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Business Traveller

Cleaning Cabins, Parking Planes at London City Airport; Sheikh Ahmed Shows Us Dubai's New Terminal Three; Why Hong Kong International Was Voted the World's Number One Airport.

Aired January 17, 2009 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: Shine and rise, the night-time curfew at London City Airport is over. Let the planes fly.
Hello, and welcome to "CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER." I'm Richard Quest, this month reporting from the end of runway 28 at London's City Airport. In just 10-minute's time, the airport really gets underway. The flying begins. The planes start arriving.

All this month, we're about airports. Love them. Hate them. Us, travelers, we need them.

So coming up, at London City, we're cleaning cabins and parking planes.

In Dubai, Sheikh Ahmed shows us the new terminal three.

And why Hong Kong was voted the world's number one.

The flying day is under way and there are 130 planes scheduled to land today. I'm going to marshal one of them onto the stand for real.

Learning to marshal begins in the office, so I get the concept right.

KEVIN WINCELL, SENIOR AIRFIELD OPERATIONS CONTROLLER: This is the aircraft that's going to come in. So it's not very far out.

QUEST: Right.

WINCELL: Probably, the next five minutes. We'll be by you on staff and you'll be all right.

So what we've got, this is your stand over here. This is the apron road and this is the taxiway here. So when the aircraft is abreast where the stand mark is off the bux (ph), you will raise your arms up in the air to signal to that aircraft, this is the stand that you come into.

QUEST: And then once he's on the second one, tell him to do that?

WINCELL: Yes. And what we need to do...

QUEST: And then walk with him.

WINCELL: Walk with the nose so -- keep -- keep looking at him.

QUEST: Yes.

WINCELL: Remember, we're going to stay in the road, so you've got to keep going straight along there. And we will see that marshaling in the corridor. (INAUDIBLE). Hand over. Now just keep your arms up in the air.

QUEST: Just in case anybody is concerned of what we are doing, we have the senior person here, who will be behind me. We have a second person, who will also be monitoring what's happening. And, of course, the captain has been warned that I'm doing this.

WINCELL: All right, here he comes.

QUEST: There's a plane. That's the plane. Right, this is a first.

It may only be a little plane, but it suddenly seems very big as it's coming towards me.

WINCELL: Fantastic. Look at that.

QUEST: So were my instructions of any use to the pilot?

Captain?

JOHN MCGHEE, PILOT: How are you doing?

QUEST: Thank you very much.

MCGHEE: No problem. Thanks for being here.

QUEST: Well, you did the hard bit.

MCGHEE: Oh, my -- I just watched for what you tell me to do and I will.

QUEST: Just the marshaling, is it actually useful to you?

MCGHEE: Very much. It not just useful, it's necessary. The wings themselves, between the aircraft (ph), we can't really (ph) see them. And while we can't see all of them and we can't judge, so we rely on the job of the marshals 100 percent.

QUEST: You did a good job. Thank you very much.

MCGHEE: Thank you.

QUEST: Was I really doing that or was there somebody else doing it?

WINCELL: No, you were doing it all yourself, entirely yourself.

I would have jumped in if he started running over your toes.

QUEST: That was so cool.

WINCELL: You did fantastic stuff. You did a really good job.

QUEST: Later this year, British Airways will be flying an Airbus 318 from London City to New York. It's the first time this airport's been used for commercial trans-Atlantic flights. The plane will make a refueling stop on the west coast of Ireland where passengers will also do U.S. immigration.

Wherever you may be flying to in the United States, from January, new rules come into force concerning the visa waiver program. It's called ESTA. It's simple. It's relatively easy to do. But you do need to do it. If you're planning to go to the U.S., get your head around the ESTA rules now.

ESTA, it stands for Electronic System for Travel Authorization. It amounts to the biggest change for travelers to the U.S. in 25 years.

Millions of citizens, including much of the European Union, Japan and Australia will go online to receive permission to travel before starting their trip.

KATHY KRANINGER, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Well, there are about eight million unique travelers, foreign travelers, under the visa waiver program, who come to the U.S. currently, and we expect that to expand, but that gives you some idea at least of how many people we'd expect to apply over -- you know, over a year.

