Ultimate Airport Dubai (2013) s03e03 Episode Script

1
NARRATOR: In this episode
An aircraft is stopped in its
tracks just before take-off.
PHIL: The captain let us know that
they may have an engine problem.
NARRATOR: Wissam tries to squeeze two
massive escalators through a tiny door.
WISSAM: If this doesn't work now
we're going to stop the whole operation.
NARRATOR: And Hassan suspects a
passenger has swallowed something illegal.
HASSAN (off-screen): There's
something in her stomach.
NARRATOR: Dubai International Airport,
the busiest global hub on the planet.
Staying on top takes a crack team.
PHIL: No one else in the world is doing it but
everybody else in the world is watching us.
JO: Gatwick, Kuwait, Paris, Hamburg, Munich
I think it might be a nightmare shift.
HASSAN: It is very
dangerous because it can explode anytime.
MEL: We have births, we have
deaths, the whole spiel.
NARRATOR: It's the job of
90,000 staff from all over
the world to make this
the ultimate airport.
In the run up to the holidays
Dubai International is bracing
itself for the busiest
time in its history.
With its breakneck growth the airport
is constantly pushed to its limits.
For CEO Paul Griffiths,
these next few days will be a real test.
PAUL (off-screen): If everything works
perfectly it will be one of our finest hours.
If things don't go to
plan then clearly it could be really bad.
NARRATOR: Over the next 3 days
630,000 passengers -
160 thousand more than normal -
will pass through the airport's
doors traveling for the holidays.
The airport wants to avoid
even the tiniest disruption.
The pressure is on head of Dubai approach
Phil Marques to keep planes moving through the
airport as efficiently as possible.
PHIL: There aren't that many
more aircraft coming in today
but every single aircraft is
going to be a lot fuller.
Any tiny hiccup can have
a knock on effect that we will
have to deal with for the rest of the day.
NARRATOR: And he doesn't have to wait long
for the first hiccup to come his way
At 9:30 am an aircraft on the
taxiway radios in to air traffic control.
PHIL: The captain let us know that
they may have an engine problem.
NARRATOR: Flight EK175 for St. Petersburg
was just minutes away from taking off
when an engine fault alert popped up.
PHIL: The Captain wants
to return to the gate.
Now instead of him departing we have
to figure out a route to taxi him back.
We also need to arrange a stand for him.
Today being so busy,
stands are in short supply.
NARRATOR: Safety is paramount but
this delay will not help the busy airport.
PHIL: Today is just one of those
days where we are at capacity.
So something like this has a huge knock
on effect where normally it might not.
NARRATOR: Airport services manager Jo di Biasi
heads to the troubled St. Petersburg flight,
via the packed terminal.
JO (off-screen): I've
never seen it like this.
I've been here for 3 hours and it
feels like I've worked 13 hours already.
So the engineer's on?
MAN (off-screen): Yeah the engineer is
on and they'll update us in a few minutes.
NARRATOR: As Jo waits to hear more from
the line maintenance team she tees up the
consequences of a faulty
aircraft on the already crowded airport.
JO (off-screen): We're going to have
to get 138 passengers off the aircraft,
we're going to have to get all
of the bags off the aircraft.
It will take at least 2
or 3 hours, even 4 hours to find new crew,
to find a new aircraft.
But the plane has to be 100% ready
to go, we can't take any chances.
NARRATOR: With the holiday surge in
passengers, customs officers have to keep their
eyes peeled for those
with sinister intentions.
HASSAN: Just now I receive a
call from one of my colleagues.
They are suspecting one African lady.
NARRATOR: Over in terminal 3, customs duty
officer Hassan Ibrahim has been alerted about
a suspicious passenger.
Plain clothes officers
have spotted her spending an
unusually long time waiting
in the baggage hall.
HASSAN: Most of the passengers they left and
she's not going through to claim any bags
she's just walking between the
belts and there's no bag, nothing,
so they suspect on her behavior.
NARRATOR: Then when Hassan checks her boarding
card his suspicions are raised further.
HASSAN (off-screen):
So you came yesterday?
PASSENGER: I have visa problem.
NARRATOR: The passenger has
been in the baggage hall for a whole day.
HASSAN: So you have
problem with your visa?
So you came late because you
have problem with your visa?
From which airport are you arriving now?
