Episode 2 Inside Edinburgh Airport

Just one year ago, Edinburgh Airport became an independent company

when their owners, BAA, were forced to sell.

There's a lot of people that worked here that no longer work here.

That puts you on edge a little.

Since the new owners, GIP, moved in, things have changed.

Aviation is back in the 1970s in most places.

It's a challenging environment,

but it's starting at such a low base, it is a great opportunity to improve.

The airport has attracted several new carriers.

We're not a jazz band.

Air Canada Rouge.

Virgin's Little Red adds six flights a day to London.

And Turkish Airlines fly nine times a week to Istanbul,

adding up to record-breaking passenger numbers.

We'd like the airport to be seen as the best airport in the world.

It doesn't necessarily mean that you're the biggest.

And it is a tight squeeze.

The airport is rubbish. It can't cope.

At times, the old terminal building is bursting at the seams.

We're probably working at about 250 to 300% above capacity now,

with passengers actually backing out onto the tarmac now.

To accommodate the massive increase in passengers,

expansion plans are brought forward.

Essentially, where all those windows are in the terminal building,

there'll be a large two-storey box.

But with retail and profits flying high...

..could everything be brought crashing down

by an airport's smallest foe?

GUN FIRES

It's a start of another busy day at Edinburgh Airport.

What is it you're eating there?

-What is it?

-Aye, it's, uh...raisins and...

-What is it called? Special K.

-It's, eh, it's healthy.

That's what it is, mate. That's what it is.

More than 300 flights will take off or land here today.

-George, can you give me that pen?

-Here.

-Oh, I got one, OK.

Ground Control are responsible for ensuring

that the runway remains operational.

Now, I'm running out of stands.

At the moment, I'm managing to get the two Jet2s over,

but I've got an easyJet now going on 208, which is mental,

but looking at the stand plan...

Their biggest concern is wildlife

crossing aircraft flight paths.

Our number-one risk to the continuity of the airfield

is bird strike.

So, it's important that we control the wildlife

and the birds to maintain the operation that we do,

cos without the runway, we're a shopping centre.

The pilot of a passenger plane from Frankfurt has radioed in

reporting a suspected bird strike in the starboard engine.

-PHONE RINGS

-Airside Operations.

You want to keep us informed about how it's going?

It's a possibility that Scot Watson, Senior Manager at Ground Control,

is always alert to.

Birds can do an enormous amount of damage to aircraft,

basically making it drop out of the sky in a matter of minutes.

Gulls, because of their size and how they fly,

they fly very slow and they're usually up to

about four pounds in weight,

it's probably the most dangerous bird that an aircraft could hit.

A similar situation brought down US Airways Flight 1549

in the Hudson River.

That's all right. That's all right.

This time, the plane has safely touched down.

But for the hundreds of passengers waiting in the terminal building

booked on the return flight, it means the news no-one likes to hear.

-TANNOY:

-May I have your attention, please?

This is an announcement for passengers

travelling on delayed service LH417 to Frankfurt.

This flight has now been delayed due to technical reasons,

and following information will be available in two hours.

On the tarmac, it's now up to Ashley Wilkes

to determine the extent of the damage.

ENGINE RATTLES

Thankfully, the engine escaped intact,

and the clear-up job is just cosmetic.

But it certainly won't be the last bird strike

that Airside staff will have to deal with.

Keeping planes and their passengers moving through the airport quickly

is a complex challenge.

Especially when mistakes could have severe consequences.

CEO Gordon Dewar is proud of the airport's exemplary safety record.

But it comes with a hefty price tag attached.

There's big costs that are peculiar to airports.

We've got a very substantial investment in our fire service.

ALARM RINGS

We've obviously got to have a safe operations aircraft,

so we've got our traffic control services,

where there's obviously a lot of equipment,

a lot of very highly-skilled staff, which doesn't come cheaply.

So, yeah, there's a whole host of things that airports have to

pick up that other businesses don't,

but that's part and parcel with what we do.

We just have to make sure that every penny we spend is spent well.

Like every airport, the new owners have offset

these costs by maximising profits from the shops,

and they have 40 on site.

Airports work best, we believe, on our concession model,

where instead of charging rent for some floor space,

we believe that it's better if we have a share of turnover.

If people are standing in queues in security,

then they're not buying coffee in the departure lounge.

So, we are incentivised to ensure people spend as little time

as possible in queues, and instead spend their time

relaxing and enjoying the services and the products that we offer.

Every penny that we can make out of concession, or voluntary spend,

is a penny less that I have to charge the airlines,

and therefore we can be more competitive

when we're trying to attract airlines to come to Edinburgh.

As part of this business model, the new owners are investing

£150 million into the airport.

The aim is more space, more passengers, more shops

and, hopefully, more profit.

But 50 years ago,

this busy airport operated at a slightly more sedate pace.

The runway was once part of the road network,

and the B9080 had to be closed for landings and takeoffs.

The departure lounge was a cafe with a view of the airfield,

accompanied by a single shop.

So, 50 years ago,

this was the retail offer here at Edinburgh Airport.

I think it just demonstrates how things have changed.

