This week is the second last week of our airport news reviews in 2013 before we take a – what we think – well deserved break. Let’s look at what we found this week then:
Continue reading This week: Spanish ghost airport up for grabs, snowy owls at JFK & more
This week we recap four topics we discovered throughout the week. Remember, you can always follow us on Twitter to receive timely updates through the week. But here’s what we have summarized for you for this week:
Apart from one news piece from New York and one from Egypt, this week’s airport news list reads more like headlines from a cheap gossip magazine. Mind you, all of them are supposedly true and surely have their place in our news round-up. So, sit back and enjoy reading about the following:
According to USA Today, a bird strike forced a Florida-bound JetBlue flight to divert to New York’s JFK on Thursday morning local time. The article further read that Fort Myers-bound JetBlue Flight 1205 had just taken off from the Westchester County Airport in New York City’s northern suburbs (HPN) around 8 a.m. ET when the Embraer E190 aircraft encountered the birds. “Out of an abundance of caution, the aircraft diverted to John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) for inspection and landed safely at 8:25 a.m.,” said a JetBlue spokeswoman in the same article.
A lighter story came from the United Kingdom earlier in the week when CNN reported that staff at Bristol Airport in the west of England (BRS) believe an elderly teddy bear left in the departure lounge more than a year ago, along with a photograph dated 1918, must have a loving family somewhere. Airport staff were initially hopeful that the bear would be reclaimed, but so far no one has come forward. We – of course – want to do our bit to help unite this bear with its owner, hence find the photograph of the Teddy in question below (courtesy of Bristol Airport). Anyone with information that might help find the owners should contact: yourairport@bristolairport.com
A fairly brief article reached us mid week from the Associated Press via ABC News regarding ongoing strikes at Cairo International Airport (CAI): according to the article striking workers at the airport’s largest terminal are blocking airplanes on the tarmac and disrupting flights. Wednesday’s strike has delayed the departure of seven flights and diverted passengers from three incoming international flights to the other terminal. The article concluded that Egypt has been hit by a seemingly endless wave of strikes in the two years since the ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, contributing to the nation’s worsening economy.
The Hindu, an Indian newspaper, surprised us with an interesting story from Chennai: ‘Honey bees. That is the new problem the Chennai airport (MAA) has to deal with’, the article kicked off. It then continued to recall an event from 29 May when passengers on board a Jet Airways flight from Chennai to New Delhi watched a swarm of bees buzzing around an aircraft wing. There’s a video of it too:
The same article then quotes an official from the Airports Authority of India saying “Just a few days ago, I spotted a hive on the airside of the new international terminal. I’m not sure if it has been removed,” he said. We sense this story will continue!
Then there were the students that got ejected from their flight to Atlanta. According to Associated Press, published via Yahoo! News, a group of about 100 high school students traveling from New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to Atlanta were thrown off an AirTran flight, along with their chaperones, after the pilot and crew lost patience with some kids who wouldn’t sit down and put away their cellphones. The flight was delayed for about 45 minutes while the students filed out of the Boeing 737, which seats about 137 people, leaving the plane mostly empty.
And to finish the week of we have news about Chewbacca. Who you say? It’s of course on of the famous star wars characters. What could he have possibly been involved in at an airport you say? Well, not Chewbacca, but his actor, Peter Mayhew who played Han Solo’s furry companion in the sci-fi series has. According to the NY Daily News the actor had his light saber-shaped cane confiscated by TSA security agents while attempting to catch a flight from Denver (DEN) to Dallas. Luckily the situation was resolved after Mayhew pleaded to – wait for it – his Twitter followers to retweet his upset message: “American Airlines won’t let me through the airport with me cane! Can I get a retweet?”
That’s all for this week – safe travels!
[Photo from Wikipedia – some rights reserved]
Well, well, well – what an eventful week this one was, huh? Without doubt Boston was the focus of this week’s general news coverage which had a massive spill-over into the transport section as well. But we wouldn’t be LateDeparture if we didn’t look beyond the obvious in this week’s airport news round-up.
Continue reading This week: Boston horror, Chavez gets airport & future US airport delays
Quite clearly this week has been dominated by hurricane Sandy causing devastation over large parts of the U.S. east coast with implication for tens of thousands of travellers as well. Before we get to that, let us cover two other airport related news we picked up this week.
Continue reading This week: Sandy’s path of disruptions, Munich in Heathrow, Hobbits in Wellington
Today we have a fairly long list of airport related news bites that reached us during the week: a fuel crisis, more iPads, a useful website, an airport extension, airport construction disruption and a 27 hour flight delay. Interestingly the first and last news articles both come from Manchester.
Continue reading This week: Manchester fuel crisis & 27 hour flight delay plus more
Well, well, finger-point, finger-point… yes, okay we admit it, we’re about 24 hours late with our weekly news round-up. But hey, better late than never or isn’t that what they say? Whatever; let’s not get into excuses but rather focus on the task at hand.
Continue reading This week: New York’s questionable fame, Yoga at SFO and more
This week we have three main stories for you plus a little bonus one to finish off. Two stories are again related to this time of the year and come from the same country versus the other two both focus on airport expansions in the wider sense. Before we lift the curtain though, we want to update you on our Airport News of the Year voting feature. We’ve received quite a few votes this week and so far the “lost cat” and the “wrong airport” stories are neck on neck, where as the “rivalry” story is lagging a bit behind. There’s one week left for you to vote, so make sure you have your say before the time runs out!
Continue reading This week: more winter, more expansion and more bites
Only seven more days remain in 2011 and it’s therefore time for us at LateDeparture to pack up and enjoy a little (well deserved?!) break. But of course, we won’t leave you before we put another, final round of airport news in front of you. Besides that, you should already get excited for coming back to LateDeparture in January as not only will we continue to review airports and bring you weekly airport related news, but also we will be presenting you with the very first Airport News of the Year Award in early January. The best of all this is, that you can vote for the news you liked best and as a result win some awesome prizes! So stay tuned and get ready for a big 2012!
Continue reading Last news of 2011: Christchurch again, French strikes & free Wi-Fi
The long Easter break didn’t just bring travellers to their loved ones or chocolate eggs to the kids, it sadly, also brought the tornado season to the South of the United States with devastating effects in Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and elsewhere. The New York Times even calls it the worst tornado disaster since 1925. The storms also had severe effects on the aviation industry with delays and some closures throughout the US. One of the worst hit airports, however, was Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (IATA: STL). The drama was even caught on CCTV when the tornado hit the airport; watch it here.
Continue reading This week’s airport events: Tornados, Trump & Terminal upgrade