PASSENGER: Portuguese.
Speak Portuguese.
HASSAN: Portuguese eh?
Unfortunately I can't speak Portuguese.
She says she has some problem with
her visa and for that she was delayed.
NARRATOR: But Hassan thinks
there is nothing wrong with her visa.
And his suspicions don't stop there.
HASSAN: And she doesn't have any
suitcase or anything just her hand carry.
I'm not sure because
I'm not buying her story about the visa.
NARRATOR: The question is why would the
passenger wait in the baggage hall for 24 hours
when she's got no luggage to collect?
Something doesn't add up.
HASSAN: Hi, do you
speak in Portuguese?
TRANSLATOR: Hi,
I'm Italian but
NARRATOR: Hassan calls on
the help of a translator.
HASSAN: Can I see your
visa again please?
WOMAN: (speaking Italian).
HASSAN: OK. So just tell
her now we are suspecting her and we are,
we have to take her to the
body scan to scan her body.
NARRATOR: Hassan is concerned she could be
trying to smuggle something into the country.
The airport has one of the world's
most advanced security x-ray systems.
It takes just ten seconds
to completely scan the body.
HASSAN: So now we are
now scanning her body.
NARRATOR: It is powerful enough to
pick up items that have been ingested.
If the woman is
hiding anything it should show up here.
HASSAN (off-screen): So, I
think its ok, there's nothing.
NARRATOR: But a second
pass reveals more.
HASSAN (off-screen): We've
got something with her.
There's something unclear
here in her stomach.
NARRATOR: The scan reveals suspicious
shadows on the passenger's body.
If it's drugs, she could face a long
imprisonment or even the death penalty.
Over at terminal 1, contractor Paul Beukman
and his team of engineers are at a crucial
stage of their construction project.
Linking the new concourse D
to the rest of the airport.
To do this, they must move two massive
escalators into the terminal building.
But that involves squeezing
them through this door.
Into a busy airport full of passengers.
PAUL: We've got all of the
passenger flow that we have to
stop now for this and
we have to divert them.
A little bit nervous but once the first one
goes in I think everybody's nerves will calm
down a little bit.
NARRATOR: Once fitted, the escalators
will ferry passengers up to an elevated
rail system linking to
the new concourse D.
A billion dollar extension to terminal 1 that
will increase the airport's capacity by 20%.
Senior construction manager
Wissam Mujahed is the client
onsite to make sure Paul delivers.
WISSAM: In a normal building
usually you go and put the
escalators and just re-erect
the roof above it.
In our case the roof is
there, it just needs to pull the escalator
in which is very difficult.
NARRATOR: The only option is to employ a
massive crane to swing the escalators through
the narrow doorway with
pinpoint precision.
PAUL: This is a 250 ton crane that we are
using, we are going to hook it onto 4 areas,
2 in the front and two at the back
and then they are going to lift it up.
WISSAM: Here we are going to put it on wheels,
it's gonna simply become like you know, a
vehicle, a car and take
it all the way inside.
NARRATOR: Weighing over
10 tons, 60 feet long,
and costing $90,000.
Any damage to the escalators
would cause a major setback
to the whole of concourse D construction.
And the clock is ticking.
Wissam and Paul need to get the 2
escalators into the building before the busy
afternoon rush starts in 6 hours' time.
WISSAM: Currently it is the off peak time,
hopefully we can finish it before we start
the peak at around 2:00.
We have two escalators to get in
and that is going to be really tough.
NARRATOR: But even before they get the
escalator onto the floor there's a hitch.
WISSAM: Let's see who's responsible
for this, let's go in, let's go in.
NARRATOR: The chains holding the escalator are
getting too close to the scaffolding outside.
WISSAM (off-screen): Be
careful from the top.
NARRATOR: The crane can't
swing the load far enough in
to get the escalator over this big step.
WISSAM: It's a height issue, it
might stop the whole process.
NARRATOR: If the team can't work out
another way to get the escalator into the
building, the whole opening of
concourse D will be set back,
something that just can't happen in Dubai.
NARRATOR: At gate C28 the St. Petersburg
flight halted just moments before taking off
due to an engine fault alert
is awaiting the engineers.
The message identified a problem with
engine no.1 but not exactly what's faulty.
It's the job of line maintenance
engineer Andrew Clark to determine what's
wrong as quickly as possible
to get the flight away.
