Detroit proposes runway that would displace 15% of city

by Catherine Bodry on

Grant already listed Detroit’s airport as one of the five worst in the U.S. Well, maybe someone out there was listening, because Detroit Metropolitan officials are proposing a new 10,000 ft runway. Sure, that won’t take care of getting to the airport, but maybe it will ease airplane congestion.

Sound like a good idea? Check this out before you make up your mind:

The runway would displace 3500 residents, or 15% of Romulus, the airport’s home town. Two elementary schools would have to close down, and 50 business would have to either close or move. Still sound like a good idea?

Naturally, residents of Romulus are furious, but the airport’s board maintains that it needs to keep up with the increase in travelers — 36 million people travel through the airport annually, but that number is expected to hit 60 million in 2027.

JFK airport’s makeover: What to do with a stained glass window?

by Jamie Rhein on

As Terminal 8 at JFK is being taken down to make room for snowplow storage, figuring out what to do with its 900-pane stained glass window has been considered in depth. When the terminal was built in 1960, the window was a signature piece that pointed to the glory of air travel. Glory didn’t even last half a century.

There was an effort to save the window in its entirety, but that failed. For a mere one million dollars it could have been yours. Instead it’s being taken apart with sections of it being shipped to various locations. The folks who wanted to save the window aren’t too happy about it since the feeling is that has historic and artistic value. It might be the largest stained glass window in the world. It is the largest stained glass window to figure into a building’s design. Others believe that why save a stained glass window when airlines are struggling to meet costs?

Still, it’s too bad about the window. Although pieces of it will be quite lovely in their new locations, they won’t be the same as seeing the whole thing. One could also look at this change due to change as similar to a Buddhist sand mandala or a Native American sand painting. They aren’t made to last, but their beauty transcends. (Here’s a New York magazine post about former efforts to save the window. The photo is from 1961.) [via New York Times]

Globe-trotting with Bill and Warren

by Iva Skoch on

Now, doesn’t this scene look like loads of fun? Bill Gates and Warren Buffett hanging out on a Boeing Business Jet, totally relaxed, drinking soda, playing cards and talking biz? It’s not fun as in Hooters Air kind of fun, but the actual plane looks better. (If you look very closely, you will notice that Warren reads The New York Times, not The Wall Street Journal. Who knew?)

This is an actual ad for NetJets, a company Warren Buffett bought in 1998, I saw in The Economist this week. Netjets provide fractional jet ownership programs to those who find your typical first class cabin simply suffocating.

I wonder how much Warren had to pay Bill in order to be in his ad?

Cage match: Eurostar versus Easyjet

by Grant Martin on

We’ve all seen the one cent ultra-cheap fares that Ryanair, Easyjet and and other low cost carriers (LCCs) frequently offer from European hubs. It’s a great way to skip around the EU if you’re flexible and haven’t got a lot of cash; it thus has recently become pretty popular with students and vacationers on a limited budget.

And as most of us know, the one cent fares come with strings attached. Taxes and fees can add multiple dollars and fees and constraints on routings often require you to travel to an out-of-the-way airport in order to catch a flight at a strange time of the day. Additionally, extra charges during transit such as baggage and meal purchases can add further cost to an airplane journey.

Needless to say, when traveling over a longer distance, it’s usually a good idea to take the low cost carrier, plan well and be frugal during your travels. But over shorter distances accessible by rail or coach, that line blurs.

Eurostar, for example, recently started offering high speed rail service between London and Paris at very competitive rates. While none of their fares sink as low as the one cent LCC sales that frequently surface, their service runs direct between downtown London and Paris, has looser restrictions on baggage and ultimately saves transit time.

What’s the savings, you ask? On a recent trip between the office in Loughborough and my sister’s apartment in Paris I decided to run a comparison. I’ve calculated the price of transit from city-center to city-center with Eurostar versus Easyjet, the only budget carrier to connect between the two cities. I’ve also included any additional fees for transit to airports, taxes and baggage, then tabulated the costs side by side. For ease, I’ve converted everything to dollars so you can see the easiest comparison across numbers. Take a look:

EasyJet Eurostar
Ticket 15.7 98
Tax 61 0
Two bags checked 31.92 0
Train ticket between London Victoria and Luton 21.8 0
Train between Charles De Gaulle and Gare Du Nord 12 0
Total 142.42 98
Total transit time 5 hours 3 hours

The result? In the end, Eurostar ends up saving you time and money. Combined with the comfort and timeliness of the service, the high speed train is the easy pick when traveling between London and Paris.
On my most recent Eurostar journey I paid an extra 116$ to travel on leisure select. This involved a secluded seat to myself, free champaign, hot bangers and mash and bottomless coffee over the entire journey. When you compare the 214$ total price against Easyjet’s 142$, I think its still worth it for the hot food, time saved and comfort.

So next time you’re considering that low cost carrier for your short intra-european trip, make sure you thoroughly check your options. While trains and coaches don’t necessarily have the romantic allure of one cent fares, they may ultimately end up saving you time and money.

Climate activists arrested at Heathrow

by Anna Brones on

With all the talk of biofuels and climate change in the airline industry, environmental activists have taken to airports as their protesting grounds. Last week in Sweden activists dressed up as polar bears at a Stockholm airport. This week the site of protesting is Heathrow Airport, where today four Greenpeace activists, who climbed on top of an airplane, were arrested.

Part of a larger group that was gathering in Westminster to oppose plans to expand Heathrow, the Greenpeace protesters hung a banner that said “Climate Emergency – No Third Runway” on a British Airways Airbus A320.

Although the environmental group saw their actions as necessary, the BAA, the British airport company, called the act “unlawful and irresponsible.” I wonder if they’ll ever be allowed to fly British Airways again.