Airport (novel)
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| Airport | |
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 Airport original book cover |
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| Author(s) | Arthur Hailey |
| Genre(s) | Disaster |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
| Publication date | 1968 |
| Pages | 440 |
Airport is a bestselling 1968 novel by Arthur Hailey about a large metropolitan airport and the personalities of the people who use, rely and suffer from its operation. This book was adapted into a major motion picture starring Burt Lancaster, George Kennedy, Dean Martin and Van Heflin, among others and inspired three sequels: Airport 1975, Airport '77 and The Concorde ... Airport '79.
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[edit] Plot summary
The story takes place at Lincoln International, a fictional Chicago airport based very loosely on O'Hare International Airport.
The action mainly centers on Mel Bakersfeld, the Airport General Manager. His devotion to his job is tearing apart his family and his marriage to his wife Cindy, who resents his use of his job at the airport as a device to avoid going to various after-hours events she wants him to participate in, as she attempts to climb into the social circles of Chicago's elite. His problems in his marriage are further exacerbated by his romantically-charged friendship with a lovely divorcee, Trans America Airlines passenger relations manager Tanya Livingston.
The story takes place mainly over the course of one evening and night, as a massive snowstorm plays havoc with airport operations. The storyline centers on Bakersfeld's struggles to keep the airport open during the storm. His chief problem is the unexpected closure of primary Runway two nine, caused when a landing airliner turns off past the wrong side of a runway marker light, burying the plane's landing gear in the snow, and blocking the runway. This becomes a major problem as another airplane, Trans America Flight Two, experiences a midair emergency and returns to Lincoln. This requires that the runway become quickly available. The runway numbers in the novel differed from those in the later movie, as did numerous other details.
The closing of runway two nine requires the use of shorter runway 22, which has the unfortunate consequence of causing planes to take off over a noise-sensitive suburb, whose residents picket the airport in protest. The short runway two two is also later inadequate to land the returning airplane, which has suffered major mechanical damage due to explosive decompression caused by the detonation of the bomb brought on board.
The book presents an overview of the vast and complex operations involved in operating a major commercial airport, much of which is still applicable over 40 years later. Several major and minor characters appear, illustrating the vast complexity of the airport and its operations. They include Customs officers, lawyers, snow clearers, airport police, doctors, clerks etc.
[edit] Major characters
Joe Patroni is the tough and practical head of maintenance operations for Trans World Airlines (TWA), at Lincoln. He is drafted in by Bakersfeld to move the disabled aircraft blocking the runway three zero. He fights to do so under the aircraft's own power without damaging it. This is in spite of the emergency, which could require the airplane be pushed off by snow plows (which would destroy the aircraft).
D.O. Guerrero is an increasingly psychologically-disturbed bankrupt building contractor, who is determined to find a way to solve his financial problems, regardless of what it will cost others. He builds a carry-on suitcase bomb that he takes onto Trans America Flight Two, "The Golden Argosy", a Rome-bound Boeing 707, in the hope of providing an insurance-fraud death benefit to his wife. The bombing plot is foiled with the assistance of an elderly lady, Ada Quonsett, a habitual stowaway, whose help is enlisted by the flight crew.
Vernon Demerest is a pompous and self-confident senior pilot for Trans Global Airlines and brother-in-law to Bakersfeld. He opposes him on a number of issues of policy. Despite his overbearing attitude, he is an expert pilot who brings Flight Two home safely with the assistance of his Number Two, an equally expert pilot who is actually flying under Vernon's supervision for check purposes.
Gwen Meighen is a senior Trans America stewardess on Flight two and Vernon's lover. Before taking off, she reveals to him that she is pregnant. She is badly injured by the bomb set off by Guerrero, but survives.
A mostly separate plot line concerns Mel's brother Keith, an air traffic controller tormented by guilt and flashbacks from a past mid-air collision.
[edit] Background
Earlier in his writing career, Hailey also wrote Runway Zero Eight, which was a novelization of the television play Flight into Danger (1956) and later inspired the films Zero Hour! (1957) and Terror in the Sky (1971). The plot of Runway Zero Eight features prominently in the comedy spoof Airplane! (1980).