ANDREW (off-screen): If it is
just a small wiring problem then
it will be taken care of pretty quickly.
And if it is not that then there's a couple
of components on the engine that we will be
looking at to be at fault.
NARRATOR: But the team work
out it's not the wiring that's the problem
but a part called an
overspeed protection unit.
This protects the engine from
overspinning and ripping itself apart.
ANDREW (off-screen): If you look up there where
the box is, that is the brains of the engine.
This overspeed protection
unit is fitted there.
NARRATOR: The team send for a new part from
Emirates engineering stores, one of the
largest parts stores on the planet.
At the touch of a button, more
than 6 million parts can be called up,
from whole engines down
to the tiniest screw.
$1.7 billion of kit on standby to make sure
aircraft aren't on the ground for a second
longer than they need to be.
Captain Pablo Leite
awaits his plane's fate.
PABLO (off-screen): They just
said the part is on the way.
Probably another 45 minutes to have it.
NARRATOR: With 138 passengers waiting on
board, it's vital this fault is fixed fast.
JO: The good thing is they
have located another aircraft
just in case this aircraft
isn't able to go.
You can imagine these passengers have
been sitting on the plane for close to an
hour, so they might be
getting a bit upset as well.
Announcements have been made on board
and some drinks have been served as well,
so hopefully it is not too much longer.
NARRATOR: The longer the aircraft
stays, the more connecting flights its
passengers will miss.
It's also occupying a much needed
stand in the super busy airport.
And the more difficult it is
to park the incoming planes.
Finally the new part arrives.
ANDREW: It's under an hour from the plane
coming back on the gate and we have now got
the parts here right at the aircraft side.
This is the guilty party.
So, we've taken it out
and fitted the new one in.
This is a very rare
problem, in 35 years I've never seen this.
PABLO: We think it's like a big part you
know, but then you realize it's just like a
small part that's caused a huge delay.
NARRATOR: This A330 has
three and a half million working parts.
But with its amazingly efficient computer
diagnosis and modular parts system,
it can still be fixed
extraordinarily quickly.
ANDREW: Everything's been
reduced to black boxes to simplify things.
In the old days when it was all levers and
cogs you had to pull the guy out with a flat
cap and he'd take his
time troubleshooting.
For a component change you could be
looking at five, six hours and here we are,
just over an hour and we are almost done.
NARRATOR: But even after the part is fitted,
it must be checked and checked again.
ANDREW: Even though the guy who fitted it is
licensed we have to call a second person in,
to do a secondary
inspection, that way we're
verifying everything is as it should be.
NARRATOR: The avionics team run the engine
at idle for 5 minutes to check it works.
JO (off-screen): It's just a
waiting game now.
Passengers have been on
board for nearly two hours,
the maximum we can keep
passengers on the aircraft is 3 hours.
NARRATOR: Finally an hour and half after
the aircraft first returned to stand,
Jo gets the news she's been hoping for.
JO: Definitely serviceably?
OK excellent, thank you.
Alright, thanks for the good news, bye.
OK I have just been told from Network
Control that the aircraft is serviceable
which is a relief.
These passengers will be home for Christmas,
maybe 2 hours late but I guess it is better
than hanging around, getting
on a new aircraft, boarding again.
PABLO: Everybody happy,
passengers are happy, we are good to go.
NARRATOR: The flight departs for
St. Petersburg two hours late.
Despite the long delay on a
busy day, Phil Marques knows
it could have been a lot worse.
PHIL: Had the plane taken off, it
is a A330, it only has 2 engines.
Losing one engine, 50%
of your power's gone.
We would actually have to declare a local
alert on the airfield, and call out the
emergency services, it would
have been a lot bigger deal.
NARRATOR: Customs duty officer Hassan Ibrahim
takes a closer look at the mysterious shadows
on the passenger body scanner.
HASSAN (off-screen): It's shown
here as 4 pieces or 5 pieces.
So I have to investigate with
her I ask her some questions
and see what she's hiding inside her body.
NARRATOR: The passenger is from Africa
and the type of shadows in her body gives
Hassan a clue to what it might be.
HASSAN (off-screen): I suspect
she's smuggling diamonds.
Because we have many
cases before from the same
destination and we have the same thing.
And because of the density
of the pieces inside,
it has a high density.
