Airport Parking News

www.Parctel.com: It happens to the best of us: After a week on holiday, you step off the airplane and look at the sea of cars in the parking lot, with no idea where you left yours two weeks earlier. To the rescue comes Siemens, which is launching in March a new "car finding" system at Heathrow Airport in London. Genius!

The idea is pretty simple at heart: A camera scans your license plate as you enter the garage, and a computer assigns you a parking spot, printing the stall number right on the ticket. The garage then shows you where to park, by leading you exactly to the nearest empty spot with lights embedded in the pavement. When it's time to leave, you just look at the ticket. If you need more help, just insert it into a kiosk and you get a map of exactly where your assigned stall was. Lost your ticket? Just type in your license plate number.

If you lost your ticket and you don't know your license plate number, well, you're out of luck. Consider carrying your license plate number in your wallet or on a small tattoo.

The Heathrow project will keep tabs on 3,800 parking places as a test of how well the technology works before it is potentially rolled out to other locations.

And it's not just a time saver: Observers are hoping the technology proves to be a green one. The goal is that assigned parking spots will help keep people from driving in endless loops as they hunt for a parking spot. Siemens believes it will reduce carbon emissions by almost 400 tons per year.

Source: Yahoo

www.Parctel.com: On Saturday 21 April 2007, air traffic control operations will move to a state of the art new £50m facility, designed as part of the Terminal 5 project.

Air traffic controllers have undergone an extensive training programme in advance of the move to familiarise themselves with the new view of the airport and new equipment. As a precautionary measure, to ensure the change in operations is undertaken as safely as possible the airport will operate a temporary reduced landing rate.

Reduced landing rates will create additional demand on the peak early morning/evening periods. In order to ease potential disruption, a small number of aircraft will be permitted to arrive early between 5am and 6am in the morning, in addition to the usual flights landing in this period and in the event of a build up of delay, a small number of arrivals and departures after 1130 pm at night.

BAA, NATS and the airlines are working together to ensure that these night time arrivals/departures are kept to a minimum and that normal operations are restored as quickly as possible.

These short term changes are expected to be necessary for a few days after transition.

“We acknowledge that for some local residents this will have an effect on the level of aircraft noise that they experience. We sincerely apologise for the disturbance to local residents during this necessary change to operations.” Mark Bullock, Managing Director said.

www.Parctel.com: Pupils at the Bedfont Junior School returned from their Easter break to find that the school had undergone a spring clean. A group made up of parents, teachers and over 25 staff from BAA Heathrow spent two days painting outside play areas, corridors and reception of the school in Hatton Road, East Bedfont.

The painting was organised by school governor and BAA Heathrow staff member Rachel Heydon, who not only arranged for painting supplies and refreshments to be donated by companies from across the airport, but also for four Community Support Officers and some of the school’s pupils to drop by and lend a hand.

“Painting the school was not only rewarding for all who took part, but also great fun. By getting some of the kids involved, I think we ended up with more paint on us than on the walls!” said Rachel Heydon.

The event was part of a long standing connection between the airport and schools in Bedfont. In 2006, BAA’s T5 charity donated over £3,000 to the Infant and Nursery school to replace books damaged books after a fire in the library. Volunteers from the airport regularly go into the school to help children read.

“Bedfont Junior School is an important part of the local community and it’s great to see the parents, teachers and young people getting together with BAA to help make their school better” said Alan Keen, Feltham and Heston MP who attended the event.

Rachel and her team will be organising another painting event at the school in June/July 2007, and people who want to take part should contact Rachel directly on rachel_heydon[at]baa.com.

www.Parctel.com: The new car park is part of an £11m investment by Q-Park and represents a number of firsts for the company:
* It’s the first multi-storey to be built at Heathrow for twenty one years;
* Q-Park’s first purpose-built multi-storey car park on an airport site; and
* The first airport car park in the country to take a genuinely hi-tec approach to the safe keeping of vehicles within their care.

The car park is open 24 hours a day all year and motorists do not have to pre-book – they can just turn up and deliver their car for parking.

