Results tagged “newarkairport”

Technology! The FAA says that a computer glitch has affected its "ability to process flight plans electronically"—which is now resulting in flight delays across the country.

Yesterday, a 55-year-old NJ man who works as a security guard at Newark Liberty International Airport was arrested for allegedly making threats to President Obama. The Star-Ledger reports that two airport workers notified the authorities after John Brek, employed by a private company, apparently "made about Obama on Tuesday afternoon" which then led to a "predawn raid yesterday" at Brek's Linden home.

The prolonged questioning of Bollywood star Shah Rukh (or Shahrukh) Khan at Newark Airport on Friday has ignited a debate over whether authorities overreacted. Even an Indian cabinet minister questioned the long time the Muslim star was held—P Chidambaram said the U.S. had "overdone it," pointing out, Had it been for ten minutes or even twenty minutes (of detention for questioning), one can understand it. But one fails to understand how could they hold him for two long hours?... It takes maximum of ten minutes, say twenty minutes, even if you have to frisk a person after stripping him."

One of the biggest Bollywood stars—aka the "Tom Cruise of India"—was detained and questioned at Newark Airport while on his way to Chicago for an Indian festival. Shah Rukh Khan, 43, texted reporters in India, "I was really hassled -- perhaps because of my name being Khan. These guys just wouldn't let me through," adding, he "felt angry and humiliated." And as it happens, in his new film, My Name is Khan, he "plays a Muslim mistaken for a terrorist"! However, the Port Authority says that Khan wasn't detained—just questioned—and customs officials say Khan's 66 minute questioning was routine—little did they know it would inspire Wrath of Khan puns! Shah later told reporters in Chicago, "I think it's a procedure that needs to be followed, but an unfortunate procedure." The U.S. Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer said the government was "trying to ascertain the facts of the case -- to understand what took place," noting, "Shah Rukh Khan, the actor and global icon, is a very welcome guest in the United States. Many Americans love his films." Still, the Washington Post reports, "India's information and broadcasting minister, Ambika Soni, suggested that Americans should be treated the way Khan was when they arrive in India," while an Indian-born economist and member of Britain's House of Lords suggested it was a publicity stunt for the movie.

Around 1:30 a.m. this morning, a Marriott hotel shuttle bus and a FedEx truck collided on the South Service Road outside Newark Liberty International Airport. The shuttle bus driver is dead and the truck driver and a shuttle passenger are injured. According to WABC 7, "The passengers on the airport shuttle, three flight crew members, told police the Fed Ex truck was in the wrong lane when it collided head-on with their jitney. They said the shuttle driver attempted to avoid the crash, but could not swerve in time." And WCBS 2 says, "The courtesy bus seemed to have absorbed the brunt of the impact. The FedEx truck was seen parked sideways in the high grass." The Port Authority Police are investigating.

Yesterday, a Las Vegas-bound flight from Newark Airport was delayed after knives were found in the carry-on luggage of one passenger. According to the AP, the Transportation Security Administration explained that a "passenger looking through her overhead luggage had a small Swiss Army knife and another knife with a 2 1/2 inch blade." It's unclear who alerted the crew, but the Continental plane was returned to the gate and cleared of passengers for a check. Oh, and "The TSA is investigating how the knives made it through security."

A court order put a delay on the plan to auction off takeoff and landing slots at NYC's area airports. The Bush administration has said auctioning 10% of flight slots would help alleviate air traffic and raise money for upgrades, but the Port Authority (which manages LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark) as well as NY and NJ lawmakers hate the idea, arguing it would drive up ticket prices. The NY Times reports that the delay will likely push "the proposal into the Obama administration, where it may die." Senator Chuck Schumer said, "Slot auctions will cause chaos in the skies and on the ground, and must not be bum-rushed through by a lame-duck administration."

The alert about a "suspicious package" at JFK Airport said there were hand grenades in a piece of luggage. The JetBlue terminal was evacuated, only for the grenades to turn out to be World War II grenade replica paperweights. Next time, mail them! JetBlue is having an opening ceremony for its new Terminal 5 today. And yesterday, a Newark Airport terminal was evacuated after many "false positives" on a suspicious bag, which was eventually deemed safe.

The federal Department of Transportation has been looking to reduce congestion at airports, especially the NYC-area ones, but the Port Authority says auctioning departure and arrival slots would "have a severe negative impact” and “would be illegal without Congressional authorization.” The Port Authority said today it will deny any flights at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark that are result of government auction. Hmm, that sounds like a good way to reduce congestion!

As the FAA tries to figure out ways to ease congestion at NYC area airports, air traffic controllers are signaling a potential growing problem at Newark airport. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association union says an airspace redesign as Newark has created confused pilots.