QUEST: Once you're authorized to travel, you can visit for up to two years or until your passport runs out, whichever is sooner. The U.S. is encouraging visitors to apply as soon as they make travel plans. And the authorities recommend no later than 72 hours before the departure. Even so, ESTA has been designed to cope with those late bookings and emergencies.

KRANINGER: The system is fully capable, so you can accommodate that last-minute application as well. So there's no challenge with that whatsoever. It's just recommended for your own peace of mind, I suppose, when you're planning to do it in advance.

QUEST: The number of ESTA applications is running at around 50,000 a day. The U.S. authorities tell us more than 99 percent are approved within six seconds.

Remember, applying for ESTA is free. But there are a growing number of online visa service companies that will charge you up to $300 for ESTA approval.

Just make sure you're logged onto a U.S. government web site. Save the money. Spend it instead on yourself in the states.

Last, at London City, we managed to join the airport fire brigade during one of their training exercises.

So what's the idea here? What's the -- what's...

TREVOR CHAPMAN, WATCH MANAGER, LONDON CITY AIRPORT: The whole idea is to simulate an engine fire. Actually, what we're going to do is we've pulled off a message saying there's an engine fire on an aircraft. The crews will respond, position on the aircraft, and pretend to extinguish it.

We'll going to (INAUDIBLE) gas so as to create the fire. We'll have an engine fire, internal and external, so the inside of the engine and the outside of the engine are about to be ignited.

Ten to 20 minutes is our time anywhere on the airport, so we have to be there quite quickly.

They really are -- they're quite realistic. And we have to try them. We don't get a lot of real aircraft accidents. It doesn't happen that often, but it can happen.

QUEST: A realistic reminder of what can happen in aviation.

Coming up after the break, what it takes to be the best in the world.

This is "CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER" at London City.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: London City is primarily a commuter airport. But it still handles more than 3,000 bags every day. The right passenger with the right bag on the right plane at the right time, and they've got 15 minutes to do it all.

So this is Nice and this is?

MARK STEPHENSON, BAGGAGE HANDLER: Antwerp.

QUEST: Antwerp.

STEPHENSON: And Dublin.

QUEST: And Dublin.

STEPHENSON: Watch.

QUEST: I'm watching Nice, Antwerp and Dublin -- Nice, Antwerp and Dublin, right.

Which is Dublin?

Take the little sticky off. Put it there, following the line. Oops.

You often wonder why they make you put the straps inside the bag. This is the reason why. There you are. The strap got caught. The belt ground to a halt. And this is the result.

We're losing time. Oh, no, the belt's moving. Hey, a first one for me.

STEPHENSON: And that's your first mistake.

QUEST: What? To Nice.

STEPHENSON: To Nice flight. We have a BA, Nice. You have an Air France, Nice.

QUEST: What? Hey, at least it was going to the right destination.

Right, that's Warsaw, Geneva. Where's Hu Dong Ding (ph)? We've got Dublin. All in line.

STEPHENSON: Stack them, rack them and pack them.

QUEST: Stack them, rack them and pack them.

And here's the Dublin, the 21. My, this is a heavy bag. For goodness sake, why don't they just leave some of this stuff at home?

I thought I had just about got it and then...

Is this right plane?

STEPHENSON: No.

QUEST: No, it's not? It would be the heaviest bag that I've got in the wrong vault (ph). I hope there was something fragile in that.

The key to all of this is efficiency, the right bags on the right plane for the right passenger.

The best airports in the world are those that are the most efficient. And the winner this year has been Hong Kong International.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AYESHA DURGAHEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's the cathedral-like roof that first strikes you entering Hong Kong International. Walking down the ramp, passengers are gently eased into the airport. Spacious, sun-filled, seamless, just some of the reasons why HKIA has now been voted the world's best airport for the seventh time since it opened in 1998.

FARHAD HEYDARI, TRAVEL JOURNALIST: The have gone and put together an absolutely perfect package for passengers. Transport links are top notch. Amenities and services in the airport are superb. Flawless security, passport checkpoints. An intuitiveness and design ethos that makes you feel like you're not stuck in water bottle really. It is a terrific example of what an airport can be.