And things have changed

because people's demands have changed, as well. So, you know,

our customers that come through here now demand more than one shop

that sells a few newspapers and a cup of coffee.

Today, the commercial team are experimenting

with a number of new pop-up displays

to increase passing trade and flog more whisky.

The current favourite?

A round of video golf.

This is our experiential space that we work with duty-free

to give our customers something different in the terminal.

Glenmorangie, for example,

have put this in for the Golf Open that just finished last Sunday.

Mixing two of Scotland's biggest exports

is proving to be a masterstroke,

though they wouldn't encourage drinking

and driving anywhere else in the terminal.

The reason it's situated here,

this is the main passenger flow,

so it's a nice central area

in the lounge.

The malt houses that go on these units tend to see between

a 500 and 600% uplift in sales.

So, it's really good for them.

It's definitely worth it.

Thank you.

-CAMERAMAN:

-Don't fancy a shot, then?

-Eh, no!

I'm not a golfer!

The management team have to believe there is more

commercial potential in the terminal building.

Excuse me, I'm doing a little survey for Edinburgh Airport.

-May I ask you a few questions while you're sitting here?

-Um, sure.

-Great.

And the key to unlocking it?

Understanding what the modern traveller really wants.

Are you travelling today for business, leisure

-or to visit friends and family?

-Leisure.

-Leisure.

We do about 900 surveys per month at the airport.

I think that what you're missing

probably is a different variety of shops.

-And have you used the toilet facilities?

-I have.

-And the spaciousness?

-Excellent.

Plenty of room to get around with your hat?

And how long did it take?

We get a report every month,

and that's circulated to the management team,

and a lot of the key players

in the airport as well, so we can get a good picture

of what our passengers are saying about the airport.

-And overall, the ambiance?

-I don't like the carpets.

-Don't like carpet.

It's what Edinburgh Airport is all about at the moment,

we're wanting to give a better experience to our passengers coming

through the terminal, so we do a lot of customer analysis,

and that's what we'll be basing our new retail offering on

in the next two years.

And is there any comment you would like to make to Edinburgh Airport?

Bring the nail bar back!

Airside, the pressure is on to keep the flight paths clear

for their ever-expanding fleet of aircraft.

Operations.

-Right, catch you later.

-Cheers.

-See you later.

So, the ground team undertake a little-known technique

to keep bird strikes to a minimum.

Certainly a lovely morning.

GUN FIRES Here you go.

Some people would call me a murdering you-know-what.

The last thing we want's a bird strike with a gull.

Bird strikes cost the aviation industry over £700 million

a year, so they're not taking any chances,

and their best man is on the job.

In the Ops Department, I'm the most successful shooter we've got.

We are number one in Britain, if not the world,

for bird control.

I feel I'm part of that, and it's great. I enjoy it.

GUN FIRES Gulls are a pain in the arse.

I culled over 1,000 birds last year.

To me, it's a piece of pish.

Lesser black-back.

One less to bother us.

Horrible bloody things.

Got a shotgun from my mum for my birthday

when I was about 14 years old.

In the local village, I used to go out and shoot rabbits, pigeons.

So, it's something I've done ever since, so it's great. I love it.

I love this job, I'd almost do it for nothing.

Almost!

That's Runway One-Two vacated, Alpha One-Seven.

Brilliant. Thanks, John. Cheers, bye-bye.

My friends like to say, "Get off my land," when they're

talking about the firearms,

cos they think we're like farmers.

-They just think we go out there and we're having fun!

-Skin birds!

Whereas it's not fun, it's important.

I think my mate, he introduces me to his friends as,

"This is George, he's a bird-scarer at the Edinburgh Airport,"

and then he leaves it at that, and I'm saying, "Eh, no,

-"there's more to it than that!"

-There's more to it than that, yeah.

Yuck.

I see we've got a couple of buzzards down there on the fence.

Culling them, it's kind of hard,

cos you've got to be very careful.

You've got the public to think of.

But a shotgun isn't the only weapon in the ground team's armoury.

I'll see if I can shift them with a pyrotechnic.

GUN FIRES

Certainly not for moving.

And if all else fails, it's time to break out the secret weapon.

So, we've also got the digital scarecrow.

Put that on, it gives off a distress call of the species of birds.

BIRD CRIES There we go.

Just pushes them back, further back.

Personally, I prefer using the shotgun.

Once they're dead, they don't come back, they don't bother us.

But that's me.

The ground team track the nine-and-a-half-mile perimeter

365 days a year to reduce the wildlife risk.

Suppose it's a bit like the Forth Road Bridge.

You start at one end, once you get to one side, you start again.

It's never-ending.

As long as there's birds and planes, you've to keep at it.

It's a damn near impossible job,

but you just got to keep trying.

Occasionally, the airport don't keep the wildlife out.

They invite them in.

They said come in now. I've got heart palpitations!

It's the Highland Show in a few weeks' time,

so to coincide with that, we're bringing a Highland cow along

to the airport, just to promote the Highland Show,

and obviously promote ourselves as being the gateway to Scotland.

Yeah.

The top brass are keen to raise the airport's profile.