After talk of flight caps to help ease airport congestion that leave many travelers very irritable, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced another policy to help ease airport woes. The DOT will let airports charge airlines based on the time of day and volume of traffic their planes are landing in. Previously, aircraft was only charged based on plane weight.

The Thanksgiving Day and Thanksgiving Day Eve have emerged as some of the busiest travel days of the year. While the media shows shots of crowded airports and train stations on the Wednesdays before Thanksgiving (like today), the Bureau of Transportation Statistics says that when personal vehicle travel is included into calculations, "Thanksgiving Day is actually a heavier long-distance travel day [to and from a destination more than 50 or more miles away] than...

Realizing that air traffic congestion is terrible and will be even worse next week during Thanksgiving holiday, President Bush announced that the FAA is working on new ideas, plus military airspace will be opened up for five days to civilian planes. If using military airspace (the "Thanksgiving Express Lane") works well this time around, it may reopened for the Christmas holidays. The other measures the President announced were: FAA will focus on preventing delays...

Last night Top Chef began with a Quickfire Challenge consisting of everyone cooking Padma breakfast...we swear she thinks of the challenges when she's stoned (see: the onion cutting relay. C'mon!). After the "food awakening" they were in for a rude awakening. Sent to New York City, the contestants seemed genuinely happy when they saw the Manhattan skyline...but their dreams were dashed when they were held in New Jersey for a day at Newark Airport. Cooking airplane food. Oh dear.

Emergency newswires are reporting that Port Authority cops requested that the Emergency Services Unit hustle over to Laguardia's main terminal this afternoon - and with a cage - because there was a monkey on the loose inside the airport. The animal apparently arrived at Gate B6 on Spirit Airlines' Flight 180.

We don't know what 1010 WINS news reporter John Montone did to deserve such an assignment, but he was sent to research the state of the Porta-Potties designated for use by cab drivers at Newark International Airport. His report confirms that both in appearance and smell, the temporary facilities are nauseating. Cabbies have been complaining about the poor condition of the six temporary toilets that were installed in January, after the permanent bathroom was closed.

Attention, frequent fliers: Terminal 7 at JFK Airport will get the area's first security express lane.

The FAA is going to be busy at Newark. Yesterday evening, a plane taxiing for take-off clipped wings with another plane that was being towed. The Port Authority said "the left wing of outbound Lufthansa Flight 403, a Boeing 747, and the right wing of a Continental Boeing 757 under tow bumped at about 6:30PM." No one was injured, and the 294 Lufthansa passengers were moved to another plane. Continental says its plane was empty and stationary. The FAA will be investigating damage to the wings as well as seeing what may have caused the collision.

Everyone has taxis on the mind! Mike at Google Map Mania let us know about this new Google Maps mash-up: The Taxi Fare Finder. We ran the imaginary taxi route of Mayor Bloomberg, going from City Hall to his East 79th Street townhouse and got a fare of just under $21 not including tip. The Fare Finder does have a disclaimer:

Please remember that this number is estimated--many factors, such as traffic and weather, will affect the actual fare. Tips are NOT included in the fare, and they are appreciated. This tool does NOT yet take tolls into account, which are your responsibility. Sorry, this site does not yet support fares outside of the five Boroughs and Newark Airport.

The city's tourist arm, NYC Visit, is trying to make sure tourists don't freak out and cancel their plans, while some travelers are looking at taking the trains instead. Well, "patience" will be the mantra for any airport travelers these days - authorities are asking travelers to pack as little as possible to make things speedy. What we think is nice: The JFK Courtyard Marriott is stocking up on saline solution, toothpaste, and other liquidy beauty aids their guests might need.

Totally odd timing for two strange crimes: Two retired police officers, one Port Authority and one NYPD, were shot by two people who work for or have worked for the NYPD.

-City Council Speaker and "Proud Irish-American lesbian" Christine Quinn will not walk in next week's St. Patrick's Day Parade.

- And we wish good luck to Charles Maikish - he's in charge of Ground Zero rebuilding construction

Holy bajesus! The snow is coming down. We're assembling team Gothamist to give you full storm coverage all day-- but until we do our "Wonder Twins Activate" thing, please be patient. If you are able to get outside without killing yourselves, we'd love some pictures from around the city-- send them to photos@goth or tag them Gothamist on Flickr-- they will show up in our photo stream on labs. The one above is from our BFF JCN, taken from the balcony of his apartment on Broadway and 8th Street.

We like records. True, we like the kind they call LP's that are the format of choice for old jazz recordings, and good white label grooves, but we also like records of the "unsurpassed measurement" type (thank you dictionary.com). The most recent local records of note that were broken according to our local NOAA office in Upton, NY