Let’s move on to the regular airport news from this week now though: Newark airport in New Jersey (IATA: EWR) made it twice into the headlines this week: First, on Tuesday, the New York Post wrote that a burgeoning federal probe into allegedly lax security at Newark Airport has led to the suspension of eight workers for everything from stealing from passengers to sleeping on the job to even failing to screen luggage for potential bombs. Wow, that’s quite something, we think!

Then one day later, on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported on its online news that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said an airline employee had caused a security breach that briefly closed a terminal at Newark Liberty International Airport. Not so nice either!

Over in Europe it’s the winter that’s causing disruptions. In the United Kingdom for example, SKY News reported today that a number of airports across Britain have been closed as heavy snow blankets runways and surrounding areas. According to the news, Luton (IATA: LTN), Stansted (IATA: STN) and Birmingham (IATA: BHX) are most severly affected. The news continued by saying that passengers at Gatwick airport (IATA: LGW) were warned of possible delays, while Heathrow airport (IATA: LHR) has made a pre-emptive decision to cancel around a third of today’s flights. We advise all UK bound travellers to check their flight status frequently.

Speaking of the UK, earlier in the week BAA got a slap on the wrist when it lost its appeal against a ruling that it must sell Stansted airport (IATA: STN). According to the BBC, the Spanish-owned company BAA will be unhappy about having to sell Stansted in such an unfavourable economic climate. The company sold Gatwick and recently agreed to sell Edinburgh, but it has continued to fight the Stansted decision.

Back to the United States where on Sunday (local time) the biggest sporting event is held: the Super Bowl. This year the mother of all events is held in Indianapolis and we wouldn’t be LateDeparture if we couldn’t find a matching airport related news article: Fox News reported that the nation’s wealthiest football fans are descending in droves on Indianapolis Airport (IATA: IND) for Sunday’s Super Bowl, setting off a scramble by airport officials in this modest Midwest hub to accommodate the influx of private jets. According to the article, about 1,100 private planes are expected to ferry in corporate chieftains and other bigwigs to see the New York Giants face the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. That is one of the largest fleets of luxury planes in the Super Bowl’s history, flying into one of the smallest cities to ever host the game.

And while we’re at it, let’s pull out another good story – again from North America, this time from the other side of the continent where news reached us from our friends at Passenger Terminal Today, that Delta is well on schedule with their US$1.2 billion expansion of Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York (IATA: JFK). Apparently the structural steel frame of the Concourse B extension is now visible. The extension will include one of the largest Sky Clubs in the Delta system, as well as nine new international gates and is due to open in 2014.

Enough with the pleasantries now though as not all incoming news this week was as rosy. as our first two stories. First up, long term “problem child”, BAA which got told by the UK Competition Commission to sell Stansted Airport (IATA: STN; LD reviewed) and one other Scottish airport. According to the story in The Guardian, the commission brushed aside arguments from BAA that the original order for a break-up in 2009 has been rendered irrelevant by a shift in the political landscape.

And finally, proposed austerity measures in Greece led to taxi blockades this week. Reuters wrote, the taxi drivers blocked ports and airports on the popular tourist islands of Crete and Corfu on Thursday, in a strike to protest against government plans to open up their trade to competition. Cab drivers, who also disrupted traffic on other roads in Greece and blocked access to the port and airport in Athens (IATA: ATH) on Monday, vowed to press on with the strike if their demands were not met. They say the reform, which would cut the price of taxi licences to just a few thousand euros from tens of thousands, would hurt a sector already hit by austerity.

That’s that for this week – safe and blockade-free travels!

[Photo from Flickr - Some rights reserved by Zsolt Vajda]

After airing in Britain and Australia, the show now moves over the pond to entertain the US viewers. As we highlighted in our previous article, the show the show is a must-see for any traveller: many scenes will seem familiar to you, even though they are (obviously) taken to a next hilarious version of what you might have experienced at some point.

Walliams and Lucas are brilliant in showing off their talent through a wide range of characters. Among the group are Omar, the owner of Flylo, Britain’s eighth favorite low-cost airline, the world’s laziest coffee kiosk lady, Precious Little, and Flylo’s check in girls, Melody and Keely. Also featured are the snobby staff members of Great British Air, the country’s most prestigious airline. The skilled performances are enhanced by award-winning costume and make-up teams. Come Fly With Me premieres Saturday, 18 June, 11.30pm ET/PT on BBC America. Video sneak previews can be found on the show’s US website.

[Photo from BBC America - all rights reserved]

A fictional airport? Not really. Whilst the show can’t doesn’t name the airport, travellers will recognize many scenes were filmed at London’s Stansted Airport (IATA: STN; LD reviewed). According to Wikipedia, the actors spent three weeks at the London airport to film the first series. Some shots are based on another  British airport: Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield (IATA: DSA).

The six episode first series has already finished in the UK but is now being launched internationally with Australia broadcasting it from this week and other countries including the US are likely to follow. A second series is also thought to be produced later this year.

As a frequent traveller, the show is a must-see: many scenes will seem familiar to you, even though they are (obviously) taken to a next, more comedy version of what you might have experienced at some point. Also Walliams and Lucas are just great in showing off their talent through a wide range of characters. Make sure to check out a number of short clips on the show’s BBC website. Overall, however, the show doesn’t quite reach the same laughter levels as Little Britain. Nevertheless it’s a welcome distraction to any stressed traveller helping to forget the pain today’s air travel can cause sometimes. Finally, it might even help London Stansted’s fame if they market it well.