The passenger has two options, the first option
she can go to the bathroom and take out the
diamonds out by herself or the second option
I can do my report and I transfer her to
the drug section and they will continue to
take her to the hospital and take it out.
Do you want to go to the toilet?
Do you want to use the toilet?
TRANSLATOR (off-screen): Yes.
NARRATOR: The passenger decides to co-operate
and goes to the toilet to retrieve the
packages hidden inside her.
Dubai is one of the top three diamond trading
centers in the world, but all the rough
diamonds entering the country legally
must have a Kimberley Process certificate.
This shows the diamonds do
not come from conflict zones.
It's illegal for passengers
to import rough diamonds
into the country without this certificate.
The passenger doesn't have one.
HASSAN (off-screen): So here
we've got five pieces. Capsules.
NARRATOR: But was
Hassan's hunch correct?
HASSAN (off-screen): You can see it looks
like lovely stones but it is really diamonds.
It has been not cut and polished.
NARRATOR: He's right, rough
diamonds without a certificate.
After just one capsule
is opened, he can tell it's a huge haul.
HASSAN: I'm proud of my team.
That they've done a good job.
They saw the behavior
of the passenger and they suspected her.
And they were right about her
behavior and the result is this catch.
As you can see the weight
is 484 without the wrapping.
NARRATOR: That's one pound of smuggled
diamonds waiting to flood the market illegally.
It's a huge bust on a busy
day for Dubai airport.
HASSAN: I think it's
worth above $1 million.
NARRATOR: Even though the passenger
hid the diamonds, Hassan releases her.
Diamonds aren't illegal in
Dubai but if you don't have a certificate
they'll be confiscated.
As the passenger doesn't have one, the gems
could be auctioned off and the proceeds
used to prevent anymore
diamonds being sold from conflict zones.
HASSAN: That give a good example for the
smugglers that they have to think twice
before they try to smuggle anything to
our country because our staff and our team
they are prepared very well.
Good job.
NARRATOR: Over at terminal 1 the
engineering team are trying to fit two new
escalators into the building when
the crane nearly hits some scaffolding.
Potentially scuppering the whole job.
WISSAM: The crane cannot push the escalators
inside the building, there is a distance
of two to three meters where we
need to handle it manually.
If this doesn't work now we're
going to stop the whole operation.
NARRATOR: The team build a
temporary platform so they can
push it in manually on wheels instead.
WISSAM (off-screen): Just the whole idea
now is to take this thing a little bit up,
say around 35 to 40 centimeters
and then we start sliding.
Regardless of the distance
keep it on the concrete yes.
NARRATOR: A few breeze blocks and timber
planks later, and the platform is built.
WISSAM (off-screen): Right lift
it up now. Vamos, vamos.
Take your people out.
Take your people out.
PAUL: Benny, Benny drop
it, drop it, drop it a bit.
NARRATOR: The escalator is lowered
onto two specially designed dollies,
each built to hold 10 tons.
But it's all taken much
longer than planned.
WISSAM: Very critical now, we have to move
them in we have to move the escalator and take
it in we don't have time.
NARRATOR: Now up against the clock, a winch
attached to the front end of the escalator
takes over the heavy
lifting from the crane.
But the doorway is not the only obstacle.
There's an unfortunately
placed customer services desk
to get past that is still
open for business.
PAUL: We would like to
just take it straight in.
But because the desk will take time to
remove, shift it the electrical services,
we've programmed it so that, as we are taking
it bit by bit, that is the tricky part,
so once we get past the desk
then it is home free.
NARRATOR: Moving such a big
beast is a slow process.
PAUL: It takes so long because the wheels
are so small so the escalator tends to turn
sometimes and then you have to stop, jack
it, realign the wheel, and then place the
escalator down into the wheels and then keep
pulling and that's what is time consuming.
NARRATOR: Slowly, slowly and
with the crew following its every move,
the escalator glides past the desk.
But with only inches to spare.
One mammoth contraption has
made it into the building.
PAUL (off-screen): One down now.
We'll get the other
team to start rigging up the second one.
We will try and speed
it up a little bit more.
NARRATOR: But getting
the escalators in is only half the job;
there is still a lot to do.
Now Paul and Wissam must
finish the job and fit the
escalators into their new home.