And Suzie is just the latest in a series of PR stunts.

A lot of the PR inside the terminal will centre around routes

and supporting our airlines.

We want to work very closely with our airlines to support them

and make sure the Scottish public know where we fly to

and how often we fly there and who we fly with.

We want to focus on things that are new,

things that are interesting.

And anything that's a bit strange or quirky around the scenes there

that's going to attract the attention of the media,

then we're going to talk about it.

We're looking after the cows at Pollock Country Park in Glasgow,

that's my job.

So I thought I'd like to bring a wee bit of culture from Glasgow

through to Edinburgh today.

-Good to go!

-Well done, thank you very much!

The commercial team aren't shy of trying new things,

especially if it means flogging more whisky.

Plans are afoot for a pop-up shop to entice

customers during the peak summer period.

This has been specifically brought in for the Edinburgh Festival,

because we've got such an uplift in foreign passengers

coming through for the festival.

We wanted to offer them travel exclusives,

so you can only buy them in the airport when you're flying,

and also, most of them are taking a gift home from Scotland,

so we wanted to incorporate the wrapping service and make it,

you know, a one-stop gift shop.

With the shop given a prime location,

the target turnover has been set at 40 grand a week.

If this isn't reached, the pop-up will be shut down.

It's the first morning of trade.

Despite Gail's meticulous planning, there is no way to tell

how successful it will be until the tills start ringing.

To add to the pressure, managers from Grant's Whisky head office

have come down to the opening.

How do you think it's looking?

You've been working on this for a long time.

Yeah, I like the bar idea, to get the passengers tasting our products,

and that always tends to lead to sales.

So, overall, very pleased.

Good. No, as an airport we're absolutely delighted with it,

it looks fantastic.

It might look good,

but taking money on the first day is going to be tricky.

We've just got one slight hiccup, with the till not being installed.

There's been a few little IT issues.

It's like anything, when you try with something new,

there's always going to be a couple of hiccups,

but that will never stop us from doing new things.

And here, we want to excite and delight our passengers.

That's what we're about.

Yeah, I'm quite confident the till will definitely be

-up and running by about 9:00.

-OK, perfect.

OK, and as soon as it's up, I will e-mail you and say,

"Good to go, we're away!"

But in the meantime, I'll go and check till one and come back to you.

All right, OK. Thanks. She's gone.

-She's off.

-You've scared her off!

When the tills do get ringing,

the price for a bottle of whisky in the new shop

ranges from £28 to a colossal 15,000 -

around £535 a dram.

Some of these whiskies,

they're so expensive that they're not for drinking,

they're for investing in.

Get them home, get them insured and get them up the attic.

You know?

CAMERAMAN: Yeah. Well, that's the theory.

That's the theory, aye, exactly.

Until one night they come in drunk!

With its exclusive range, the shop attracts all comers,

from the curious to the serious collector.

I'm buying a Glenfiddich 125.

It's not available on the high street,

I just picked up on that just now when I came through.

-OK, that's £50.99, please.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

CAMERAMAN: You're taking some whisky with you, then?

Yeah, going to introduce it to the Germans.

Here you go, sir, thanks very much.

With the tills now fully operational,

the specialist staff begin their sales blitz.

£28.99, please.

240, special offer.

That's in special offers, sir, that's normally £100 -

you're getting it today for only 73.99.

I've always been in sales and I've, probably as you've gathered,

got the gift of the gab.

-Delicious.

-Cheers!

Ah, so you're running slightly late?

Just gives you time to have another light refreshment.

Or you can come in and taste a nice whisky instead.

Customers, majority are the nicest people in the world, so you can talk

to them all day, and at the end of the day, you're getting paid for it.

What more can I ask for, you know?

350 for the 30-year-old Balvenie.

-It's a wedding gift, is it?

-Yeah.

And there's so much product knowledge about whisky,

it's just one of those subjects that there's so much to know about it.

It's so interesting.

You've got Madeira cask, a bourbon cask or a red-wine cask.

-What would you prefer to try?

-Bourbon, maybe?

What's Madeira?

-Don't know.

-What's Madeira?

I really enjoy whisky, to be honest with you.

Yeah, we don't like whisky, but...

All right.

Out on the runway, Chief Engineer Simon McCarroll is more concerned

about the texture of the tarmac than the smoothness of the malts.

There is a bit of a belief sometimes that the airport is very much

a big shopping experience.

However, without a runway, you haven't got an airport.

Without the runway, you haven't got those passengers passing

through the terminal to use the shops. So therefore,

the runway really is the most important asset of any airport.

Over the last 12 months, aircraft movements have increased by 14%,

and 30,000 metric tonnes of aircraft now land and take off every day.

Edinburgh Tower, foxtrot, vacated runway two-four

and is holding at alpha-eight.

Foxtrot to relax.

More aircraft means more wear and tear to the runway,

and it also makes life tricky for Simon

when taking a closer look.

There's the flight that's coming in to land now,

there's the aircraft ahead of us that's just landed,

there's another one ahead that's taxiing.

So, it's very much me being in-between aircraft

moving in and out.

