Northern Hemisphere has a Longer Summer: Am I Naive or Did You Know

Posted by Mike Collins on Apr 7, 2011 in Random Thoughts | 1 comment

I love reading new bits of information and learning things I had no idea bout.  This morning I read on BBC that the Northern Hemisphere has a longer summer than the Southern.

Somehow I feel I should have known that. Did you know? The source is here at BBC ” Our orbit and missing days of winter”

Let me know and comment below.

European air travel gets moving again – UPI.com

Posted by Mike Collins on Feb 8, 2011 in Travel News | 0 comments

Published: Dec. 26, 2010 at 12:28 PM

PARIS, Dec. 26 (UPI) — Air, road and rail traffic began returning to normal in Europe as weather eased Christmas weekend.

At Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, almost all flights were back on schedule after hundreds of travelers were stranded in recent days, Radio France Internationale reported.

Snow and ice had trapped 30,000 travelers Christmas Eve, but a Mass and a visit from Santa Claus were arranged at the airport.

Most of France’s main highways were open again Saturday.

In Moscow, Domodedovo airport was shut down Sunday by a power failure, RIA Novosti reported. Hundreds of passengers were stranded.

Airport spokeswoman Yelena Galanova said two power wires were broken after freezing rain struck the city Saturday.

Flights were shifted to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, which was operating normally, Ekho Moskvy radio reported.

The freezing rain also caused major disruption to road and rail traffic in the Moscow region and 100,000 residents lost electricity.

In northern Sweden, snow was snarling post-Christmas travel along the coast of Norrland, the TT news agency reported. Heavy snowfall was forecast over the Gavleborg and Vasternorrland regions into Sunday night.

Travel conditions were improving in southern Sweden, however.

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Snow Extends European Travel Chaos as UK Seeks Advice on Harsher Winters – Bloomberg

Posted by Mike Collins on Dec 22, 2010 in Travel News | 0 comments

Snow forced European airports including London Heathrow to scrap flights for a fourth day, prompting Britain to seek scientific advice on whether the heaviest early falls in 17 years show winter is turning colder.

Tens of thousands of people trying to head home or on vacation for Christmas since the weekend remain stranded as Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, operates at one-third of capacity, according to owner BAA Ltd., while Frankfurt airport was closed this morning as more snow fell, Fraport AG said.

Britain will ask its chief scientific adviser if blizzards that began last month, coupled with the worst cold snap in two decades last winter, provides evidence for a “step change” that would justify increased spending on cold-weather gear, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond told lawmakers. Heathrow, which handled 66 million travelers in 2009, has 69 ice-clearing vehicles, less than twice the number at Oslo, which handles a quarter of that passenger total and suffers 60 days of snow a year on average.

“If we’re going to face week after week of these kinds of conditions, which I haven’t seen in my lifetime in this country, we’ll have to have different equipment, different procedures in the future,” BAA Chief Executive Officer Colin Matthews said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s The Pulse.

Snow and freezing weather have hindered European air travel since November, with the latest heavy falls hitting the U.K. on Dec. 18 and up to 20 centimeters (8 inches) deposited yesterday. Airlines including Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Qantas Airways Ltd. and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. have canceled flights.

Shovels, Diggers

Heathrow, the world’s second-busiest airport after Atlanta, will operate with only one of its two runways open for most of today, forcing British Airways Plc to scrap 165 flights at its main hub, according to the carrier’s website.

“It can’t be beyond the wit of man, surely, to find the shovels, the diggers, the snowplows or whatever it takes to clear the snow out from under the planes,” London Mayor Boris Johnson told the British Broadcasting Corp. yesterday.

BAA spokeswoman Cathy Mussert said the company was advising passengers to check that their flights were operating. “There could be further delays and cancelations,” she said.

London Gatwick opened as planned at 6 a.m. with 600 flights scheduled for the day, according to its website. The world’s busiest single-runway airport has suffered less disruption after taking delivery of two extra snow-clearing machines that were ordered after last winter’s freeze.

Investment Plan

The additional plows took the total at Gatwick to 49, with three more due to arrive by the weekend. An 8 million-pound ($12 million) investment program by next winter will result in 95 vehicles at the airport, which was sold by BAA to New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners for 1.5 billion pounds in 2009.

Frankfurt, Europe’s third-busiest airport, shut all three runways before reopening two, spokesman Juergen Harrer said, with northern parts of Germany likely to receive as much as 10 centimeters of fresh snow during the day, according to the German Weather Service.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG routed long-haul jets to Munich and deployed additional wide-bodies to Dusseldorf and Zurich.

“It’s unbelievable,” Thomas Jachnow, a spokesman for Cologne-based Lufthansa, said in a telephone interview. “We all thought it would get better and then this new wave of ice and snow hit us. Any optimism that our flight plan would normalize in coming days has dissipated.”

Late Opening

In Paris, Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports were set to begin the day with at least 28 canceled flights before 7 a.m., data tracker FlightStats.com said. The airports stayed open late yesterday to clear a backlog and Aeroports de Paris said the delay at Charles de Gaulle was two to three hours.

“It is necessary to allow as many airplanes as possible to fly as long as weather conditions remain favorable,” French Transport Minister Thierry Mariani said in a statement.

London’s City airport is open today with some delays and cancelations, spokeswoman Geraldine Nolan said by telephone. Dublin airport is closed until 5 p.m. local time.

U.S. carriers such as United Continental Holdings Inc. and AMR Corp.’s American Airlines waived ticket-change fees for passengers traveling to or from parts of Europe.

Qantas canceled flights from London and turned back others headed to the U.K., affecting 3,000 passengers, Simon Rushton, a spokesman for the Sydney-based carrier said. Cathay Pacific said it expects to operate three scheduled flights to London from Hong Kong through early tomorrow morning. The carrier’s four flights from Heathrow today are also expected to go ahead.

Eurostar Warning

On the rails, Channel Tunnel service Eurostar Group Ltd. placed speed restrictions on high-speed lines, adding up to two hours to journey times, according to a statement on its website.

Eurostar, which links London to Paris and Brussels by train, asked passengers not already at stations to stay at home and urged all customers to cancel non-essential travel. The service isn’t accepting new bookings through Dec. 24.

Most other trains through France were slower than normal, though 90 percent were arriving less than 1 hour late, according to train operator SNCF.

Deutsche Bahn AG spokeswoman Kathrin Fellenberg said the winter weather continued to disrupt Germany’s national railroad network, causing numerous train delays and cancelations.

To contact the reporters on this story: Chris Spillane in London at cspillane3@bloomberg.net; Steven Rothwell in London at srothwell@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Colin Keatinge at ckeatinge@bloomberg.net; Kenneth Wong kwong11@bloomberg.net

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