And that involves operating even closer
to the passenger flow and next door to an
existing escalator.
PAUL: We might have to
block the staircase.
WISSAM: Why do we need
to block the staircase?
PAUL (off-screen): Because we have got
one directly above that existing escalator
and we've got one directly above
the staircase, so that's our problem.
NARRATOR: There's no room inside to squeeze
a crane big enough to lift the 10 ton
escalators into their vertical position.
So they've got to adopt a
method to lift heavy objects
first used by the ancient Greeks.
A manual pulley system slung over 2 A
frames - steel structures designed to bear
weight - one at the top
and one at the bottom.
PAUL: What's actually going to take the weight
of lifting the escalators up into position.
So all the weight's going to
be transferred on to,
on to the frame that you see over here.
NARRATOR: But it's sheer muscle
power that will do the heavy lifting.
Just 8 men will heave 10 tons up 33 feet.
If that doesn't sound challenging enough,
the work is taking place in a terminal
that's still operational.
PAUL: The main thing is to make sure that
everything's safe so that if something
happens, that it's only in this vicinity
and not where the passengers are.
NARRATOR: But as soon as they try to
move one of the A frames into its place,
Wissam discovers a serious problem.
WISSAM: The A frame
is hitting the pipes.
NARRATOR: A very inconveniently
located fire sprinkler is in the way.
There's no room to get the A frame past.
Any knock could bring the
terminal to a grinding halt.
WISSAM: If we hit that sprinkler the
whole area will get flooded with water,
the firemen will be here in a couple of
minutes and the whole airport will be a mess.
NARRATOR: Inside Terminal 3, airport services
manager Mel Sabharwal is coming to the end
of a long, busy shift
when she gets a call.
MEL: What are they
saying passengers are fighting or what?
We've just received a call to say that a
passenger has stolen some items from another
passenger on board.
NARRATOR: Flight EK381 has
landed safely from Hong Kong.
But Mel must diffuse the
difficult situation onboard.
MEL: A little bit of a tricky one here,
we've got a gentlemen that's been
witnessed going through some
of the passenger's belongings,
basically their hand baggage, and
certain items have been taken out.
NARRATOR: Mel goes to talk to the witness
who's traveling onto Madrid from Dubai.
MEL: You saw him taking
items out of her baggage.
WITNESS (off-screen): I saw him go
to different locations into the luggage.
I found it suspicious because some
of the baggage was quite far away.
Later I reported it to the crew.
Then the gentlemen knew
I reported him and asked me why I did it.
And later on he admitted
he stole the money.
He asked me to forget about
it. He will return the money.
NARRATOR: The theft victim
Liliana is traveling to Luanda, Angola
with her 2 young children.
LILIANA (off-screen): I noticed my Hong Kong
dollars are there, but my U.S. dollars are missing.
EMIRATES STAFF: And how
much is it exactly?
LILIANA: I had 350 U.S. dollars.
EMIRATES STAFF:
350 U.S. dollars.
EMIRATES STAFF:
Anything else missing?
LILIANA: Let me check.
NARRATOR: On closer inspection,
Liliana finds the alleged pickpocket has
actually returned $300 of her cash.
Leaving $50 still missing.
LILIANA (off-screen): I found it
here in the middle of my credit cards.
EMIRATES STAFF (off-screen):
What he said was he put everything back.
MEL: We don't know how many
other passengers he's taken items from.
NARRATOR: The police arrive to escort all
passengers involved to the airport police station
to collect statements.
With connecting flights
to meet in less than 2 hours,
time is running out to get
the matter resolved.
This ordeal is the last
thing Liliana needs.
LILIANA: I was very anxious about traveling
with them by myself and this happening on
top of it, it's just you
know the cherry on top.
NARRATOR: Airport services manager
Jo di Biasi comes to the police station
to take over Mel's shift.
JO: This is what I've walked into, it's not
ideal especially for such a busy morning.
The lady with the kids she's still missing
some money so the police are trying to work
out if the gentlemen in the cell has
hidden that money somewhere else.
NARRATOR: Jo leaves the
passengers to complete their statements
JO: She said they're
not finished with her.
NARRATOR: But as she's
returning to the police station
she gets some bad news about the witness.
JO: Her flight will close
in 10 minutes, she can't miss her flight
the investigating team isn't
there yet, she wants to leave.