I describe it as saying I'm playing chicken on the runway.

Possibly not the most professional description,

but that's how I describe it.

When there is a gap in the traffic,

it's essential to have a dedicated driver

to keep the engine running, just in case he needs a fast getaway.

This here is an underlying duct that's feeding an old light fitting,

and you can see the shadow of the light fitting up there

that's been banded as well.

This will then get overbanded,

I'll get some additional overbanding to make sure

that all these additional cracks are covered to stop any water

getting into the pavement that would then cause additional deterioration.

We'll need to make sure this area gets picked up for works

that we're wanting to do in October this year.

There's 136 areas on the runway that we're wanting to address

and make sure we're managing to continue that they're safe.

-CAR HORN BEEPS

-Sorry, we need to go.

The extensive repairs Simon is planning for are no small matter.

The runway will have to close for four nights,

with a price tag of well over half a million pounds.

The runway's most-frequent flier is easyJet.

They've just signed a new deal to carry three million passengers

in and out of the airport each year.

We're the airport's largest airline, and Scotland's largest airline,

by quite a few million passengers each year.

We have over 50 destinations out of Scotland, over 30 out of Edinburgh.

We put two extra aircraft in in summer 2013, six new routes.

We're putting two new routes in in summer '14.

So, we commit to putting routes in.

But as an airport, what GIP does in

Edinburgh is they commit to making sure the infrastructure's there.

For low-cost airlines, time is money.

Every minute spent on the ground

means less time flying paying customers.

The aircraft is just about to come onto stand,

the ground team are all prepared for it and ready to put the chocks on,

the cones out, the steps so the passengers can disembark.

The aircraft turnaround is tightly managed.

Every minute is accounted for in the airline's timetable.

This is our turn card,

so we tend to work towards these timings wherever possible.

We have 25 minutes from the aircraft

pulling onto stand in order to get

it disembarked, offloaded and then all the passengers boarded

and ready to push.

The airline banks on passengers

not wanting to hang around after a long flight.

But with the next holiday-makers already queuing to board,

the cabin crew are given just eight minutes to do the clear-up job.

-CAMERAMAN: Pretty tight, eh?

-Very, yeah.

Especially when you've had a really busy flight

and there's lots of rubbish left behind.

It's usually just the norm,

food, magazines.

I've not really had anything unusual yet.

Um, items of underwear!

I won't be more specific.

THEY LAUGH

Get a lot of stag parties,

so they always want pictures of the girls that are on.

You had any proposals, any phone numbers?

-Mmm...

-SHE LAUGHS

A few, maybe!

It's a very, very tight timeline, you know.

25 minutes, 30 minutes is not a lot

when you're boarding 156 or 180 passengers.

It's very, very busy.

Ready? We'll get them.

That's us. Passengers are on their way now.

People for 3Z96945,

please board now at Departure Gate Number 2.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Thank you very much, there you go.

We're boarding passengers.

We're now at minus 20 to departure time.

However, we are a little bit ahead of ourselves.

We aim to get all passengers on board for minus five.

The scheduled departure time is 8:40, so we're now at 8:31.

So, we've still got nine minutes in order to get out on time.

Good morning. Thank you.

-ENGINE ROARS

-All's going to plan.

With fuel, luggage and passengers packed in

and safety checks complete,

the ground staff have hit their target of under 25 minutes...

..leaving just 49 more easyJet flights to go today.

But not every airline operates the low-cost model.

It's launch day for BA's new executive lounge.

Here, even the haggis balls have their own seat.

I'd just like to introduce the Chief Executive Officer, Gordon Dewar,

who, without his team's help, none of this could be possible.

Good afternoon. It is fantastic to see a sort of physical

representation of the power of partnership.

And things like this are just the physical realisation

of everything that's gone into that, so, just to say, thanks for coming.

Thanks for being amongst the best partners

we could possibly hope for, and a huge success going forward.

Thank you very much.

The bill for the new facilities is 1.5 million,

the biggest investment BA has ever made in a Scottish airport.

So, I think this is a great example of the ambition we have.

We can't do it ourselves, we've got to work with the airlines.

It's about them providing choice and the routes, and of course

new routes, and providing the facilities that

we can both be proud of.

That's benefit for passengers, it's benefit for Scotland's economy,

it's benefit for our business

and, of course, a benefit for the airlines.

The terminal may now house the very best amenities for the elite,

but with thousands of ordinary passengers' safety in their hands,

the modern airport always has to be ready for the worst.

RADIO CHATTER

Edinburgh has just been put on full alert.

The tower has reports of an incoming plane

with loss of power to the port engine due to a bird strike.

Runways One-Two,

aircraft type Fokker 27, 13 POB.

Nature of trouble, multiple bird strike,

and ETA 19:40. Read back.

It's 86206. Received message in the terminal.

Aircraft taxiing imminent, can all sets please attend at the RVP?

The tower controllers follow a strict procedure,

informing all airport emergency services and airport management.

Hello, Airport Police, Stephen Riddle, can I help you?

19:40, thank you.

Airport Police.

The stricken plane is nine minutes away,

and a decision is made to clear the runway.

