The World's most unusual airports: a visit to Gibraltar International Airport

If a few days ago I presented some cases of airports in challenging locations (all of them in islands where flat terrain is scarce or non-existent), this week I had the chance to visit an airport whose location is also a bit "complicated", I am referring to Gibraltar International airport.

Although not an island, land is certainly scarce in Gibraltar to the point that the current airport is partly built on land reclaimed from the sea. By the way, a strip of land that Spain claims, as, apparently, it was not included in the original treaty that ceded Gibraltar to the UK in perpetuity. This claim, that is, obviously, rejected by Britain, is at the origin of a seemingly endless dispute that has, at times, constrained the use of the airport and prevented the development of its full potential.

Gibraltar International Airport as seen from the North face of the Rock

Gibraltar's old WWII airfield was expanded on land reclaimed to the sea in order to be able to operate with modern passenger jets

An agreement between Spain and the UK over joint use of the airport relaxed things a bit in 2006 and Iberia and some Spanish airlines started flights to the Rock's airport shortly after, but these flights were far from a financial success and they were discontinued. As of today, the airport only has scheduled flights to the UK, operated by British Airways, EasyJet and Monarch (and we flew over Spain to get there from London, so it seems that airspace restrictions are no longer an issue!)

But as this is an aviation blog, I will leave the political issues aside on this post...

I must say I was positively impressed by the airports brand-new terminal, maybe because of the low volume of traffic that makes it look a bit oversized, but there is a minimalist feel that is quite useful in preventing pre-flight stress.

Another plus is that the views from the terminal are simply amazing, with the Rock dominating the landscape. The architects that designed the terminal have make it easy to enjoy this magnificent view by adding an outdoor terrace on the South side of the terminal (unfortunately, the fact that the airport only gets a handful of flights a day means that it is far from ideal for planspotters!)

A note on the side: I also enjoyed a lot the decoration at the (only) airport bar, with great aviation-themed vintage posters!

But the most unusual feature of the airport is that the runway crosses the only access road into Gibraltar, which means that, both, cars and pedestrians alike need to cross it to get in and out of the territory!

How often do you see an old lady with shopping cart crossing an airport runway?

Only in Gibraltar!

Airships are back in fashion!

I don't know why, but last summer airships caught my attention. I already recognized on this post that I do not know much about this very peculiar type fo aircraft, but later on, airship sightings during the London Olympics led me to write a couple more posts about this topic (see them here 1 & 2).

So, no wonder today I read with interest this piece published on the BBC about a British firm, Hybrid Air Vehicles Limited, that is working on an airship project that might end up having multiple applications, both civilian and military (the project was originally commissioned by the US Army).

I can see a  market niche for airship commercial air travel. Do you?

Jet! When Britain Ruled the Skies: a great BBC documentary about the start of the commercial jet era

I hope you will enjoy this documentary as much as I did. "Jet! When Britian Ruled the Skies", recently aired on the BBC, tells the story of post-war commercial aviation in Britain and the development of the first jet airliners. An era that was full of hope and promise for the British aviation industry...Absolutely recommended!

(Note: the BBC iPlayer is not available in all countries outside the UK, but luckily, someone has already uploaded it on Youtube so you can enjoy it wherever you are)

The Olympics from the air: an airship comeback

A privileged view of the Olympic Park

A few days ago I mentioned in this blog how surprised I had been to see over the skies of London an aircraft that looks like from another era: an airship.

Well, I saw it again, and this time, of all places, it was hovering over the Olympic stadium before and during the closing ceremony. If you watched it on TV, some of the footage might have come from this airship!

By the way, if you would like to learn more about how aerial footage of the Olympic Games events has been delivered, do not miss this report on Flightglobal about the helicopters of the Olympics: "How the Olympics were filmed from above".

And if you are interested in airships, there is also this other blog entry for you: "Remembering the history of Airships"!

Balloons and searchlights in action over London...1940? not really...

An airship (or a barrage balloon?) over London while searchlights are in action...1940? 1916? No! This picture was taken in London tonight. Almost certainly some sort of marketing action connected to the Olympics. I found the image and the setting quite suggestive, particularly after having written about airships on this blog not long ago.

I know the quality of the image is not perfect, it was taken with a small basic camera from a long distance, Hyde Park, and at night. In the next picture even worse quality but you can see the approximate location of the blip, notice the London Eye on the right side of the picture.

