Nov 1st, 2012 at 12:00PM:
Airports around the world have a lot of wall space to fill. Cavernous spaces inside terminals often mimic outside parking spaces wide enough for jumbo jets. To fill that space, those who plan airports use huge sculptures, gigantic paintings and other works of art. Now, London's Gatwick airport will be the home to several works by British pop artist Sir Peter Blake.
Best known for his design ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
GatwickAirport posts
Airports As Art Galleries? London Says Yes
Nov 1st, 2012 at 12:00PM:
Airports around the world have a lot of wall space to fill. Cavernous spaces inside terminals often mimic outside parking spaces wide enough for jumbo jets. To fill that space, those who plan airports use huge sculptures, gigantic paintings and other works of art. Now, London's Gatwick airport will be the home to several works by British pop artist Sir Peter Blake.
Best known for his design ...Workers find grenade near Gatwick Airport
Aug 10th, 2011 at 9:30AM: Workers digging near Gatwick Airport yesterday uncovered a grenade.
This wasn't terrorism, though. The grenade is believed to date from the Second World War. Workers uncovered the grenade near the airport's railway station. Bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion to get rid of it.
While it didn't pose any great risk except to the poor hardhat who dug it up, rail and flight ...Iraqi Airways shuts down after dispute with Kuwait over aircraft theft
May 26th, 2010 at 10:30AM: State owned Iraqi airlines has been forced to declare bankruptcy. The airline had been around for decades, and when they tried to restart operations with regular Baghdad-London operations, they ran into a nasty reminder of their past.
Upon landing at London's Gatwick airport, the airline was confronted by lawyers representing the state of Kuwait. Apparently, the Iraqi's had helped themselves to ...Heinz opens London Gatwick airport relaxation lounge
Apr 15th, 2010 at 12:30PM:
Heinz (yes, the Heinz behind the famous Ketchup) just opened a "welcome home lounge" at London Gatwick Airport. According to Heinz, passengers returning home love settling in a relaxing homely atmosphere stocked with Heinz products.
In a way they are right - as a kid growing up in the UK, Heinz Baked Beans were to me what Mac and Cheese is to American kids. But to be honest, after a long ...Gatwick Airport to be sold, modernized
Oct 23rd, 2009 at 8:30AM: This week's announcement by the British Airports Authority that it will sell London's Gatwick Airport has everyone wondering about the future of the city's second busiest hub.
The BAA, owned by the Spanish group Ferrovial, sold Gatwick for £1.5 billion ($2.49 billion) to Global Infrastructure Partners, owned by Credit Suisse and General Electric. The deal comes after the UK government ...Heathrow up, other UK airports see traffic fall
Sep 11th, 2009 at 1:00PM:
Vacationers compensated for business travelers at Heathrow last month, helping the airport realize its busiest August in history. Airport operator BAA Ltd. noted that its total traffic, though, had fallen 3.1 percent for the month. Heathrow is Europe's busiest airport, and 6.4 million passengers passed through, a slight increase of 0.3 percent compared to August 2008.
The other London airports ...Flight attendant pleads guilty to bomb hoax
May 23rd, 2009 at 2:00PM: It was a bad week for Australians, it seems. A naval officer was physically restrained on a flight to London. Not too long after, Matt Carney, a flight attendant from Melbourne, was sentenced to 18 months in jail in England. It was his own fault: he left not one but two(!) notes on a plane to London, "warning" of a bomb. Of course, he was working the flight.
The 23-year-old soon-to-be-former ...Drunk mailman threatens mayhem, grounded for half decade
May 4th, 2009 at 7:30PM: Why is it always the postmen?
Robert Russell had added "former" to his "mail carrier" title after being laid off by Royal Mail. So, he took a trip to Malaga, Spain. This isn't unusual; plenty of people do something nice for themselves after losing their jobs. It's great for morale.
It didn't work.
Russell got wasted on lager and vodka in the Gatwick departure lounge. By the time he was ...Gatwick Bomb Scare
Mar 23rd, 2009 at 12:00PM: If you happened to be at London Gatwick international airport at 6:45 AM on Sunday, you're probably still mad. United Arab Emirates flight EK 011 from Dubai was ten minutes from landing at London Gatwick when they found a note "implying there may be a suspicious device on board." Craptastic. All 164 passengers and the crew were escorted from the plane (which is fine for them, they were probably ...400 strip for Aer Lingus tickets, some of them hotties
Mar 17th, 2009 at 4:00PM:
Remember that stunt we covered last week ... where an anonymous airline was giving away free flights to people who would flash as a flash mob? Well, it was Aer Lingus, and there were only 400 winners. Fortunately, they all seem to be attractive. I'm guessing we didn't want to see the other 600 anyway.
The strip site, which was kept secret until the last minute, was Jubilee Gardens in London. ...Planeload of drunk Irish passengers creates havoc on Cuba bound flight
Jan 4th, 2009 at 1:00PM: In what can only be described as Déjà vu, 40 Irish passengers bound for Cuba created a riot on their Thomas Cook flight. The group filled up on booze, harassing and punching fellow passengers, and one of them even went so far as to attempt opening the emergency exit mid-flight. One terrified passenger ended up sitting with the flight attendants in the galley for 5 hours just to get ...Gatwick airport gets some snow - shuts down for the morning
Dec 12th, 2008 at 1:00PM: Gatwick airport was taken by surprise yesterday morning when an unexpected flurry passed over the area. Even though just a fraction of an inch of snow actually landed on the tarmac, the airport decided it would be best to shut down all flight operations. Of course, when over 100 flights are either heading towards Gatwick or getting ready to depart, you can understand that the mess was quite ...Advertising to Air Travelers...From the Ground
Jun 17th, 2007 at 8:58AM: Those flying into or out of London's Gatwick Airport are getting a surprise. There's a 100,000 square foot advertisement of a pole-straddling nude dancer, advertising an escort service.
Some folks are up in arms. Apparently, it was painted on a field without permission of the district council, and the Campaign for Rural England is upset. But the ad agency isn't budging.
It's the agency's second ...