30-0-5, just hold everybody off now.

Within minutes, the senior management gather in offices

adjacent to the terminal building to assess the level of the crisis

and check emergency procedures.

As the airport's fire service rush into position,

the air-traffic controllers contact the external emergency services,

giving instructions on RV.

Hello, Lothian and Borders, Edinburgh Tower.

Full emergency.

And it's Runway One-Two.

That's 301 in attendance.

301, right, OK. Can we get that put on the board, please?

301 in attendance.

So, once it's down, we're going to go out there.

Right, Tom.

But whilst the entire airport is on high alert, this is just

a full-scale simulation called an Emergency Preparedness Test.

There is no stricken plane.

RADIO CHATTER

So, the whole point of running an annual exercise is making

sure that the plan actually does what it says on the tin.

And we identify if there's any shortfalls.

SIRENS

OK, thanks, mate. Cheers.

The test is made as real as possible

because the airport's licence depends on it.

The Civil Aviation Authority sets a variety

of scenarios to road test safety,

and they're on site to observe the airport's response.

We're looking for the crisis-management team

to do what their responsibility is,

and that is to provide support to

the people out in the field who are responding to the accident,

as well as to the people in the terminal and the reception area.

To enhance the experience, the dummy plane has volunteers on board,

playing the role of dazed passengers.

We may ask them to take their role quite seriously,

and elaborate in depending on how much pain they're in, let's say,

to try and make the exercise as realistic as possible.

We did an exercise a number of years ago,

and one individual in particular had to be

marched off the actual exercise ground,

cos this individual took things a bit too serious

and there was almost a fight broke out.

I think he got a bit excited about what he was doing

and he certainly, uh... His acting wasn't that great.

Information is intentionally patchy.

The emergency services

and management involved are given just fragments of information

to let them work out for themselves

the size and scale of the emergency.

We're advised that we've got ten passengers,

three aircrew and we have no known serious injuries or fatalities,

and in fact, all have now been recovered to the reception centre,

which is great news.

The first hour in is really just a data-gathering exercise.

You've got to put your trust in the guys out front to

one, do their job right and two, ask for help if they need assistance.

So, the fact there's silence from the front is actually a really

good sign, it means they're probably doing their job really easily.

To test the crisis response further,

the CAA scenario included an extra element.

What would happen if the emergency services failed to spot a fuel leak?

Director 11 from Director 1, over.

The aircraft is being made safe...

Throughout the exercise, there is

a few wee testers that are put in,

and that is obviously dynamic assessment that the individual

needs to carry out, how they're going to deal with it.

Cos if we told everybody everything,

then it would be too easy to plan for.

Leaking fuel is not the only problem.

In the event of any legal proceedings,

the rescued crew and passengers

must be kept apart until they have been properly interviewed.

Right, OK.

So, we've got airline staff and we've got passengers on the same bus.

No.

It just feels like chaos.

It's maybe even more chaotic than a real live incident, to be honest.

Because of the number of extra people.

So, they're hanging about, and you're thinking, well,

who's in charge?

Every detail of the test is recorded and monitored.

Regardless of what goes right or wrong on the night, the team will

use the information to help minimise the risks

in case of a real incident.

If we didn't come away with action points, I'm sure it would

just be a tick-in-the-box exercise, and there's no point in doing that.

And real incidents do happen.

Gordon Dewar was the Managing Director of Glasgow Airport

on the day of their biggest emergency.

I was in Glasgow when we had the terrorist attack there

and that's genuinely high-adrenaline stuff, where first of all,

you're worried about people's safety and life,

and even when you've realised that, thankfully, that time, there was

nobody we cared about who had been badly hurt or killed, thankfully,

you've then got a real issue of substantial damage to the building.

How long is it going to take before you can get

the business up and running again?

We had something like 6,000 people queuing up outside the airport,

wanting to go on their holidays.

And you start getting an interesting level of conflict where

the police are rightfully wanting to protect the evidence,

but my tension is I want my airport back, please.

Now, you know, I would never wish it on anyone,

and not only was it a very frightening experience for us

and a very unwelcome one, it also cost four million quid

for the business, and not something you want to be doing very often.

But in a funny sort of way, these sorts of...

Even the exercises are really great for teamwork,

cos people don't understand just how much you can achieve

if you operate together as a team with shared goals

and shared understanding of how we're going to do things.

As part of the crisis area,

Gordon has set up a dedicated business recovery room.

And the other thing we're starting to think about is any

impact on tomorrow morning's start up,

with people arriving either early, got questions.

So, we've set ourselves up ready to accommodate those

-questions in the morning.

-OK.

As much as it's important to make sure we're dealing with the

here and now, it's important that we think about the future.

And as this happened in the evening,

we need to make sure that we're ready

for the start up in the morning.

So, some of the things we're thinking about is

what the passengers are likely to be responding to this.

So, will they turn up early tomorrow?

Will some not want to turn up at all?

Does it affect the schedule tomorrow morning with respect

to any diversions? And we'll progress from there, really.

It's just keeping it live and keeping it ahead of the game

so that we're ready for whatever comes.

