Dussseldorf Airport

Airports in Reno, Toronto and Dusseldorf pay tribute to Winter Olympics


(Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards at the world’s largest ski jump inside an airport)

Airports around the world are marking this year’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver with special exhibits.

Yesterday, the Reno Tahoe International Airport (RNO) opened an Olympics museum inside the terminal.

This past weekend, Düsseldorf  International Airport trucked in tons of snow to make the world’s largest indoor ski jump at an airport.

And now the Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) has a new exhibit, Champions on Ice and Snow, that pays tribute to athletes who have represented Canada at the Winter Olympics.

The exhibit includes skates worn by Kurt Browning, a four-time World Champion figure skater, skis that belonged to alpine skier Anne Heggtveit, and a reproduction of a sweater, hat and mittens worn by “Canada’s Sweetheart” Barbara Ann Scott, who won a gold medal in figure skating in 1948.  Life-size action photos of athletes such as a speed-skatering Gaétan Boucher, who won three medals at the 1984 Winter Olympics, are also included.

Look for Champions on Ice and Snow at Toronto’s Pearson Interational Airport in Terminal 1, near Gate 120, domestic departures, through June, 2010,

World’s first airport indoor ski jump at Düsseldorf International Airport ski jump

Is this too much fun for an airport?

This past December, right before Christmas, Germany’s Düsseldorf International Airport (DUS) hosted a circus competition in the shopping arcade with contortionists,  jugglers and trapeze artists.

Now comes word that on February 6th and 7th, 2010, the airport shopping arcade will be the site of the world’s first airport indoor ski jump.

They’ll be trucking in a heap-o-snow and making a real ski jump.  Then, they’ll have snowboarders and ski stars perform all sorts of stunts.

They’ve even drafted former British Olympic ski jumper Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards to open the event.

Edwards was the somewhat inept skier who somehow made it to the 1988 Calgary Games.

And although he finished last in his events, he became a goofy, folk hero.

In addition to the ski jump demonstrations, the airport will be hosting a travel show and offering  sports demos, comedy and musical performances, and free airport flights and tours.

Can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

Circus Festival at Düsseldorf Airport

This time of year, you may find yourself looking around a busy airport filled with novice travelers and muttering to yourself, “This place is a circus.”

DUSSELFORF CIRCUS Main

Say that at Germany’s Düsseldorf Airport this Sunday – and you’ll be right.

On Sunday, December 20, 2009 the Dusseldorf Airport is hosting an international Circus Festival with two stages and more 40 aerialists, roving performers and circus school graduates competing for prizes that include paid gigs, prize money, and trips on Lufthansa to the renowned World Festival of the Circus of Tomorrow (Mondial du Cirque de Demain) in Paris.

DUSSELFORF CIRCUS

It’s the first time the airport is hosting the Circus Festival, but the folks there seem up to the task: in the past the airport has also hosted an airport games event that included pole vault, long jump, and javelin throw competitions.

Dusseldorf circus escalator