Bringing the Olympic spirit to the airline industry

The Olympic Games are a global event and therefore, the link with the airline industry is unavoidable. So I thought it could be a good idea to compile a list of the airline and aviation-related news, stories and images that the 2012 London Olympics are generating.

For a start, the queues at Heathrow and other London airports, a major concern for both the authorities and air travelers that were expecting (even more) chaos...the big news, however, is that...there are no news! All seems to be working, even better than normal!

Whereas one million extra visitors are expected in London during the Olympic period (let me doubt about these figures!), some UK-based airlines seem less than enthusiastic about the extra business they might bring them: Easyjet does not expect the Games to have a positive impact on its bottom line, whereas British Airways expects a drop in business (high-yield) passengers.

Not sure why they complain, since it was BA itself that was encouraging Britons to stay at home and support Team GB. Its "Home Advantage" campaign included a cool game that allows you to direct a one of BA's Boeing 777s to your home address by making it taxi through the London streets.



In any case, British Airways is fully embracing its role as one of the Olympic sponsors and has unveiled a number of original Olympics-themed liveries to be displayed on some of its A319 aircraft in the run up to the Games, starting with the Dove, and continuing with the Firefly, painted on the plane that brough the Olympic flame from Greece to the UK.

But BA is not the only airline that is repainting its aircraft for the occasion, Qantas, JAL, ANA, LOT and South African Airways have also painted their planes in Olympic liveries.

Qantas Olympic livery for London 2012
Image: Gabriel Tam (under Creative Commons License)

More controversial were the news that, on the flight to London, Japan's delegations reserved business class seats for their male footballers, while their female colleagues had to travel in economy.

This won't be a problem for the Jordanian team, since the entire delegation will fly low cost carrier Easyjet to the London Olympics, taking advantage of the orange airline route linking Amman to London.

And, in case, you need to fly during the Olympics and risk missing any of your favourite sports, Gulf Air is going to provide live streaming coverage of the Games.

What seems to be  totally off the programme, despite some speculation, is a comeback of the Concorde during the Games...although you can always try to get this replica of the Concorde in London 2012 Olympic livery!

Interesting marketing approach for executive aviation

I know executive aviation is not my usual blogging topic, but when I come across something in the aviation industry that I find interesting from a marketing or business point of view I like to share it here...and this is what happened when I came across Blink, a small British executive jet operator with bases at London Blackbushe (BBS), Surrey, Geneva and the Channel Islands.

Something caught my eye in their website: the user interface looks incredibly similar to that you can find in a regular "mass-market" commercial airline and so is the feel you get when checking routes and prices...even the "last minute deals" section...executive aviation is not my field, so this might not be unusual, after all, and maybe there are some other operators providing a similar booking process and taking the same marketing approach.

I do not think I am flying with them anytime soon, but I found it interesting to see some marketing innovation in the aviation executive segment!

George Soros invests in Flybe as the British regional airline readies its expansion plans

Pointing upwards! (Picture: Wikipedia)

What is the fastest way to become a millionaire? Start as a billionaire and invest in an airline....! but it looks like billionaire George Soros would rather disagree!

Well, true, a £7M. investment in Flybe is not even pocket money for the famous tycoon (it will buy him around 3.4% of the company), however I find it significant that such an experienced and powerful investor, that managed to sink the pound sterling in 1992, is backing Flybe at this time, when ambitious expansion plans are under way at the British regional airline. Flybe has just floated in the stockmarket and plans to use the proceeds of the flotation to double its fleet and possibly open new bases in Europe or acquire another regional airline, another sign of confidence in the future, is that Flybe's current owners are not planning to cash their money in, at least not in the short term.

There is no lack of examples to support the old joke about the dubious profitability of airline investment (even Warren Buffett got caught on this one!), however, it is remarkable how Flybe has been able to build its niche business in a market strongly dominated by behemoths like Ryanair, Easyjet and BA, or I should say, precisely by being able to exploit the markets gaps these airlines were leaving: as opposed to BA and its Heathrow focus, Flybe has an extensive regional network, as opposed to Ryanair and Easyjet, Flybe caters mainly to the business traveller...will it be able to replicate its business model in the continent? in any case, it looks like we are going to get used to hearing about Flybe more often, as the British regional champion is onto something big!