Keeping one eye on safety

and the other on business is essential to

the modern, privately-owned airport, as closure could lose

up to half a million pounds a day in costs and lost revenue.

Ah, right. Gord, I think you took the update from Brons?

Yeah, to say that the incident

at 9:15 was stood down at the plane,

and we've just had news that

the reception centre has been stood down, as well.

So, effectively, I think the incident, per se, is done.

We'll get a formal close in a minute.

OK, thank you very much for a very slick operation.

Well done, and we'll get a chance to have a debrief on this tomorrow.

We'll have a hot debrief tonight but we'll get a proper chance after.

Thank you for your time.

The Emergency Preparedness Test

simulates the threat of complete shutdown.

Hello, Control Centre.

Ambulance, uh-huh?

But every day at the airport, staff deal with smaller emergencies,

many of which can be just as life-threatening.

Stand Four, thanks, Air Traffic.

So, that's an ambulance required for

an inbound flight from Milan with easyJet.

Ambulance, please.

Edinburgh Airport, Stand Four.

Rendezvous at the Hilton Hotel.

72-year-old male passenger

has suffered a stroke.

Seated in seat one, echo.

Thank you. Bye-bye.

Hi, it's the Control Centre Sergeant.

We're going to have an ambulance coming in to Stand Four.

We've got a medical emergency on board the aircraft.

OK, thank you. Thanks, bye-bye.

Now, because it's on an aircraft,

the airport fire service would be the ones to attend as

first aiders if the ambulance was going to be late.

David, just if you need a hand on the first-aid call, give me a shout

on the radio and I'll pop over, and I don't mind helping if you need it.

The fire service can stand down, as the ambulance has arrived

and the passenger is taken to hospital.

PHONE RINGS

Hello, Control Centre. OK. Thank you. Bye-bye.

As with most busy travel hubs,

ambulances are called nearly every week,

but it's not always the passengers who need them.

I've had a couple of ambulances come for me, I suppose.

The first time was many years ago, before the extension was built,

and I did take a funny turn in the airport one night.

Um, people'll have you think it was the egg sandwiches

I made for everyone's supper,

but it was nothing to do with those.

The Duty Manager even threw hers in the bucket after I took the turn.

-She was scared to eat them.

-SHE LAUGHS

I don't believe it myself.

Who was that?

-Liz.

-SHE LAUGHS

Over the summer, a larger-than-usual number of gulls has been

reported passing directly over the airfield.

The gulls are crossing from Cramond sands,

they're crossing from here, or Cramond sands, across the airfield.

They're usually heading for Levenseat...

the refuse tip, or whatever it is.

But the Airfield Ops Teams believe they can keep

the bird numbers down by expanding their horizons.

Levenseat is one of the biggest landfill sites in Scotland,

and is 23 kilometres west of the airport.

Site Manager Kenny Lang believes it's probably

the source of attracting more birds to the area.

The gulls will come here simply

because it's like a big hotel for them.

There's plenty of food here,

even in the waste that you throw away without food waste,

they'll still find food for themselves in amongst the waste,

and so we have to keep the birds away from here.

They're not coming here to feed, then we're on to a good thing.

The airport authorities have control over bird management

in any nearby localities

if they believe it presents a danger to aircraft.

So, Ops Manager Scot is paying the site regular visits.

I try to come out as often as I can to see Kenny and his team.

Once every couple of months or maybe less than that.

Kenny's been to the airport to see me for his training as well,

along with some other members of the team, too.

All the same, as much as possible, we're here for a bit of support.

It's a new process to Kenny and the guys here,

it's something we've been doing at the airport for a long, long time.

Scot and Kenny have been working together for a solution

to the increase in gull activity for several months.

GUN FIRES

That's enough to scare anything off that's roundabout.

I don't know whether the camera can catch them

away down on the green field,

there's about 500 have lifted off the ground even with that noise as well.

Well, we can get a couple thousand at a time on here.

A couple of thousand's quite a sight,

when they're all squawking and screeching.

Although bird control is a major part of the Airfield Ops Team's job,

there are other types of animals that they have to

watch out for, and overnight there has been an unusual incident.

So, an aircraft's hit a fox on what we think was landing.

We can't confirm that,

because there isn't any evidence

on aircraft of the strike happening. But it certainly happened,

because these are the photos.

This is the point of impact here,

and on a fashion, the actual spray,

and you can see all the different parts of the animal.

That's the actual fox there.

So, it's been knocked maybe 20, 25 metres.

And it's part and parcel.

We expect these things to happen, but it depends on your luck as well.

Sometimes you can get a nice, clean strike, it's knocked over,

carcass doesn't split. Sometimes it can be, as you've probably seen,

quite gory and a bit mucky.

It's the first fox strike I've seen.

But hares, had a few of them.

Never a fox.

I have shot a few foxes, but...

We can never be complacent in what we do.

The last few years, we've been a lot more proactive in what

we do at Edinburgh, and it's shown through our audits as well.

In looking at stats, I can see a definite

up to 50% drop in activity in certain areas of the airfield.

At the end of the day, the aim of making the airspace

surrounding Edinburgh as safe as possible.