Q-Park London Heathrow opens in Spring 2007 and will incorporate all the core Q-Park values of safety and security, a welcoming and bright reception area and uniformed, trained professional staff. Security has been a priority from the design stage. The 10-stage security checks include the physical presence of trained and uniformed Q-Park Hosts; scanning and logging of all vehicles, registration plates and drivers; and a system of barriers. In addition, the latest CCTV technology captures images at every stage of reception and booking, as well as parking by Hosts, delivery to customers and departure.

The car park is situated just off the A4 and is clearly signed from the main road. On entering, drivers’ cars are automatically scanned using high resolution, cutting edge scanning photography and number plate recognition equipment. Modern variable messaging technology then directs customers to clearly defined reception marking bays in front of the main building. Covered reception bays offer easy pedestrian access to the new, bright, purpose built, main reception hall.

Using the latest booking technology, check in is quicker, smoother and more convenient with a team of trained staff on hand for assistance. Transport to and from Q-Park London Heathrow to the airport terminals is believed to be the fastest for any long stay car park at Heathrow, with just five minutes drive to the road tunnel feeding Terminals 1, 2 and 3, and frequency of a bus at least once every 10 minutes.

On entering Q-Park’s safe-keeping customer vehicles are then logged and secured with the first application of tracker key technology within an airport parking environment. This ensures that, as cars are valet-parked for customer’s convenience within the brand new, multi-storey facility, every detail of the on-site journey is recorded for customer’s piece of mind. In addition, the parking facility itself provides the added convenience and security of undercover parking and 24-hour manning by Q-Park hosts.

Safety and security remains a priority while cars are in Q-Park’s care. Q-Park London Heathrow will carry the recognised ParkMark award, and all security is supported by the latest generation of CCTV monitoring. Camera images are shown and recorded within the car park Lodge and they are also logged and recorded at Q-Park’s remote Central Control Room.

“Q-Park Heathrow represents the most modern airport car parking system and service in the country,” says Q-Park Chief Executive Alan Ashbee. “We are not only breaking new ground by building a multi-storey car park at the world’s busiest international airport, but we are setting news standards of safety, security and overall customer service.”

British Airways has begun a campaign to recruit and train 20 graduates to fill vacancies in its IT department.

The airline plans to offer successful applicants 18 months' intensive training in IT support, development and delivery, and business analysis.

The recruitment drive, the first major campaign run by the airline in more than six years, follows significant investments by BA in systems such as online booking.

"After an absence of more than six years, the recruitment campaign for IT professionals offers both a great opportunity for candidates, who will receive tailor-made training in a cutting-edge environment, and to the business," said Bill Francis, head of resourcing and skills at BA.

The airline plans to put the graduates through a programme of hands-on and classroom-based training covering a wide range of IT projects, including rostering programmes, website design and check-in processes.

The trainees will gain experience in Linux and Web 2.0 technology and participate in major projects, such as the development of Heathrow Terminal 5, said Francis.

The airline is offering 10 graduate positions at Heathrow and 10 places at Newcastle Airport. Participants will be offered permanent roles based on their interests and abilities and business needs, the company said.

Paul Corby, chief information officer at BA, said that in the future the airline hoped to recruit graduates from a new range of IT degree courses that combine technology and business studies, which are being introduced by some UK universities.

"Individuals who have the ability to use technology to solve problems in business and public administration are essential to the needs of both BA and UK plc in general," he said.

Source: Bill Goodwin, ComputerWeekly.com

www.Parctel.com: If you believe that the bus lane on the M4 motorway between Heathrow Airport and the M4 elevated section should be scrapped and that all vehicles should be allowed to use this part of the M4 motorway, then add your signature to the petition by clicking HERE.

You have to be a British Citizen to vote.

A couple of years back two guys have wasted their time at airports, in this case, London’s Heathrow, by writing down strange names and asking the airport Information Center to locate these people by calling out their names on the airport’s PA system. These guys would then hang out beneath the speakers and record the results.

