Monday 31 October 2011

Qantas Back In The Sky

Qantas have been ordered to resume flights after it grounded all aircraft over the weekend following an industrial dispute with three unions following rows over restructuring plans including moving some operations to Asia.

The FWA Fair Work Australia ruled Qantas to get its planes back in the sky which experts say is a victory for the airline over the unions.

Planes were grounded by Qantas early Saturday morning as a result of industrial action by union members. This meant 108 planes were grounded leaving thousands of passengers stranded costing the airline $13 million a day.

Wednesday 19 October 2011

Manchester Airport Gets Re-Certified - Carbon Footprint

Manchester airport has again been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard, the award recognises the efforts Manchester airport make to reduce their carbon footprint which they have been doing since 2006.

The airport wants all ground operations to be carbon neutral by 2015 this vision was set out back in 2006 and looks set to be met. The airport was awarded the carbon trust in 2008 and has played a big role in getting other airports to follow its initiative which led to the re-certification this year.

How has the airport gone green?

Neil Robinson explains, all electricity bought by the airport is from renewable resources, it launched the carbon challenge a five-year programme aimed at engaging service partners and businesses based on site to target the main areas of the carbon journey and has replaced up to 10,000 lights with LED’s to reduce CO2 and electric usage.

Harry Morrison the director of certification for the carbon trust said any company that has been certified has taken genuine action to reduce their carbon footprint and the effect it has on the environment.

Friday 23 September 2011

False Alarm At Manchester Airport

A Bomb disposal team was called to Manchester airport earlier in the week amid fears from a suspicious bag belonging to a man who is thought to have a false passport, the man believed to be 59 remains in police custody.

1800 passengers and 500 staff were evacuated from Terminal 1 around 10.30am after inspection the police confirmed it was a false alarm. Supt Phil Davies said the safety of passengers and staff was their primary concern.

11 flights were grounded in total though no arriving flights were affected.

Monday 12 September 2011

Bomb Threat At Kansas Airport

Kansas City International Airport called in the bomb squad to blast a passengers bag as it feared it was a bomb. The incident took place whilst the ceremonies for remembering the 3000 victims of 9/11 were taking place.

The bag was intercepted at the South West checkpoint and shut down Terminal B while the bomb squad arrived with a robot in tow which aided in destroying the item which was believed to have bomb making equipment inside it minus the explosives and detonators.

The man was taken into custody, early reports suggest the man is a former New York City Police Officer though this has yet to be confirmed. As like all US airports Kansas was on high alert over the weekend and no chances could be taken

Thursday 8 September 2011

Stelios Wants Director Removed

Stelios Haji-Ioannou the founder of easyjet has launched an attempt to remove Rigas Doganis from the board. Doganis is charged with voting in favour of ordering 35 new aircraft before a profit warning was announced. Stelios has called for a meeting of shareholders to vote on the removal of Doaganis.

Stelios was fuming that the order was placed and that Doganis should have foreseen the projected profit warning. The removal vote comes after Stelios had Sir David Michaels last month removed from the board last month.

He also said it was about time directors started paying for mistakes they make with other people’s money.

Easyjet hit back by saying this was an unnecessary and costly distraction that was damaging the company’s reputation and said it would be writing to shareholders to vote against the removal order.

Tuesday 6 September 2011

Heathrow To Get New £500 million Rail Link

New plans for a £500 million rail link connecting Wales to Heathrow airport is being drawn up by the transport secretary Phillip Hammond. The new route will end the need for travellers having to enter London from the West to get to Heathrow.

The new route which will include the West of England will cut 30 minutes off journey times according to the Department of Transport. The proposed plans would see a new rail station built at Heathrow that would see 4 shuttles leaving an hour.

The Government has also confirmed that plans to electrify the line between Cardiff and London set out by the previous Labour Government would go ahead, which is essential to the new spur to Heathrow.

Thursday 1 September 2011

Fumes Halt Stansted Flight

An aircraft bound for Stansted airport was forced to land at Gatwick this week after passengers complained the cabin smelled of fumes. The plane had already been forced to stop at Nantes airport amid unusual smells on board the aircraft.

Engineers at Nantes airport checked the plane and gave it the green light to continue its journey which started in Barcelona, however mid air fume smells again forced the Ryanair aircraft to land at Gatwick.

The passengers were transferred from Gatwick to Stansted via a coach a Ryanair spokesmen apologised for the delay and said Ryanair engineers would be inspecting the aircraft which would be out of service until the problem was found