Tag: Heathrow airport

  • UK plane en route to Ghana suffers minor collision at Heathrow Airport

    UK plane en route to Ghana suffers minor collision at Heathrow Airport

    Two planes collided at Heathrow Airport, causing minor damage to both aircrafts. Fortunately, there were no injuries reported, and the incident did not result in any delays.

    The collision involved a British Airways plane carrying 121 passengers and a Virgin Atlantic aircraft. Virgin Atlantic clarified that their empty Boeing 787-9 was being towed from the stand at Terminal 3 when the incident occurred.

    The plane had just landed and was being transported to another area of the airfield when one of its wings clipped the other aircraft.

    Passengers on the British Airways flight were bound for Accra, Ghana, scheduled to depart at 12:40 BST. However, British Airways arranged for an alternative aircraft, and the flight was rescheduled to take off at 18:00.

    Virgin Atlantic is investigating the incident, and maintenance checks are being carried out on their aircraft, which has been taken out of service. The tow movement was handled by a ground-handling company contracted by Virgin Atlantic.

    A Heathrow spokesperson said: “We are working alongside emergency services and our airline partners in response to an incident involving two aircraft on the ground earlier today.”

    The spokesperson added: “At present, no passenger injuries have been reported and we do not anticipate there to be any ongoing impact to airport operations.”

    Emergency services responded to the scene as a precautionary measure.

    The Metropolitan Police announced its collaboration with airport authorities and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.

  • 10% of Heathrow Airport to be purchased by Saudi state fund

    10% of Heathrow Airport to be purchased by Saudi state fund

    The country of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is going to buy 10% of Heathrow airport from the Spanish company Ferrovial.

    An additional 15% of its parent company, FGP Topco, will be sold to a private equity fund called Ardian, which is based in France.

    Ferrovial, who has had a part of the company since 2006, said that the agreement was worth £2. 37bn ($3bn)

    The deal still needs approval from the government, the company said.

    If the deal is accepted, Ferrovial will stop investing in the company that operates UK airports. They started with 56% ownership but it went down to 25% by 2013.

    Other companies and organizations that have a stake in FGP Topco are Qatar Investment Authority, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Singapore’s GIC, Australian Retirement Trust, China Investment Corporation, and Universities Superannuation Scheme.

    The airport is not making much money this year because it owes a lot of money and the costs to borrow more money are going up a lot.

    The Civil Aviation Authority has decided to decrease the fees that passengers pay for using airport facilities like terminals, runways, baggage systems, and security.

    The cost per person at Heathrow airport will be £31. 57 in 2023, but the regulator expects it to go down to £25. 43 in 2024 and stay about the same until 2026.

    The bosses at Heathrow wanted to raise the charges to over £40, but airlines said they should only be around £18. 50

    Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is one of the world’s busiest government-owned investment funds. It has over $700 billion in assets because of its oil money. Recently, it has been putting money into sports like football and golf.

    But the money is managed by a prince from Saudi Arabia named Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. His government has been accused of doing many bad things to people’s rights.

    The US intelligence thinks that Prince Mohammed told people to kill a journalist named Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. But the prince is protected from being punished in the US, and he has been asked to visit the UK by the Saudi Arabian embassy.