In order to make it as believable as possible, they dressed up as chauffeurs and asked for help finding these people about 40 minutes after a Thai Airways or Air India flight had landed.

They acted as if they could not pronounce the names themselves, so as not to reveal the joke, but just handed over a note with the names printed on it and asked the employ at the Information Center.

After the fifth recording, they had to leave Heathrow as airport security figured out what was going on. The last recording is from Gatwick.

Listen to the recordings HERE.

Picking up on the deployment of the Rapiscan at London Heathrow Airport according to the Ponderlings blog around 94% of people are opting for the the Rapiscan in preference to the pat down:

Apparently this hyper sensitive, shameless X-ray machine has been used in airports since 2002. It allows security officials to look through the clothing of airline passengers for non-metal weapons. Measures have been made in the United States for a more "private" image which is, according to the report, nothing more than a chalkline image. In London's Heathrow Airport, it is apparently far less modest, however 94% opted for the x-ray rather than a pat down.

Tell us on your blog or comment here.

Read the story here.

This video from the end of 2006, highlights the following facts:

• Heathrow Airport handles 64.3 million passengers per year.
• 1260 aircraft take off and land at Heathrow Airport daily.
• 184 000 passengers use Heathrow Airport daily.
• 85 airlines use Heathrow Airport to fly to over 180 destinations in 90 countries.
• Heathrow Airport employs over 71 000 people.
• 219 000 items of luggage are handled at Heathrow Airport daily.
• 35.5% of passengers travel to Heathrow Airport via Public Transport - good news for Airport Parking firms as that leaves 64.5% travelling via private transport.
• Since the opening of Heathrow Airport in 1946 1.35 Billion people have flown to and from Heathrow Airport.

www.Parctel.com: In a recent survey conducted by the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) London’s BAA Heathrow Airport was voted the most family-friendly international airport. Heathrow Airport garnered 24.6 percent of the votes. The airport offers special rooms for feeding and changing infants, as well as a variety of age-appropriate play areas. For older children, there’s a flight simulator game and arcade stations scattered throughout the airport. Younger children might enjoy the free coloring books and crayons that are dispensed at the information desks.

Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport came in second with an 18.4 percent share. Not surprising given the airport’s designated play areas featuring slides, wagons and Legos. Older children can test their memory with educational computer games or kick back with a little Nintendo. Frankfurt with its multiple play areas came in third with 8.3 percent.

London’s Gatwick Airport was ranked fourth. Like its neighbor, Heathrow, Gatwick offers several play areas and video arcades scattered throughout the terminals. In fifth place was Singapore’s Changi Airport’s whose Family Zone includes nursing rooms, diaper-changing stations and a washing area, as well as a playpen for toddlers and a corner where parents and children can watch cartoons.

Place that you only went to to catch a plane.

Not according to Ms Take's Blog; as she says:

This is a DANGEROUS place! Even Terminal 3, that I flew from yesterday, has a vast array of absolute must-have's. so I walked out of there with assorted goodies.

In her haul were such must have items as Thierry Mugler "Angel" perfume, Too Faced Lip Injection, Veuve Clicquot Travel Case, Victoria's Secret Mood scent, some scented candles and a 138 pounds later.

Whatever gets you up in the morning Ms Take.

www.Parctel.com: An Egyptian woman resident in the UK was fined £300 with £65 costs at Brentford Magistrates Court yesterday after pleading guilty to illegally importing over 83 kilos of meat and dairy products at Heathrow Airport.

John Whyte, Head of Revenue & Customs operations at Heathrow Airport said:
"Customs are determined to crack down on those who attempt to smuggle illegal foodstuffs and will prosecute the more serious offenders who insist on breaking the rules."

The court heard that 34 year-old Doaa Bahaa El Din HOSSNI KHALAF of 2 Cresta House, 133 Finchley Road, London, was stopped by Revenue & Customs Officers at Heathrow on Sunday 25 February 2007, after she arrived on a flight from Cairo. Hossni Khalaf, who was travelling with her three children, was stopped following a positive indication by a Customs sniffer dog. Officers searched her baggage and found 83.82 kilos of illegal meat and dairy products in four of her six suitcases.
Hossni Khalaf was arrested, questioned and subsequently charged with importing prohibited foodstuffs under current product of animal origin import regulations.