[Photo from Wikipedia]

So, is London Heathrow (IATA: LHR) worthy of their royal guests? The answer (as so often) is, it depends. With the royals most likely not having to go through the general public areas at Heathrow, they would enjoy a very different airport to what you can expect. But even without a VIP status the experience must not be terrible. Heathrow’s terminal 5 is the newest one and well designed. The Queen even officially opened the terminal back in 2008. With an airy departure hall, nearby gates, all the fancy shops you can think of and the wide range of different restaurants (even Gordon Ramsay has got one there), your experience at terminal 5 can be a very pleasant one. We reviewed the terminal here and here and very recently wrote about how you transfer to terminal 3 in 30 minutes (read how it’s done here). Speaking of terminal 3, unfortunately you won’t have quite the same experience there as T3 feels a lot more crowded and much older – our review can be found here.

Every now and then the royals also fly out of London Gatwick (IATA: LGW) like for example when the Prince of Wales and the Dutchess of Cornwall flew to Tobago in March 2008 (see travel grant document). London Gatwick, recently sold by BAA to Global Infrastructure Partners, the owner of London’s City Airport, is the UK’s 2nd busiest airport by passenger numbers. As with so many London airports, it can feel a bit crowded and slightly outdated. However, when we reviewed the North Terminal of the airport a while back, it was a fairly pleasant experience (find out why here).

Other airports around London include City Airport (IATA: LCY; reviewed here), a popular option for business travellers, London Stansted (IATA: STN; reviewed here) and London Luton (IATA: LTN; reviewed here). None of those airports were used by the British royals according to our information. Who knows – William and Kate might kick off a whole new royal travel era. One thing is for sure though, wherever they go from now on, they will attract a lot of attention regardless of where they fly out of.

[Photo from Flickr - Some rights reserved by Nick in exsilio]

10. London Stansted blockade

Early December environmental activists have stopped flights at London’s Stansted airport (IATA: STN) after breaking through to the runway, raising security concerns at Britain’s third-busiest airport. The protests against a further expansion of the airport caused a serious knock-on effect on the airport’s flight operations causing over 50 flights to be cancelled.

9. Opening of Beijing airport Terminal 3

On March 26, Beijing airport (IATA: PEK) opened its new Terminal 3, designed by Sir Norman Foster, after four years of construction. It is the world’s largest airport building, covering more than a million square meters, designed to accommodate an estimated 50 million passengers a year by 2020.

8. Closure of Berlin’s iconic Tempelhof airport

Open one, close one; on the October 30, Berlin’s iconic Tempelhof airport closed down for good. Originally opened in 1923, the later built airport halls and neighbouring buildings, intended to become the gateway to Europe and a symbol of Hitler’s “world capital” Germania. Read our full coverage here.

7. Kalitta Air crash at Brussels airport

On Sunday, 25 May a Boeing 747 cargo plane overshot the runway at Brussels Zaventem airport (IATA: BRU) and crashed resulting the aircraft to break into 2 parts. The spectacular picture made the news everywhere.

6. Frightening landing at Hamburg’s airport

A low pressure system named “Emma” nearly caused a disaster at Hamburg airport (IATA: HAM) in March. The Lufthansa A320 plane struggled to make the runway through 90 kilometre-per-hour crosswinds resulting in the 39 year old pilots last minute go-around procedure and a safe second attempt. The frightening approach was caught on camera and is an extraordinary piece which will now probably be used all over the world in pilot training classrooms.

5. Hong Kong wins ‘Airport of the Year’ award

In July Hong Kong International airport (IATA: HKG) was named best Airport in the world, in the passenger survey results released by Skytrax. Despite being “only” rated in 5th place in the most-timely airport survey, Hong Kong received the prestigious award after Skytrax collected 8.2 million questionnaires completed by passengers over a 10-month time period. Read our congratulating article here.

4. Spanair crash at Madrid airport

A combination of basic pilot error and an electrical failure was the possible cause of the crash of a Spanair plane at Madrid’s Barajas airport (IATA: MAD) on 20 August that killed 154 people. The airport was closed for several hours after the accident.

3. Radar malfunction at Dublin airport

In the midst of the summer holiday season, Dublin airport (IATA: DUB) made the news with its malfunctioning radar system which meant that controllers lost some functionality on their screens meaning they were unable to see the labels attached to ‘blips’ that signify individual aircraft. The problem resulted in massive delays and many cancellations over several days.

2. Bangkok blockade

Protesters supporting the People’s Alliance for Democracy stormed Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport (IATA: BKK) in late November, occupying the departure lounge and blocking all exits. With that 3,000 people were stranded within the airport and another 350,000 were stranded within Thailand. Read our interview with an affected traveller.

1. Chaos at London Heathrow’s new Terminal 5

In March BAA, the company that owns Heathrow airport, opened its newest addition of what should have been a proud event for London’s most criticised airport. Instead, the opening resulted in a PR disaster with BAA losing thousands of bags over several months. The event then became one of the triggers leading to the demands of breaking up BAA’s monopolistic ownership of airports in the UK.

[Pictures from Flickr - some rights are reserved: London Stansted, Beijing, Berlin Tempelhof, Brussels airport, Hong Kong, Madrid, Dublin, Bangkok, London Heathrow