Bringing money in from airlines is the main source of airport revenue,

and one of the regular users of the airport is Jet2,

the low-cost holiday airline.

PHONE RINGS

Jet2.com, Fiona speaking.

Station Manager Fiona Black runs the day-to-day operations.

I've worked in aviation for nearly 25 years.

Always in ground-handling.

It's a travel thing, really.

I worked in a travel agents for a year

or so before I started working at the airport.

But I think probably many people will say that work in this

business, is that it does get under your skin.

And it's kind of difficult to get out.

I did try once, about six years ago,

to try and escape, but it didn't work.

-And that's you guys there.

-Thanks.

-OK? Have a good holiday.

Next, please.

Jet2 stand out from other airlines by using a different business model.

They employ their own terminal handling staff

and own their fleet of aircraft outright.

The aim is to achieve a customer-friendly, personal service.

-Hi there.

-Hi.

-Can I just give you one of them?

It's just an information bulletin

about the air traffic control strike.

We're going to try and keep the delays to a minimum,

-hopefully only about half an hour for this flight. OK?

-OK. Thank you.

Well, it's a strike of air traffic controllers in France,

I don't think all the unions have gone on strike today, so the delays

are fairly minimal, about half an hour or so on this flight.

It's not anything that us as an airline have got any control over.

But the most important thing we can do is

give our customers as much information as possible.

We're boarding on time because some of the slots are coming forward.

-Right.

-As soon as you kind of hear the word air traffic and strike

and French, people are quite understanding.

As part of their Edinburgh business model,

all Jet2 aircraft are scheduled to return to base in the late

afternoon to begin their other money-making duties.

Every day, once all the customers have disembarked the aircraft,

and once all the baggage has been off-loaded,

we get the aircraft towed away to another part of the airfield,

completely different part of the airfield,

and then something very different happens with the aircraft.

Our aircraft do passenger flights to a lot of holiday destinations,

and the aircraft, once they've completed those flights,

usually sort of mid to late afternoon,

we then use the aircraft to carry Royal Mail to mail centres

down in England, in East Midlands and in Stansted.

The way that we do that is by

taking the seats out of the main body of the aircraft.

The team prepare all four of the roll-on/roll-off aircraft,

ready for the arrival of the outgoing Royal Mail cargo.

We first started this process many years ago at probably 45 minutes,

but we've got it obviously staffed up, obviously slick movement

and that, so probably 20 minutes now it takes.

The carcass lies empty, waiting for dusk

and the next phase of the metamorphosis.

Over in the departure lounge,

for once, things are looking quite quiet.

Well, it's a typical Saturday in the airport.

Started off really, really busy this morning. But it's died a death.

A lot of people come to Edinburgh Airport over the weekend,

so they want to spend the weekend in Edinburgh, obviously the

capital of Scotland, so they want to do the tourist stuff.

So, they come on the Friday

and usually get away maybe the Sunday or the Monday.

So, the Saturday in the airport is really quite quiet at night.

But we've got a flight going to Tokyo at 11:10,

and hopefully they should be coming through shortly,

so a lot of foreign guests to hopefully buy some of our whisky.

CAMERAMAN: Are the Japanese big customers here for whisky?

Very much so, aye. They love it.

They come in and they'll sort of look at the bottle and say,

"How much and how old?" In that order.

As the airport takes a cut of every shop's profit, the retail team

have been keen to spread the news of their eminent special guests.

Gail has kept us informed right from the beginning, really, that this

was happening, and given us an opportunity to prepare for this.

Specialising in Scottish clothing and jewellery, Pat Davidson's shop,

the Liquorice Tree, is tonight taking a gamble on extra sales.

They've been all round Europe, and as far as I'm aware,

this is their last stop before they head back to Japan,

so there's 162 customers

who are coming through probably a bit later

than we would normally have flights going out,

so we've decided to stay open that wee bit later for them

and let them see the nice Scottish cashmere that we've got.

We're hoping that the presentation as well as the quality

of the product will be appealing.

So, we've been busily wrapping 550 cashmere scarves,

the staff have done a great job.

So, if everything's pre-wrapped, it'll mean that they can go and try

the whisky stands and try all the other shops that are around as well.

It's a big opportunity and Pat has left nothing to chance.

-SHE LAUGHS

-Can't read it in Japanese,

but I can tell you what it says.

It says, "Welcome to the Liquorice Tree,

"we hope you like our selection of gifts.

"We're happy to gift wrap things for you.

"Thank you for visiting the Liquorice Tree,

"and we hope you enjoyed your trip to Scotland." So, I hope

the person that's translated it hasn't put something that's

totally rude or, you know, not what I asked them to put on,

cos that would be a bit of a disaster,

so I'm trusting that that's what it does say.

As darkness falls, the airport's cargo area receives

truckloads of First and Second-Class mail from all over Scotland.

The mail has been packed and wrapped in custom-built

containers in sorting offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Each pallet weights two tonnes.

The specially-built 737s can cope with up to eight full pallets

containing around 1.6 million letters.

OK, fuel is 6.5, four pumps are on,

passenger signs are off.