DURGAHEE: Out of the top-five airports in the SkyTrax Awards, four of them are in Asia.

EDAWRD PLAISTED, CEO, SKYTRAX: Asia very clearly is setting the benchmark now. And it has set a benchmark that really is quite somewhere above anything we could offer in Europe, the Middle East, North America.

DURGAHEE: After HKIA, Singapore's Changi Airport took second place. It shares the same level of efficiency with its long-term rival. Bags are off the aircraft and on the belt even before travelers have cleared immigration.

Incheon in South Korea came third, followed my Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur.

Europe has its first appearance with Munich coming in at number five.

HKIA's airport chief, Stanley Hui, doesn't see Changi or any other airport as a real threat.

STANLEY HUI HON-CHUNG, CEO, HONG KONG AIRPORT AUTHORITY: We see them really as so-called competition. But an important thing, I think, is to actually make sure that you do your own work well.

The passengers, before they board the airplane, actually have a very pleasant time. Whether you want to do shopping, whether you want to have a cup of coffee, whether you want to go to some corners of the airport and just do your own reading, or you can go on the Internet for free, and that's the sort of things that we always continue to do and continue to enhance on.

DURGAHEE: Reclaiming its title of SkyTrax's world's best airport means a lot to HKIA, since it is the passenger themselves who voted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: We're back at London City. We've got another aircraft coming in to land.

This is a map showing all the planes in the air heading towards London City Airport. And this is Ramp Control. Here, they make sure everything goes smoothly once the plane's on the ground.

This gentleman decides where it's going to park. He then tells this gentleman, who makes sure that all the serving is ready and waiting.

London City will hit more than 100,000 take offs and landings in just a couple of years. And they do it all with one runway.

Across Europe, indeed, in most of the world, the call these days is for more runways, more flights, more planes, more air travel. It's a controversial issue, as Jim Boulden explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The sit-ins...

(SHOUTING)

BOULDEN: ... marches and protests, even an eleventh-hour intervention to buy up some of the land weren't enough to hold back Heathrow's expansion.

GEOFF HOON, U.K. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR TRANSPORT: The need for this decision is the existing capacity at Heathrow.

BOULDEN: If the current government gets its way, the world's busiest international airport will get a third runway and a sixth terminal.

Heathrow currently has two runways. The plan is for a third runway and a sixth terminal to go here along this farmland. But also, they would have to destroy 700 homes.

Geraldine Nicholson lives just across the motorway from where the runway will start. The school where her children attend will be knocked down.

GERALDINE NICHOLSON, NO THIRD RUNWAY ACTION GROUP: The government seriously needs to look at 21st century solutions to what is 20th century transport. We need to be looking at high-speed rails, to see how we connect from the north of the country down to the south, down to Europe.

BOULDEN: The government announced just such a massive railway hub at Heathrow to compliment the expansion. One of the ideas, fewer people driving to the airport could help Heathrow meet tough new European Union environmental targets that will be challenged with more flights.

The business community says the government has to find ways to meet those targets or London will lose out.

JO VALENTINE, LONDON FIRST: The capacity utilization of other European airports is much lower than Heathrow. So we are suffering the problems at Heathrow because of a failure to build in the additional capacity there.

BOULDEN: Just look at Heathrow's competitor-safe proponents. Charles De Gaulle has three terminals. Frankfurt has plans for a third terminal and a fourth runway. Amsterdam's Schiphol already has five main runways.

Even so, local residents say enough is enough.

NICHOLSON: Now is the time for the government to actually stand up and say to BAA, no, you can't have it this time. Terminal five should be the last expansion of Heathrow.

BOULDEN: It took 20 years to get Heathrow terminal five off the ground. Opponents of a third runway vow to make the government's new expansion plans just as difficult.

But if protests fail, the world's busiest international airport is likely to get a lot busier in the next decade.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Gently meandering their way up the docks, those boats have now meant that operations at London's City have had to be temporarily suspended. It's planned that this waterway is regulated. And those boats could interfere with air navigation equipment. So somewhere out there, there are planes in a holding stack waiting for permission to once again land at the airport.