NARRATOR: The next flight
to Madrid doesn't leave for eight hours
and the witness can't wait that long.
JO: This woman is the key witness in the
whole thing so I can't really convince her to
stay, but I guess I'll do my best.
OK I'm at the police office.
I'll be there in one minute.
Oh wait she is here now. Is
she going to her gate?
She's going?
Finished, finished?
WITNESS (off-screen):
No not at all.
JO (off-screen): Not at all.
WITNESS (off-screen): No.
JO (off-screen): Um she just
said she's not finished.
NARRATOR: It looks
like Jo is too late.
The thief may walk.
NARRATOR: Over in Terminal 1, senior
construction manager Wissam Mujahed has come up
with a plan to get the A frame
round the fire sprinkler.
WISSAM (off-screen): We are going to remove
the, wheels, lower the A frames a little bit
and just move them around the
sprinkler and push it back.
It is achievable, our problem
here is time, we are already
late compared to the schedule we have.
NARRATOR: Contractor Paul Beukman is
keen to get over this hurdle and press on.
PAUL (off-screen):
This knocked us a bit.
I want the escalators to go in, you know
I want us to start lifting so everybody,
everybody can get, feel
a bit more at ease.
NARRATOR: With its wheels removed, the
A frame is low enough to maneuver past the
sprinkler and into its lifting position.
WISSAM: Now at least we're back on target,
engineers are good at solving problems and
at creating problems by the way.
NARRATOR: At last the
pulleys can be attached.
The team are now go to start
lifting the $90,000 machines.
But are aware this is the most
hazardous point in the job.
PAUL (off-screen): I don't want
to see the escalator falling.
The worst is the pulley
giving way or something and
the actual escalator comes crashing down.
NARRATOR: Eight people, two per pulley,
start lifting the 10-ton escalator up.
This ingenious, ancient system allows
each man to lift 33 times his body weight.
For every 90 feet of chain
pulled, the escalator heaves up 1 foot.
After an hour of elbow grease,
the first one is in place.
PAUL: The first one went good and now we
will push for the second one to get done.
NARRATOR: But the second escalator
poses a new challenge as they now have
even less space to maneuver.
PAUL: The pressure is still on here because we
still have to get this one up, and obviously
now we will, we are a bit more
closer to the passenger flow.
NARRATOR: And time is
no longer on their side.
PAUL: The longer we take the longer we are
going to get into the peak hours of the
airport, which means that there is going
to be more passengers passing by, so
we are a bit now grind for time.
NARRATOR: Back in concourse B, airport services
manager Jo di Biasi thinks she has lost the
key witness in her onboard theft case.
JO: She said they are not finished at
all I just went past her on the buggy.
They've released her?
POLICEMAN: Only the witness.
JO: Only the witness? did
she give a statement?
POLICEMAN: Yeah she already gave a contact
number and everything she can come back to.
JO (off-screen): Is that alright
though is that enough for them?
POLICEMAN: Yeah.
NARRATOR: The witness had to leave to catch
her connecting flight but left her contact
details - enough for the
police to get a statement at a later date.
Jo leaves to keep an eye on
the rest of the terminal.
A police case is the last thing
she wants on a busy day like this.
It's now so chock full even the airport's
CEO Paul Griffiths has come to lend a
hand down on the factory floor.
PAUL: What we try and do is just make
absolutely sure that if something breaks there's
someone to sort it out
on the spot immediately.
NARRATOR: Paul thinks
he's seeing the future.
PAUL (off-screen): We think that today
is exceptional but in a couple of years
with the growth of eight, nine percent per
annum this is going to be an ordinary day.
Every day.
NARRATOR: In order to keep the
wheels of the busy airport turning,
the CEO has turned traffic warden.
PAUL: Well we've got a car here
that's parked and it's blocking the flow.
I think most people in Dubai can afford a
ticket it's not as much as a deterrent as it
really ought to be that's the
problem, so we need to get it moved.
NARRATOR: Despite having
lots of other passengers to deal with,
Jo must go back to the police station.
She's determined to solve the case and has
put some pieces of the puzzle together.
JO (off-screen): I just spoke to
the investigator and I said to him
"what's going on with
Hong Kong flights."
It's funny in the last month or so we've
had these cases only from Hong Kong though,
and the witness even said this
guy looks like he's done it before,
he was too quick at doing it.
