The Great Debate UK
from Business Traveller:
Fear of flying
Seventy-four percent of UK citizens believe that airports and aeroplanes are vulnerable to a malicious or terrorist attack.
So finds the latest Unisys Security Index*, announced today, a global survey that seeks to provide insights into consumers’ general perception of security. Unisys says that UK public anxiety has reached its peak since they began the bi-annual review in 2007, and it is driven by concerns about terrorism, financial issues and identity theft.
According to counter-terrorism expert Neil Fisher, vice president of Global Security Solutions at Unisys, the public are right to be concerned and knee-jerk approaches to security aren’t working.
Fisher told me that the UK public’s sense of security was stable up until a year ago, even after the so-called underpants bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, attempted to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight over Detroit in December 2009. Fisher is surprised in the anxiety spike since then, which seems to have increased across the board.
from Business Traveller:
Why City + Airport = the Future
United Parcel Service aircrafts are loaded with containers full of packages bound for their final destination at the UPS Worldport All Points International Hub. REUTERS/John Sommers II
It’s no longer ok to be a big city. Globalisation is Darwinian and only the hubbiest of hubs will survive. If we want best-of-the-planet goods to arrive the next morning, we must worship the airport.
A crisis for aviation leadership
-Professor Amir Sharif is professor of operations management and director of MBA programmes at Brunel Business School. The opinions expressed are his own.-
It will not have escaped anyone’s notice recently that volcanoes and aircraft do not mix. Six days of global flights being reduced by 30 percent of normal traffic volume amounted to a staggering $200 million per day loss (according to industry bodies such as IATA and the AEA).
from Global News Journal:
Volcano chaos: A pointer to potential Iran/Gulf smoke disruption?
As if they didn’t have enough to think about, planners trying to pin down the unintended consequences of a strike on Iran may be required to reorder their lengthy worry list.
The concern? Iceland’s volcano, or rather, the vivid reminder the exploding mountain provided to governments of the importance of civil emergency planning.
Someone loves Gatwick after all
– Neil Collins is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own –
The Spanish owners of London’s three airports must wonder whether someone above the skies has got it in for them.
from UK News:
Plane stupid?
Environmental protest group Plane Stupid manage to prevent at least 21 flights taking off when they invaded a runway at Stansted airport for five hours on Monday morning.
The group are protesting over the government's decision to allow the expansion of Stansted Airport with a second runway. The protest also follows the decision last week by Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon to delay the decision on whether to build a third runway at Heathrow until January.
