Breaking: Fatalities feared in crash at Barajas International Airport in Madrid

by Jeffrey White on

Spanish media are reporting that a plane skidded off the runway at Barajas International Airport in Madrid today.

Early reports are saying that two passengers have been killed, and another 43 have been injured.

Details are still coming in.

The plane was a Spanair flight, with 160 passengers on board who were flying from Madrid to Gran Canaria.

Spain’s influential newspaper El Mundo says the accident involved a flight leaving from Terminal 4 of the airport.

A lot is unknown right now. We don’t know if the plane was landing or taking off, but Reuters is reporting that the plane swerved on the runway. El Pais, another Spanish newspaper, says one of the plane’s engine had caught fire.

Media are busy trying to reach airport authorities for more details.

TSA outlines new procedures for ‘checkpoint-friendly’ laptop bags

by Jeffrey White on

For some time now, Gadling has been following Transportation Security Administration plans to begin allowing laptops to be screened while remaining in special so-called “checkpoint-friendly” laptop bags.

This past Saturday, TSA began allowing certain bags to go through screenings with laptops still in them. The TSA has a helpful information manual up on its Web site right now, cautioning that this apparent relaxation in security procedures does not cover every laptop bag on the market.

In other words, not all laptop bags are checkpoint-friendly.

Only “butterfly-,” “trifold-” and “sleeve-style” laptop carriers are acceptable.

What the TSA is after is a clear view of your laptop. Since security officers are looking for evidence that electronics have been tampered with, they need a clear line of sight to note any irregularities in your laptop.

The TSA is quick to emphasize that just because you have an ostensibly checkpoint-friendly laptop bag, TSOs may still ask you to remove your computer if they cannot see it clear enough through the bag.

The TSA also has these useful tips:

  • Your laptop bag has a designated laptop-only section that you can lay flat on the X-ray belt. There are no metal snaps, zippers or buckles inside, underneath or on-top of the laptop-only section
  • There are no pockets on the inside or outside of the laptop-only section
  • There is nothing in the laptop compartment other than the laptop
  • You have completely unfolded your bag so that there is nothing above or below the laptop-only section, allowing the bag to lie flat on the X-ray belt

Check out Scott’s post of one TSA-endorsed line of laptop bags currently on the market.

Qantas: And now even the toilets don’t work!

by Abha Malpani on

The way Qantas is going, the airline is better off shutting down: Hole in the aircraft, tires blowing up, fluid leaks, doors not closing, hydraulic failures, rudder problems, and now dysfunctional toilets.

A Qantas 737 from Sydney to Perth was forced to land because the toilets wouldn’t flush; they’d forgotten to empty the them after the last flight. The plane was diverted to Adelaide to sort out the toilet situation.

This isn’t the first toilet issue for the airline. Not long ago passengers were doing their business in the airline’s sick-bags as they were not allowed to move from their seats for an hour as the plane tried to land.

This is the 5th or 6th flight issue with Qantas since July 25 when “explosive decompression” caused a four meter hole to rip across the plane when it was at a height of 29,000 meters.

Qantas oh Qantas. Sort your sh*t out!

Drunk Irish passengers start brawl on flight bound for Greece, pilot makes emergency landing

by Jeffrey White on

In another example of the kind of incident becoming all too common these days, a brawl broke out on board an Irish charter flight to Greece recently, which resulted in the plane having to make an emergency landing in Italy.

This one involved five drunk Irish men (read: stag party).

Witnesses say the fracas broke out first between two of them, though over what has not been made public. One started going through the cabin smashing overhead compartments. More joined the melee.

“They had a couple of drinks on them, they were extremely aggressive,” one witness tells Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper. “There were loads of girls and a couple of children and I think some people felt a bit threatened.”

Obviously the captain did too. He diverted the flight to Venice, where a gaggle of Italian cops were waiting to haul off the men.

The flight, operated by Irish charter company Futura Gael, left two hours later and arrived in Heraklion, on the Greek island of Crete, without further incident.

It’s unclear just how out of hand things became on board, or whether any of the 162 other passengers on board were injured. Futura Gael has issued apologies to the passengers for the incident and delay, and says it is conducting its own internal investigation.

There seems to be a lot more of these incidents happening lately.

More troublemakers in the sky


Expansions in the business-class-only service

by Grant Martin on

The all-business-class model for airline carriers has been a touchy subject over the last few months. With all but two of the airlines now out of business (OpenSkies and Singapore Airlines‘ select flights), many wonder if the original approach was a good idea.

Yet OpenSkies (EC, owned by British Airways) and Singapore Airlines (SQ) continue to press on — and even expand. Earlier this month, OpenSkies announced that they would be adding service further into the European Union, while SQ just expanded their A340 service from Los Angeles into Singapore.

How can these carriers thrive in such tight times? How can they survive where so many others failed? Well, there’s no doubt that the deep pockets of each carrier are helping ride out the storm of high oil prices. While Americans sort out their financial woes, each airline plans to build a product and loyal customer base, get the word out on their product as much as possible and fight for a place in the future market.

Things could be a little rough for OpenSkies. With the American economy suffering and the EU economy headed in the same direction, demand for business class seats is going to be dropping off pretty quick. Unfortunately, the worst may yet be to come.

According to Singapore Airlines, their business-class-only service has conversely enjoyed packed flights and thriving business.

The true gauge for each airline, regardless of their current situation, is long term sustainability independent of their parent airline or routes. If the routes fail to generate profit after a few years they will surely disappear, but perhaps if we’re all lucky and the trend picks up, OpenSkies’ and SQ’s business-class-only flights will be here to stay.