Boeing Skids Of Runway At Midway Airport

A plane crash was narrowly avoided yesterday when a Boeing 737-700 skidded of the runway at Chicago’s Midway airport. All 134 passengers escaped unharmed after the plane came to rest 150ft from the airports boundary wall.

The plane had circled the airport several times after heavy rain had made landing extremely difficult, however the plane came into land at around 1.30pm on runway 13 of all numbers and the longest runway at the airport.

The Boeing skidded off the runway and ran onto the grass, luckily none was injured, airport officials closed a section of the airport where the plane had finished and confirmed they would be investigating the accident.

Fluid Spill Delays Flights At Birmingham Airport

A spillage of hydraulic fluid on the runway caused delays at Birmingham airport yesterday after the spillage was detected just after 1 pm 8 planes were delayed, 4 of which were waiting to land and 4 that were waiting to take off.

The delay caused problems for around 1000 passengers who were trying to get away and enjoy some bank holiday sunshine. There was a knock on effect delay which saw the last plane delayed by around 2 hours.

The airport’s on site fire brigade cleared the fluid within 40 minutes, it is not clear how the fluid got to be there in the first place.

Coventry Airport Gets £250million Investment

Coventry airport is set for a £250million investment from its new owner Sir Mike Rigby to redevelop surrounding land to create a new business park creating upwards of 10,000 new jobs. Green belt land to the north of the airport and former factory Alvis to the south will be used to create the park, while the airport itself plans to return to passenger flights to tourist destinations.

The news which was announced at a press conference will be met with its critics as did previous similar plans, though developers hope to gain support from the government and locals this time by introducing a link road on the A45.

The council and Mr Rigby will be applying to the government to make it an enterprise zone where potential businesses will get tax breaks and relaxation of planning laws. The new scheme also includes the building of a new hotel and restaurant next to the airport.

BA Chairman Blasts Airport Security

British Airways Chairman Sir Martin Broughton has called for reforms in airport security, speaking at the Department of Transport and Logistics in London yesterday Mr Broughton questioned how a pilot had to undergo the same screening process as a Yemeni student.

He went on to say the one size fits all policy was a waste of resources and profile management should be in effect where passengers are judged on their appearance and mannerisms. Also know as profiling some passengers find this tactic absurd but Sir Martin said concerns were misplaced and missed the point of the exercise.

Heathrow To Use Geo-Thermal Technology

BAA is looking at ways to minimise future disruptions caused from snow and ice that brought chaos to Heathrow last winter when the airport was in a standstill for 5 days.

BAA are working alongside a mystery private company about the possibility of storing the heat from the summer sun in the runway, then using that heat in the winter to stop planes from being stuck in their stands.

The idea is to dig holes in the tarmac that will house the Geo-Thermal technology this will store the heat from the runway which will in turn heat water which will be pumped to the slabs of concrete where the planes are.

BAA have not yet confirmed the cost of the project but have initiated a facelift to one of the terminals may take a back seat to help finance the technology.

Newcastle Airport Future Uncertain

The future of Newcastle airport is uncertain after the 7 councils that own it including Durham, Gateshead, City of Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and the City of Sunderland have announced it may consider selling its share, Copenhagen airport which owns the other 49% are also thought to be considering selling.

The sale is due to mounting debts at the airport and the repayment deadline of a £320million loan taken out in 2006 which is due in 2013 December.

LA7 who manages the Councils stake say they had to pay out £22 million in interest during 2009 and are £4.2 million in the red.

If an investor can’t be found to pump more cash into the airport then the Councils will have to sell their stake.

Jersey to Glasgow and back with easyJet

Towards the end of March, easyJet announced that it will be launching a direct link between Jersey and Scotland. This will be the airline’s second route to Jersey as it already operates cheap flights between the island and Liverpool. It will operate this new, seasonal route three times per week between June and September.

Not only will this improve tourism in Jersey, but it will also provide residents of the island with an affordable low cost service to Scotland. At present, easyJet offers a successful year-round service between Liverpool and Jersey and according to the airline’s Assistant Minister for Economic Development, the Glasgow to Jersey service should achieve the same success.

Airports Ramp Up Prices In Time For Easter Break

The Uk airports have been slammed for steep price rises in airport parking just in time for the Easter break a recent survey carried out by Travelsupermarket.com found that prices had seen a massive 127% rise compared to 2010.

The short stay car park at Heathrow has been singled out in the report as an 8 day stay will set you back £394.40. The best way to avoid this massive charge is park in the Long Stay car park which will set you back a more modest £133.60

An even better way of saving money is by using a comparison site, just by booking in advance will save you lot of money and there are off airport sites that can be even cheaper.

If your planning a trip over the Easter break try and get flights from Blackpool airport as their parking is free!!!!!

Ryanair to launch child free flights

The infamous low cost airline, Ryanair, has recently announced that it will be launching child free flights on the most frequent routes as of October 2011, the start of the winter schedule. This announcement comes following a survey involving 1,000 passengers all over Europe. The results reveal that half of the passengers would pay more for airline tickets to avoid sharing a flight with children. In fact, 36% of those questioned claim their flight had been ruined by noisy children and 18% would be happy if Ryanair restricted the number of kids permitted on flights.

Despite half of the passengers in favour of separating the cabin into "adult" and "family" areas, Ryanair claims that this is not an option as it operates a free seating policy and passengers can pay extra for priority boarding should they so wish. Interestingly, the survey also revealed that passengers feel parents are to blame for their annoyance.

This will come as good news to anyone who is fed up with parents who allow their children to run up and down the aisles, kick seats and annoy other passengers.

Lee Westwood In Emergency Landing

Lee Westwood the World number 2 Golfer and Ryder Cup teammate Ross Fisher were forced to make an emergency landing after their private jet caught fire shortly after take-off. The Ryder Cup winning golfers had just finished participating in the Houston Open and are taking part in the this week’s US Masters Championship.

Westwood gave running commentary on his twitter account showing his humorous side with tweets including "Do the [fire] engines normally follow you down the runway? Only when there's smoke in the cabin I guess!!!” and "They're not here to put my putter out! That's not on fire!"

The plane landed safely, with no injuries to any crew or passengers a problem in the instruments panel caused the fire, which forced the emergency landing.