Another week is coming to and end and with that it’s time for our weekly airport news recap. Here’s what we found this week:
- Police leave explosive device in suitcase at Sydney Airport
- World’s busiest airport remains unchanged
- Google’s super efficient airport idea
- Cheater confronted by 3 girlfriends at airport
The first story is actually almost unbelievable. It happened in Australia mid August but has only come to light now. The Australian, a newspaper, reported that the Australian Federal Police has apologised for leaving a device containing explosives hidden in a suitcase at Sydney Airport (SYD) for almost a month. According to the article the dog training device, which contained about 230 grams of plastic explosive, was only discovered when an airline offered a woman the suitcase as a replacement for her own bag, which had been damaged during a flight, the AFP said in a statement. The device was not live and no member of the travelling public was in danger at any time, it said.
Not sure why it takes 9 months to compile the data, but only this week we were told of the stats from the passenger numbers from 2013. With that, CNN reported that it’s probably no surprise to anyone who has flown through Atlanta that the city’s airport is still the busiest passenger airport in the world. Some 94.4 million passengers went through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in 2013, a decrease of 1.1% from 2012. Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) was in second place with 83.7 million passengers in 2013, an increase of 2.2% over 2012. London Heathrow Airport (LHR) remained in third place with 72.4 million passengers. The full release can be found here.
The next story we found a lot more interesting: Business Insider this week reported that Google’s co-founder Larry Page wants to solve the problem of inefficient airports. According to the article, Page wants to build a model airport to show the world how it could be done better. The article says Page also wants to build a model city. It’s all part of an initiative called “Google 2.0.” Page cleared out space on his floor of Google’s headquarters a year ago, and asked 100 or so employees to help him figure out what huge problems in the world Google could solve. We’re curious to find out more soon!
Lastly, our gossip news for the week: According to the New York Post, a cheating boyfriend was given his just deserts when his three girlfriends joined together to confront him on his return from holiday. Charlie Fisher, 20, walked through customs at Luton Airport (LTN) in England to see the three women he had been seeing, behind each other’s backs, shouting “Liar, liar” at him. Priceless!
That’s all for this week – safe travels!