six years ago, announced some of the toughest measures anywhere on Sunday in response to a swine flu outbreak in Mexico and the United States, reports The New York Times.
So, what should you do if you are travelling to or from North America in the near future? Here is some advice:
Travelling toMexico: in general it’s probably safe to say that if you can postpone your trip, then do so, otherwise check your countries latest travel advice (the UK foreign office’s one can be found here, Germany’s here, Ireland’s here, the USA’s here and Canada’s here). If you decide to go, then do make sure you check with your airline if the flight is still leaving as today several charter airlines (e.g. TUI in Germany) have cancelled their flights to Mexico.
Travelling from Mexico: be aware of extra precautions at Mexican and foreign airports. Prepare for additional screenings and questioning. Check your destinations country latest immigration advice. Your airline or travel agency should be able to help you.
Travelling to/from other North American destinations: expect delays at the airports due to tightened security and passenger screenings. Check with your local airline for the latest uptodate travel information.
Just when I got to Heathrow for my Etihad flight to Kuala Lumpur the police closed down terminal 3 and evacuated everyone. No one from the BAA staff seems to know more at this point.
Update: Fire engines are arriving but are held back at the holding area outside the Central Bus Terminal.
Update: The terminal has just been reopened. Now hundreds of people are trying to get back in. It looks chaotic!
Update: I’ve now made my way to Kuala Lumpur but nearly missed my plane in London since I had to queue for about an hour for security at Terminal 3 and it seemed as most other passengers of that flight were already through it before the evacuation. Luckily for me the fantastic onboard service from Etihad Airlines made up for the Heathrow shambles.
Switzerland officially joined the Schengen zone on the 12th December of last year even though my home country is (still) not part of the EU. The original Schengen agreement was signed in 1985 and it provided for the removal of systematic border controls between the participating countries.
With the Swiss joining the club now, this means you will no longer see systematic passport controls between it and the other member countries. This is straight forward with Switzerland’s neighbouring countries as they are all members themselves, but it’s a bit more complex for an airport as flights, obviously, will leave to both, member and non-member countries. Zurich airport will therefore undergo a change to accommodate for the new system. On their website they write
The most noticeable changes for passengers is that they will no longer have to pass through passport control within the Schengen area, and some transit passengers at Zurich Airport will even be able to transfer to their onward flight without having to undergo another security check.
These changes are becoming effective on 29th March 2009. More information can be found on the airport’s website. I’m scheduled to go back there in May and will report on the changes. Let’s hope Zurich remains as reliable as it was and that my favourite “Luxemburgerli” are available in both zones.
I am sure you agree that 2008 has been a very difficult eventful year. This also holds also true for the aviation industry as our selection of the top 10 news stories about airports shows:
10. London Stansted blockade
Early December environmental activists have stopped flights at London’s Stansted airport (IATA: STN) after breaking through to the runway, raising security concerns at Britain’s third-busiest airport. The protests against a further expansion of the airport caused a serious knock-on effect on the airport’s flight operations causing over 50 flights to be cancelled.
9. Opening of Beijing airport Terminal 3
On March 26, Beijing airport (IATA: PEK) opened its new Terminal 3, designed by Sir Norman Foster, after four years of construction. It is the world’s largest airport building, covering more than a million square meters, designed to accommodate an estimated 50 million passengers a year by 2020.
8. Closure of Berlin’s iconic Tempelhof airport
Open one, close one; on the October 30, Berlin’s iconic Tempelhof airport closed down for good. Originally opened in 1923, the later built airport halls and neighbouring buildings, intended to become the gateway to Europe and a symbol of Hitler’s “world capital” Germania. Read our full coverage here.
7. Kalitta Air crash at Brussels airport
On Sunday, 25 May a Boeing 747 cargo plane overshot the runway at Brussels Zaventem airport (IATA: BRU) and crashed resulting the aircraft to break into 2 parts. The spectacular picture made the news everywhere.
6. Frightening landing at Hamburg’s airport
A low pressure system named “Emma” nearly caused a disaster at Hamburg airport (IATA: HAM) in March. The Lufthansa A320 plane struggled to make the runway through 90 kilometre-per-hour crosswinds resulting in the 39 year old pilots last minute go-around procedure and a safe second attempt. The frightening approach was caught on camera and is an extraordinary piece which will now probably be used all over the world in pilot training classrooms.
5. Hong Kong wins ‘Airport of the Year’ award
In July Hong Kong International airport (IATA: HKG) was named best Airport in the world, in the passenger survey results released by Skytrax. Despite being “only” rated in 5th place in the most-timely airport survey, Hong Kong received the prestigious award after Skytrax collected 8.2 million questionnaires completed by passengers over a 10-month time period. Read our congratulating article here.
4. Spanair crash at Madrid airport
A combination of basic pilot error and an electrical failure was the possible cause of the crash of a Spanair plane at Madrid’s Barajas airport (IATA: MAD) on 20 August that killed 154 people. The airport was closed for several hours after the accident.
3. Radar malfunction at Dublin airport
In the midst of the summer holiday season, Dublin airport (IATA: DUB) made the news with its malfunctioning radar system which meant that controllers lost some functionality on their screens meaning they were unable to see the labels attached to ‘blips’ that signify individual aircraft. The problem resulted in massive delays and many cancellations over several days.
1. Chaos at London Heathrow’s new Terminal 5
In March BAA, the company that owns Heathrow airport, opened its newest addition of what should have been a proud event for London’s most criticised airport. Instead, the opening resulted in a PR disaster with BAA losing thousands of bags over several months. The event then became one of the triggers leading to the demands of breaking up BAA’s monopolistic ownership of airports in the UK.
(Profile Books, £8.99). In addition, Passengers can get one of 10,000 exclusive copies distributed for free at Costa Coffee stores in all 5 London Heathrow terminals.