This case was successfully prosecuted by the Revenue & Customs Prosecutions Office ( RCPO ). RCPO is an independent prosecuting authority that reports to the Attorney General, and is responsible for the prosecution of all HMRC cases in England and Wales.

www.Parctel.com: Sian Willbourne is well known to the Terminal 5 (T5) project, she’s the leukaemia sufferer who in December 2005 had over 400 T5 workers queuing to join The Anthony Nolan Trust’s bone marrow register in the hope of saving her life or one of the thousands of other patients currently waiting to find a donor. Sadly, after over two years of waiting to find a suitable donor Sian still hasn’t found a match. To help recruit more lifesaving donors a second bone marrow donation day was organised on T5 last week and again hundreds of T5 workers joined the Anthony Nolan register.

Since being diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia in June 2005, 31-year-old Sian has taken the unusual step of raising awareness of the urgent need for more people aged 18-40 to join the bone marrow register. Sian has been working hard to raise awareness and has set a target of recruiting 1,000 donors to the bone marrow register.

As a result of the first bone marrow donation day, one T5 worker has actually donated bone marrow and become a lifesaver. Other workers who successfully made a donation will stay on the register until they are 60 as they could potentially provide a match for many other sufferers.

Sian Willbourne says: “I feel very optimistic that there will be a match for me soon. The benefit of coming to T5 is the hope that the hundreds of workers who have been involved will spread the word about how easy it is to save a life”.

Sian’s friend Sarah Waltho, project manager for Terminal 5, has been central to organising the donation days on site along with The Anthony Nolan Trust. Ideally bone marrow donors are healthy males, aged between 18 and 40 and as there is such a large concentration of men working on T5 it’s the perfect location.

Mike Evans, T5 Head of Health and Safety says: “There is a very genuine spirit of generosity on the Terminal 5 project which is evident by the sheer number of workers who have joined the bone marrow register in the hope that they may soon save someone’s life.”

“Sian has made a big impact on Terminal 5 and we hope to find a suitable match for her this time round. Meanwhile, the fact that a T5 worker has potentially saved a life as a result of our first blood donation day is fantastic news.”

Before making a donation workers were counselled by Antony Nolan Trust staff to ensure they fully understand what the donation process involves. T5’s own nurses then took a thimbleful of blood which was taken to a lab for tissue-typing. If a T5 worker is found to be a match they will be contacted by The Antony Nolan Trust and asked to donate their bone marrow..

Unfortunately Sian’s condition has deteriorated which meant she was unable to attend the donation day on Terminal 5. The entire project is hoping that one of the hundreds of donors that have recently joined will increase the chances for patients like Sian.

Sameer Vasta posted a few snippets of conversation that he overheard at Heathrow Airport on his blog, Eloquation. Here are a few of the choice ones:

“Wait, we’re going on a plane? I thought you said we were flying there?”

“Look honey, he’s using his computer here. I didn’t know computers worked at airports!”

“Is there a place to sleep here? Because my flight doesn’t leave for another 3 days.”

“This country is so backwards. I can’t even find a copy of the San Francisco Chronicle in this shop.”

“Hot pink pants aren’t for everyone, but that guy really pulls it off well.”

(Man about to approach departure gate, after checking in long ago.) “S**t, I forgot my luggage in the taxi.”

“Is there a bathroom here? Because I’m about to explode, and I know explosions are not allowed on planes.”

“I’m so glad I fly first class. The other people here are all so normal.”

“Do they have the AC on? It’s colder than Canada in this terminal!”

“Qantas is a wonderful airline. They let you get drunk on the plane for free.”

“Is this Starbucks owned by same man that owns the one in Hong Kong? I think he stole that man’s logo.”

“They shouldn’t have shops in an airport. People might buy stuff.”

“Why did I have to go through security? It’s not like I’m insecure or something.”