After the break, we're in Dubai. Terminal three -- is bigger better?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Welcome back to "CNN BUSINESS TRAVELER."

London City Airport serves nine different airlines on very short-haul European routes. At the other end of the spectrum, a large home-town carrier with its own vast terminal. For instance, here in Dubai, Emirates' terminal three, which just opened.

When Emirates built its new home, it had to be fit for royalty. After all, the airline's chairman is his Highness Sheikh Ahmed. So there's a swimming pool, Jacuzzi, five-star cuisine -- oh, and porters on hand to carry your luggage.

SHEIKH AHMED BIN SAEED AL MAKTOUM, CHAIRMAN, EMERATES GROUP: You know, Dubai always known that it's built the best airport, the tallest building, for example. So that goes along with the type (ph) of airport Dubai is doing. It's not only in terminal size, but also in terminal service that Dubai can provide.

Having an airline which's been growing in the last 23 years, nearly doubling its size in three and half, four years, then we need such a facility.

QUEST: Similarities have been drawn with Heathrow's terminal five. Both opened last year. Both are home to their national carriers. And both were designed for 30 million passengers a year.

Unlike its British rival though, the Dubai project opened pretty much without a hitch.

PAUL GRIFFITHS, CEO, DUBAI AIRPORTS: Well, we were deeply concerned because there had been not just terminal five, but a number of airport openings that had gone badly wrong. And we looked at all of these and said, "How can we do this differently to make sure this doesn't happen to us." And I think the three key things were, first of all, under promise and over deliver, so you're not setting expectations too early. Secondly, make absolutely sure that you have tested, double tested and tested again every single part of your process and trialed it with real passengers. And thirdly, why go for the big bang? Airport terminals should be like hotels. You don't have to open them in one go. It's far too risky.

QUEST: The airport has 8,000 square meters of retail space. Even so, the main shopping concourse does feel narrow and a bit crowded during the busiest transfer period. So work has already begun on a second airport capable of handling 160 million passengers a year.

You have one huge advantage, don't you? There's no city planning inquiries. There's no nonsense of nimbyism (ph) about where you want to put up and airport or a terminal in this part of the world?

MAURICE FLANAGAN, EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRMAN, EMIRATES: No, but there's planning, of course. There's none of what you mentioned. There are no exhausted planning inquiries because they're not necessary. Look at this. There isn't -- no population centers are going to be affected by this at all. Some slightly, by the present the airport, but not seriously.

QUEST: While the other airlines cut capacity, Emirates swims against the tide. An airline and an airport designed for growth.

London City guarantees the airlines that the planes will be turned around in 20 minutes. That's crucial to the profitability for the airlines of many of the routes.

Let's see how they do it.

All right, where do we start?

Where's my mop and my bucket. All right, one, two.

What do I do first?

Cross the seat belt.

The seats are ready.

Now I have to -- here comes the trap.

It's a useless machine, isn't it?

They're very neat, the Swiss. They don't make much mess on board.

Right. What's next?

Anything else? You want to only...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Safety cards in the front.

QUEST: Yes. Yes. Will do. Safety cards to the front.

There are perks to every job, even cleaning planes.

Oh, a copy of the "Economist."

We did it, 20 minutes. Now, where are those passengers?

One to 10 in the front, 11 to 20 at the rear. One to 10 at the front, 11 to 20 at the rear.

Hey, Richard, how many more?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Missing nine, Richard, missing nine.

QUEST: Missing nine passengers.

London City Airport has a silent policy. So even though this plane is missing eight passengers, they won't make any announcement.

Hello, welcome aboard.

Don't let (INAUDIBLE). I'd leave with them.

Here we go. All aboard.

LX437 to Geneva is just about buttoned up and ready to go.

My day here started in darkness and light is, once again, fading.

So that's "CNN BUSINESS TRAVELLER" for this month. I'm Richard Quest, reporting from London City Airport, where I thank the people here for arranging all of this.

As always, and especially at this new year, wherever your travels may take you, I hope it's profitable. And I'll see you next month.

END