Geneva's Cointrin Airport Saturday 17 October: long lines, but quick service

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – British Airways flight A319 turned back Wednesday 14 October after striking a bird at Cointrin Airport while  climbing out of Geneva, reports Aviation Herald, which tracks airline incidents. The crew reportedly landed in Geneva 12 minutes after takeoff, after noticing a burning smell: emergency services were on standby, and the flight was delayed by two hours.

The incident was not, in fact, that unusual, but it might have given pause to the crowds of people flying out of Geneva Saturday 17 October at the start of the Geneva school holidays. The new security check area, which has replaced the old passport control booths, had two long lines of travelers, but the system appeared to operate efficiently: some 300 people were moved through several security gates in 20 minutes.

Noise guns to disperse birds in a direction away from the tarmac are used after other preventive measures fail

Cointrin takes its bird incidents very seriously: “bird strikes” as they are known in the business cause the aviation world $1.1 billion a year and they can provoke deadly airline crashes, such as one at JFK airport in New York in 1975 and another in Paris in 1996. Geneva airport had more than 60 strikes in 2008, but most caused no serious harm and only  a handful were responsible for more serious damage, according to airport figures.

Birds around Geneva’s airport are closely monitored by its Wildlife Hazard Prevention (WHP) unit, whose first priority is air safety, but it also operates as an environmental protection unit. Geneva, with western Europe’s largest lake, is an active migratory corridor, with 128 bird species observed in the area. The airport is 1.8km from the lake, as the crow flies and 1.5km from the Rhone river. The area attracts birds for several reasons besides the water, says the WHP: foods, such as grains and insects, are readily available, they can reproduce easily in the area and there is limited pressure on their habitat from humans.

Birds of prey account for half of the bird strikes. The worst period is usually late June to early August, when young birds leave the nest but without adult skills for avoiding problems. Migrating birds are older and a bit smarter, it appears. The airport works with local environmental officials to encourage the birds not to stray too close to air corridors used by departing and arriving planes, but the WHP team, which closely monitors all wildlife movements in the area, keeps a host of special tools in its van. Surprised travelers spotting a man with a gun pointed at the sky should know that it’s probably the WHP noise gun designed to startle birds, who’ve strayed too close to the tarmac, into heading off in a particular direction.

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