Photo of the Day (10.16.08)

by Kent Wien on

Let’s face it. Ireland has a lot of grass. But who knew the entire Shannon runway was grass?

RuthannOC captured this head-on shot of a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 at Ireland’s second largest airport. Her timing gives a unique look at the thick vertical stabilizer and the landing lights that were just turned on prior to taking off. (Wouldn’t that make them ‘takeoff lights’?)

Oh, and of course I was just kidding about the grass runway. But it sure would make for smooth landings, wouldn’t it?

Are you a Flickr user who’d like to share a travel related picture or two for our consideration? Submit it to Gadling’s Flickr group right now! We just might use it for our Photo of the Day!

Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport opens. Wow?

by Abha Malpani on

The exclusive Emirates Airline terminal of Dubai International Airport opened its doors yesterday. The airline projects catering to 40 million passengers annually, so an exclusive terminal was a necessity.

With all the crazy developments in Dubai over the last few years, each one outdoing the other, it’s hard to maintain wow factor. Nevertheless, the new airport wing has been fussed about a lot, so here are the details.

According to an article in Gulf News’s Xpress: At a price of $4.5 billion, the terminal has taken 10 million cubic meters of soil (enough to fill 4,000 swimming pools), 33,000 tonnes of structural steel, and 450 tonnes of reinforcement to put the terminal together. It has 157 lifts, 97 escalators, 82 moving walkways and 27 truck lifts and eight “Sky Trains” that can handle 47 people each. Also, 8000 square meters of retail space has been added to the already existing 7000 square meters of the Dubai Duty Free shopping area.

This is the first phase of the 4-phase terminal that begins by operating 40 flights a day. When phase 4 opens in 2011, 269 flights are expected to depart from this terminal daily.

It has 30 self-check-in counters alongside 126 traditional check-in stations. Rumor is that you will even be able to check in from the terminal’s car park!

Dubai International Airport currently handles 40 million passengers a year; this new terminal increases its capacity enough to accommodate the movement of another 20 million passengers annually.

Gulf News has done a video walk through of this new wing which you can see here. You will not be surprised to see that it looks more like a high-tech 5-star hotel.

Tucson international airport, international no more

by Scott Carmichael on

In another “sign of the times”, Tucson international airport is about to lose its last remaining scheduled international flight.

Aeromexico had been flying the Tucson – Hermosillo route since the 80’s, making the trip 4 times a week.

The irony of the situation is that the final international flight will depart the same day the new Tucson international terminal is scheduled to open.

What the loss of this sole international flight means for the airport is unknown, but it is just another episode leading to what the WSJ Journal calls “terminal illness”.

Many smaller airports around the country are losing flights, and some carriers are abandoning smaller regional airports completely.

When your airport relies on a handful of flight operations each day, the loss of just a couple of them could be catastrophic. Airports have pumped Billions into terminal renovations in recent years, and some airports have even resorted to paying departing passengers cash incentives to pick their location over more popular airports.

The combination of a poor economy, high fuel prices (for the airlines) and a general decline in air travel will probably mean we’ll see more airports close parts of their terminal buildings while they wait for things to pick up again, or for new carriers to give them a chance. What this means to us, is that those living in smaller towns may have to make an extra connection, or drive to a different airport. Either way, it’s all pretty depressing.

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Government Accountability Office Says Runway Accidents Still a Big Risk

by Josh Lew on

Earlier this year, the National Transportation Safety Bureau scolded the FAA for not doing more to decrease the chances of runway collisions. According to the NTSB, runway accidents are the greatest danger facing air travelers. Near misses are almost commonplace. Just last week in Pennsylvania, a United Express jet and a 4-seat Cessna barely missed each other because of an error by an air traffic controller trainee.

This week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) chimed in on the subject of runway dangers, reporting that though the number of flights dropped over the past year, the number of runway incidents (actual accidents or near misses) was slightly higher during the first three quarters of 2008 than it was in 2007. Nonetheless, a top GAO aviation expert told a House committee that it appeared that the FAA was increasingly intent on making runways safer.
With all the chatter about airport security measures, security checkpoints and the use of cell phones on planes, the chaotic runways of airports almost go unnoticed. Though, if you crunched the numbers, the chances of getting hit by another plane while taxiing down a runway are much, much higher than the chances of a plane being hijacked.

How does air traffic flow across the world?

by Grant Martin on

Many passengers’ air logistics worries go no further than the few flights that they’re on that day. Occasionally, this broadens when a canceled flight or disruptions occur and you have to look at other flights going on in the day.

But what about all of the flights that depart on one airline in one day? Or what about all flights from all airlines in one day? Where and how do these flights operate? For the answer, check out this video that models every single flight over an entire day.

If you think about it, many international flights head out in the evening, so near night time you’ll see a swath of yellow dots head right over the Atlantic. Conversely, during the day the yellow dots will head west. Watch the video a few times over and you’ll see some interesting trends.