Once I said that, he went and looked at the
passenger and the passenger was here four
days ago doing the same thing.
NARRATOR: If a crime happens in international
airspace, the country in which the plane
lands has the responsibility
of investigating.
If found guilty, this suspect
could face up to three years in jail.
But the victim has had second
thoughts and has dropped the
charges so she can catch her flight.
JO: If she wants to pursue a case with this
gentlemen that means she would have to stay
in Dubai until there's a court case so she
has chosen to leave but I'm sure the police
will take of the man.
LILIANA: Not really
in Christmas mood yet.
Maybe I'll be next week.
NARRATOR: The alleged pickpocket
will not be leaving Dubai anytime soon.
Emirates suspended his ticket and it looks
like Jo might help unearth a wider network.
JO: Our security department, think this
gentleman's part of this big case that people are
taking money on-board aircrafts.
So it means we're going to have to keep the
gentleman here for 48 hours until we get
an investigating team here in Dubai.
We don't want this happening again.
NARRATOR: Over in Terminal 1, the last thing
the engineering team want to do is rush when
they start winching
the escalators into their final position.
PAUL: You don't wanna dent it.
You don't want to damage any of the major
parts, so the guys are just taking a bit of
precaution just at this beginning stage.
NARRATOR: As the second
escalator rises into the narrow space,
the crew breathe in.
PAUL: It's a tight squeeze.
NARRATOR: Finally at
3:30pm almost 2 hours behind schedule,
the escalators are in.
WISSAM: Done for today,
done for the mission.
NARRATOR: A huge milestone in the
development of Concourse D has been reached.
Passengers from Terminal 1
will soon be able to take the
train to the 32 new gates in Concourse D.
PAUL (off-screen): I am relieved now it is
done, and, and that there's no more things that
we will have to do where it is
involving passenger diversions.
NARRATOR: These escalators will
carry many of Dubai International's annual
90 million passengers for years to come.
PAUL (off-screen): Well done
guys, well done, well done, well done.
Well done guys.
NARRATOR: 8:30pm.
Out at gate F10, an 330
has arrived six minutes late.
It's due to depart in
just 54 minutes time.
GEMMA (off-screen): It's going
to be a quick turnaround,
so there's going to be
a bit of running to do.
An hour just gets eaten away very quickly.
NARRATOR: Ground dispatcher Gemma Taylor is
charged with coordinating all the different
services needed to turn the flight around.
GEMMA: We have got catering,
cleaning, baggage units, cargo units,
the re-fueler is on the way.
And offloading has already started.
NARRATOR: As many as 32 containers
of baggage and cargo must be unloaded.
But not all bags are created equal.
First and business class
passengers are given priority,
so their bags must come off first.
But that's not happening.
GEMMA: So the team leader's just advised
me that one of the priority baggage for
arrivals it's stuck on board.
NARRATOR: The priority baggage containers
are full of business and first class
passenger's luggage.
They should slide freely across
the hold but this one is
stuck and it is blocking the hatch.
GEMMA (off-screen):
They're all stuck?
NARRATOR: Until it is freed the ground crew
are unable to off load the other containers
from the rear hold.
GEMMA (off-screen): Can I
get extra manpower please?
The priority container is stuck on board.
NARRATOR: Each crate
carries 40 to 50 bags.
And can weigh almost 2 tons.
GEMMA: We have to get it
off, one way or another.
NARRATOR: 30 minutes after landing, the
business and first class passengers are
still waiting for their luggage.
The ground crew know this is not
the service priority passengers expect.
GEMMA: Half an hour left to go
and still no baggage has been sent.
NARRATOR: The departure
time is fast approaching.
This job is turning into
a nightmare for Gemma.
There will be some seriously
disgruntled passengers at baggage reclaim.
GEMMA (off-screen):
It's totally jammed.
COLLEAGUE: I told them
just to offload some bags.
NARRATOR: Right now the team's only option
is to unload individual pieces of luggage
out of the stuck container in the hope
that making it lighter will free it up.
GEMMA: I've got as many people as possible
trying to help us with stuck baggage.
NARRATOR: Every year, loss or damage to
baggage crates costs airlines $300 million in
flight delays and cancellations.
With Dubai International almost at
capacity, air traffic control needs the
problematic flight to vacate
the stand as soon as possible.