-Taxi take off brief is complete, and mobile phones?

-Is off.

Clear for start.

The Royal Mail are the largest air cargo operator in the UK,

flying more than 20 planes every night to 17 airports.

The first of the four mail flights is on its way

just 20 minutes after the pallets arrived at the depot.

Back at the terminal, the Japanese tourists

and their wallets finally arrive, an hour and a half late.

For some retailers, including the new pop-up shop,

the delay has put them off, so they've packed up and gone home.

The tourist head count is 162.

Safely through check-in and security,

-they are released into the shopping area.

-Hi.

Konnichiwa. Would you like to try?

Would you like to try one of these, madam?

The ladies over there tried one, they do try them, but not everyone.

CAMERAMAN: And what did you say in Japanese?

Um, just a minute, wait until I get the right word.

Konnichiwa.

Might not be totally correct,

-but they repeat it, so it can't be too bad.

-Yeah.

And sayonara when they're leaving.

We try and make them feel welcome and make them

feel at ease before they go into the store.

Hello, would you like to try one of these Eccles cakes, sir?

Hi, would you like to try an Eccles cake? Would you like to try?

It's totally free. Would you like to try?

Pat's sign seems to be doing the trick.

So, it's 282.87 going on your card.

From £80 cashmere scarves to £1 postcards,

no sale is small enough to be turned away.

To my parents, I try to send it from every places,

tell my friends that I'm fine,

enjoying the trip.

-Do you know how long it takes to Japan?

-No.

-I know it takes about a week to go to America.

-A week, so...

-It might be about that.

-OK, so...

In a week, I will be in a different country already.

But she's missed the last post,

as the last of the four Jet2 planes load up.

There you go, thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-Sayonara, thank you.

With the clocks ticking, the Japanese tourists make one

last rush for souvenirs on their way to the departure gate.

It's £86.95.

That's 1.99.

So, all together, that comes to £40.05.

Thank you, £25.

But for Pat Davidson at the Liquorice Tree,

has the gamble to stay paid off?

We're delighted how it's went.

We certainly had a mixture of customers buying things that

were perhaps not what we initially envisaged them buying.

The cashmere scarves weren't our number-one seller, but certainly

there was a lot of interest in Harris Tweed,

and we've had a really successful evening.

-We're glad that we stayed open. It was worth doing.

-Thank you.

You're welcome, no problem.

We certainly thought it was a valuable experience.

We've learned a lot about the type of things that they want

when they're coming in on a charter.

But even after the last flight leaves,

work doesn't stop for the airport staff.

Edinburgh Tower, Alpha-One,

can I have permission to enter Runway 0624 to join the main works party?

-RADIO:

-Confirming that.

Copy that, Foxtrot, entering 06, thank you.

This is the last of four nights

of runway repairs, all overseen by Simon McCarroll.

So, the first place has been completed here.

It's been rolled and it's cooling off,

that's all the steam that's coming off the hot asphalt, there.

We're getting ready to do another planing

to get down to a deeper level.

And you'll see very shortly the machine

will start digging it all out.

It pours through it and it digs it out,

much like a cheese grater, except for asphalt.

The repairs to the airport's major asset

are ahead of schedule and on budget.

And for Simon, tonight's work has a very special significance.

These are my last set of pavement works on the main

runway at Edinburgh Airport. I am shortly leaving Edinburgh Airport.

There are lots of things that I'll miss about Edinburgh Airport.

This work out here tonight, that's all taking place

because I'm out here, looking at the runway daily, weekly, monthly,

and saying, "We need to do something here." And so everything that

we're seeing here tonight is being driven because of me.

That's a really good feeling,

to be able to say that this is something tangible that I've done.

It's not just a couple of pennies that we're

spending on the runway tonight.

It's significant sums of money.

Edinburgh Tower, Foxtrot has vacated Runway 06,

and that's us complete for the night.

Thanks for your help.

I'll really miss a lot of the guys and the girls that I've worked with.

They're a lot of good fun and we have a lot of laughs.

With new routes announced for 2014

to Philadelphia, Chicago, Doha, Stavanger and Oslo,

Simon leaves behind a rapidly-expanding business

and a unique environment.

It's more than just a bus stop or a railway station,

it's like a village.

To me, it's one big community.

It's like a little town that's got lots of different companies

all working together, as cheesy as it sounds, like one big family.

It's got a lifeblood, it's got a pulse to its very being.

It functions 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

It's just endless.

It is a mini city.

It's a place where people come and meet friends,

say goodbye to relatives,

so there's a lot of hugs and kisses.

There's a lot of tears.

Goodbye!

I'm going to start crying now!

It's a gateway. It's an ability to connect people.

The best journey through the airport is the one

where you almost don't think about it,

it's just so smooth that you're far more concerned about finding

a nice place to sit down and watch the world go by with

a cup of coffee than you are about, "Where's my gate?,"

and, "What time am I meant to be boarding?"

And if we can get to that situation where people feel relaxed

cos they want to go off and buy an expensive watch or sit in the bar,

or whatever it is, then we've done our job in a really good way.