Passengers aboard a flight from Moscow stopped the flight over fears that the pilot was drunk. Shortly before take off the passengers were concerned by the pilots slurred comments and complained to flight attendants. Their concerns were ignored and airline staff threatened to expel the passengers for making trouble. As the situation spread Aeroflot representatives were called in to try and calm the passengers with one announcing it "not such a big deal". The pilot did nothing to allay the passengers fears when he appeared from the cockpit unsteady on his feet with bloodshot eyes and eventually the airline gave in to demands of the passengers and has the pilots replaced. The flight eventually took off three hours late but with a sober pilot at the controls. The pilot told the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda that he had been celebrating his 54th birthday with friends the night before the flight on December 28, but said that he not been drinking.

This article suggests that choosing a window seat on a plane could be fatal. Research has shown that people sitting by the window face double the risk of deep vein thrombosis, a condition which can cause blot clots. The risk is even more pronounced for those passengers who are obese, they are six times more likely to develop a blockage if they choose a window seat. It is not clear why the risk is greater for passengers who choose a window seat but one theory is that passengers find it easier to fall asleep by a window and it is already known that sleeping for several hours at a time on a long flight raises the chance of a blot clot. It might also be that passengers near the window experience more cramped conditions that those who choose an aisle seat. Preventative methods such as drinking water were found to have little difference to the study. It's not all bad news, if you can afford to fly business class then you are 30 per cent less likely to develop the condition.

Councils opposing Heathrow expansion have prepared a blueprint showing how the airport could also become a rail hub. The coalition of 22 local authorities have launched plans for a new rail network around the airport that could serve large areas of London and south east England. If it went ahead it would allow 40 trains an hours to pass through the airport, the equivalent of one train for every plane. The proposed rail network could offer connections to 150 stations within a 25 mile radius and has the potential to take 1 million cars of the road every year.

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Boris Johnson has unveiled plans for a new airport in the Thames Estuary that have been nicknamed Heathrow on Sea by some. Under the plans a new airport would be built on two Thames islands as an alternative to expanding the current airport at Heathrow. The airport would cost around £40 billion to build and initial reports have suggested it would serve Britain better than the planned Heathrow expansion. If it were to go ahead it could be built in eight years. The airport would be split in two with four runways split across two separate islands in the mouth of the Thames. Passengers would shuttle between the islands using a tunnel below the riverbed. Underwater turbines built into the ducts running through the island would generate nearly all of the airports electricity by harnessing the tides. The two terminals would then be served by a road and rail links and connected to Crossrail and the Channel tunnel rail link taking passengers into central London in around 35 minutes. Flights would take off and land over water and so would cause little disturbance to nearby towns.

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Ryanair have been unsuccessful in a bid for rival airline Aer Lingus.The Irish government have formally rejected Ryanair's bid saying that its bid of 748 million Euros greatly undervalues the airline. It also raised concerns that competition would suffer if the deal went ahead. Ryanair will now need to decide whether or not to make an improved offer.

The new runway that has been proposed for Heathrow could be ready by 2015, five years earlier than previously expected. The government is looking to rush the planning process through as quickly as possible to try and prevent opponents from blocking the expansion. Ministers have asked BA to submit a planning application as soon as possible to try and get the runway completed by 2015. The new Infrastructure Planning Commission which is due to be appointed this year is likely to make the final decision on the expansion of the airport rather than the current practice where a planning inspector makes a recommendation to ministers. This is expected to make the planning process much shorter. The Conservative party have already said that if they win the next election they will scrap plans for the new runway. However, blocking the plans will become much more difficult once the planning process is under way.