But the team haven't even finished
unloading and still have to re-load.
GEMMA: Time is completely over run. We are,
we should have departed around 2 minutes ago,
but unfortunately that hasn't happened.
NARRATOR: If Gemma doesn't get this crate
unstuck soon, the delayed departing passengers
will miss their connecting flights and the
ripple effects will be felt across Asia.
GEMMA (off-screen): Oh you
got one out, well done!
NARRATOR: The ground dispatch team has finally
got the first class passengers' baggage
crate unstuck using brute force.
But it's taken much longer
than it should have done.
This delay will not sit well
with the passengers who pay
top dollar for speedy baggage delivery.
GEMMA: Hopefully the others
it won't take long to offload.
NARRATOR: Gemma has found the reason
the priority baggage crate got stuck.
GEMMA (off-screen): Because the base
of the pallet wasn't flat it was bowing,
which caused the lock to jam on it.
NARRATOR: This flight should
have departed 15 minutes ago,
and they've not even finished unloading.
The team desperately need the
rest of job to go smoothly.
GEMMA: The pressure is
back on, we need to get this
loaded, and departed as soon as possible.
NARRATOR: And that depends on
another key link in the chain.
The baggage trailers that
ferry more than 50 million bags
around the airport every year.
But these are having a bad day too.
GEMMA: Unfortunately, when the
driver took the baggage the locks went up
and the unit has fallen onto the ground.
Show me the lock.
Is it broken? Oh!
MINTU: That is ok, but
this one is not broken.
GEMMA (off-screen): This is the
lock, and it just opens straight up.
Can you please put
this one out of action, put a tag on it?
NARRATOR: Luckily there's no damage to
passenger's bags, but the accident costs the
team valuable minutes.
Despite Gemma's best efforts this
turnaround just isn't going to plan.
GEMMA The passengers
are probably wondering what's going on.
The airline staff will try and satisfy
them by departing it as soon as we can.
NARRATOR: The team now have
four cargo containers to unload,
and straight away there's
another complication.
MAN (over radio): We need to
contact our rapid team again.
The cargo unit got stuck again.
GEMMA: They're stuck again.
The power driven units in the aft hold are
not working, it is making it very difficult to
pull out the cargo units.
The engineer is trying to fix it.
NARRATOR: Most aircraft have
a series of power driven units
or PDU's on the floor of the hold.
These rotating wheels should make light
work of moving heavy cargo containers.
But on this aircraft they're not working so
Gemma will have to resort to manpower again.
Not so simple in this busy festive period
when extra bodies are in high demand.
The flight is now 45
minutes late taking off.
GEMMA: Where's all
the man power gone?
MINTU: Manpower? Those were the
rapid team, they took already.
NARRATOR: Airline staff are getting
increasingly frustrated with the delays.
Gemma has to resort to brute force.
But dragging cargo containers off
by hand is a time-consuming process.
GEMMA: Too many problems.
Just one after another,
and I am ready to give up.
I'm done.
NARRATOR: Gemma is taking it hard but there's
only so much the ground staff can do when
the equipment is faulty.
The next one to come off
weighs three and a half tons
and it needs to be removed quickly.
GEMMA: It is perishable.
Fresh fish which is all packed
in polystyrene boxes in ice.
They are very heavy units.
NARRATOR: Fresh fish plus a night-time
temperature of 67 degrees Fahrenheit
is not a good combination.
So this cargo cannot be left
hanging around for long.
GEMMA (off-screen): I need
more pushing and pulling.
We're using what we can.
We got drivers, we got porters
in here, their team leader.
NARRATOR: Rounding up
a few extra bodies makes a difference
and the heavy fish is hauled off.
GEMMA (off-screen): All
cargo is now offloaded.
We are going to start
loading for departure.
NARRATOR: The flight is
already an hour late.
GEMMA: Time has just gone.
NARRATOR: Thankfully so far
the plane is reloading without a hitch.
But the offloading has been
unusually problematic.
GEMMA: Last one.
NARRATOR: The flight
will depart an hour and a half late.
A multi-million dollar aircraft with
hundreds of passengers held up by some
tiny technical faults
during Dubai's busiest time.
GEMMA (off-screen):
Not the best result.
But at the end of the day the flight is
departing safely and that's more important.
Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.