Airport (book)

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Airport book cover

Airport is a 1968 novel by Arthur Hailey about a Chicago 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.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story takes place at a fictional Chicago airport called Lincoln International.

The main character is Mel Bakersfeld, the General Manager, whose 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 (platonic) friendship with the lovely divorce, Trans America Airlines (Trans Global in the film) passenger relations manager Tanya Livingston.

The story takes place mainly over the course of one evening, 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 primary runway, 30 (29 in the movie), which closes when a plane taxiing for takeoff (landing in the movie) turns past the wrong side of a light, burying the plane's nose gear in the mud, blocking the runway. The stuck plane becomes a major problem as a later emergency requires that the runway become available.

The closing of runway 30 requires the use of shorter runway 25, which has the unfortunate consequence of causing planes to fly low over the Meadowood residential district, causing its residents to picket the airport in protest over the damage caused by airplane noise.

The book shows an overview of the vast and complex operations involved in operating a major commercial airport.

Other significant characters include Joe Patroni, the tough, grizzled head of maintenance operations for TWA, who fights to move the disabled aircraft on its own power without damaging it in spite of the emergency, which could require the airplane be pushed off using snow plows (which would destroy the aircraft); D.O. Guerrero, a desperate man determined to find a way to solve his financial problems regardless of what it will cost others; and Vernon Demerest, womanizing pilot for Trans America and brother-in-law to Bakersfeld, who opposes him on a number of issues.

A full synopsis (with spoilers) of the movie plot also includes some details from the novel and how they differed in the movie.

One of the interesting aspects of the story is that Joe Patroni, the relatively low-level employee who often gets his hands dirty doing good work, has a rock-solid marriage; Inez and D.O. Guerrero also stick together until what D.O. considers to be a selfless, self-sacrificing act (though ignoring the other people his actions impact); Keith Bakersfeld and his wife are also still faithful; Anson Harris is the older, wiser man who's always been faithful. On the other hand, Tanya Livingston is a divorcee, Bakersfeld is about to become one although his "mistress" was the airport; Cindy Bakersfeld and Vernon Demarests are the instigators in two breakups for the Bakersfeld clan. Ambition seems to be dangerous to marriage in this story!

The "passenger with a bomb" portion of the story was inspired by the sabotage of Continental Flight 11 in 1962 by Thomas Doty.

Earlier in his writing career, Hailey also wrote "Runway Zero Eight", which is dramatized in best detail in the 1971 movie "Terror in the Sky", but originally in 1956 on CBC as "Flight into Danger". The plotline also figures prominently in the spoof Airplane!.