I can't even get to the terminal because of the damn train workers:
"France hit by train strike after airport action" AP, June 14, 2013
PARIS — After two days of air traffic controller strikes, French rail workers walked off the job Thursday to protest a reorganization of the national rail and train companies.
Up to 70 percent of train journeys in France were canceled. The action began Wednesday night, affecting overnight international travel, and ends Friday morning.
That's why it gets an article in my elite pre$$.
Commuter traffic around Paris is especially hard hit, with only one in three trains guaranteed. The national railway company, SNCF, tried to limit cancellations and disruptions to high-speed links to London and other international destinations.
The strike came just as an action by air traffic controllers protesting a plan to simplify the continent’s airspace was ending. Thousands of flights around France were canceled over the past two days, but traffic was returning to normal Thursday.
Like the air traffic controllers, SNCF workers are protesting a plan that involves privatization of some transport services.
Can't really say as I blame them there. That scheme seems to involve turning over public funds to private companies for profit with deteriorating conditions for workers and the services provided.
The French government said it would result in more modern infrastructure and more reliable train service.
I tend to dismiss that whatever the proposition.
“We are in the middle of it all and we wait. What can we do? Nothing,’’ said Denis Robert, trying to get home to the southern city of Montpellier from Paris.
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Related: Spain Train Crash
Finally made it to the airport, and.... sacre bleu!
"The crash hastened the end for the already-faltering supersonic Concorde, synonymous with high-tech luxury but a commercial failure. The program, jointly operated by Air France and British Airways, was taken out of service in 2003."
"Air traffic controllers in France have planned three days of strikes beginning Tuesday, and their counterparts in several other European countries were expected to take more limited labor action this week, to protest a plan by the European Commission to accelerate the integration of air traffic management systems across the Continent."
"Air traffic controllers in France began a series of strikes on Tuesday, forcing the country’s main airports to cut their flight timetables in half just as the busy tourist season was beginning. Some 1,800 flights were canceled. ‘‘This is a dispute between European technocrats who know nothing about air traffic control and highly trained specialists,’’ said Olivier Joffrin, a French union leader in Paris."
Damn ba$tards!
"Air travel disruptions intensified across Europe on Wednesday as a strike led by French air traffic controllers broadened in its second day to include smaller labor actions in other countries."
At last, up in the air....
"London’s plan would close Heathrow" by Kari Lundgren | Bloomberg News, July 16, 2013
LONDON — The government could buy Heathrow for about $22.6 billion and use the 3,000-acre site to build 100,000 homes for up to 250,000 people, creating an entirely new borough that would help ease a national housing shortage and provide about 40,000 jobs, Mayor Boris Johnson said at a press conference in London....
Now I have nowhere to land?
Heathrow, operating close to the capacity of its two runways after attracting 69.9 million passengers in 2012, isn’t suitable for more growth because of noise, pollution, and congestion issues, he said.
‘‘To build a third runway in the west of London would be completely the wrong thing and to build a fourth runway would be catastrophic,’’ Johnson said in an interview.
Residents of two west London boroughs close to Heathrow voted almost 3 to 1 in May against building a third runway at the airport. The leader of Hillingdon Council, Ray Puddifoot, a Conservative like Johnson and Prime Minister David Cameron, said the result was a reminder of local sentiment.
You gonna listen?
Johnson said that of the three proposals he’s recommending, one for an airport on the Isle of Grain, or Hoo peninsula, on the north Kent coast probably has ‘‘the edge.’’
The site is close enough to London to provide fast access by rail but would have a minimal impact on the local population because planes could take off and land over the sea.....
Is that really a good idea?
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Runway Murder
Wouldn't want something exploding out there, either.
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Also see: Heathrow airport outlines its plans for expansion
And now we are waiting for what?
"Batteries not tied to fire on Boeing
LONDON — Investigators said Saturday that a fire inside a parked Boeing 787 Dreamliner on Friday did not appear to be caused by any problems with the plane’s new lithium-ion batteries, British authorities said. The planes, were grounded for four months earlier this year after two episodes involving fire or smoke from the batteries (New York Times)."
Related: Wiring faults discovered in troubled Boeing 787s
What a piece of crap Boeing constructed.
"Dreamliner jet takes to skies again
KAMPALA — A Boeing 787 operated by Ethiopian Airlines flew from Ethiopia to Kenya’s capital Saturday, the first commercial flight since air safety authorities grounded the Dreamliners after incidents with smoldering batteries on two different planes in January. The Boeing 787 passenger jet arrived in Nairobi on Saturday afternoon after a two-hour trip from Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, according to the Kenya airport website (AP)."
It was a rough ride but they made it!
"Protesters gather outside drone base
LONDON — About 400 antiwar protesters demonstrated Saturday outside a Royal Air Force base used to control drone flights over Afghanistan. Until this week, British drones were operated only from a US Air Force base in Nevada. The Ministry of Defense announced Thursday that a new drone-operating squadron had begun operating from RAF Waddington in eastern England. The ministry says the Reaper drones are used for ‘‘intelligence and surveillance missions,’’ but also are equipped with missiles and bombs (AP)."
The forgotten "fliers" in the sky. God bless those protesters.
And how about the odd collaboration (or two), 'eh?
British troops operating British drones from a US air base?
