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Why reclining seats may soon be a thing of the past on airplanes

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The Morning Show: April 29

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Celebrities, wealthy individuals, C-suite executives and private travellers arriving in London, Ont., will step off their aircraft into a “world class” facility beginning next spring.

Construction of ADJ Aero’s 50,000-square-foot private hangar at London International Airport began Friday and is expected to be complete in March.

When it’s finished, the facility will serve a wide variety of fliers: medical transport, such as organ donation; charter aircraft for businesses; musical acts that fly in privately; business owners; and people who fly privately for leisure or business.

Private aircraft are already landing at the London airport, but the new facility will provide those that don’t go through the regular passenger terminal with “the nicest facility on the airport property,” airport president and CEO Scott McFadzean said Friday.

While McFadzean said was unaware of the cost of the project, noting that the airport is simply “leasing the land,” he said he believed it would be “quite a significant investment in the city.”

An ADJ Aero representative on hand for Friday’s groundbreaking did not provide comment, but in a news release announcing the development, ADJ Group of Companies president Andrew Charabin said “we are excited to bring this transformative endeavor to London.”

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“Our new aviation facility will not only enhance the accessibility and convenience of air travel but also foster the economic growth and vitality of the region.”

The news release also said the development was designed by 360 Smart Design and is being built by Aveiro Constructors Ltd. It will house fixed-base operators Executive Aviation and Flightexec.

“With an array of premium services from concierge, ground handling to fueling and catering, the spacious hangar will be able to accommodate various aircraft sizes and maintenance needs,” the release said.

Several people gathered at Ivey Park in downtown London, Ont., to take photos of the blooming cherry blossoms on April 22, 2024.

Cherry blossoms are in bloom across the city, and Londoners are being told to take advantage of the brilliant pinkish hues while they can.

Small handfuls of people could be seen Monday taking photos of each other against the blossoming cherry trees in Ivey Park in downtown and at the Civic Garden Complex near Springbank Park.

They're among several locations in the city where you can see the seasonal sights. But doing so is time-sensitive, with cherry blossom blooms only lasting a few weeks, said Mark Canaran, owner of Family Tree Arborist in London.

"The most brilliant ones I find here are the sweet cherry (Prunus avium) and the chokecherry (Prunus virginiana)," he said.

He estimates peak bloom in the city, when 70 per cent of blossoms have opened, will be in about a week's time.

Lisa Zukiwski was among those enjoying the cherry blossoms and snapping photos at the Civic Garden Complex. The Springfield, Ont., resident said she came specifically for the trees.

"I just love the blooming trees. I was over at Springbank there looking at those. It's just such a short season. I just had to come," she said.

She's patiently waiting for a large cherry tree on her own front lawn to blossom, Zukiwski said.

"Pink is my favourite colour. They're beautiful, just gives you a nice feeling being around them."

For others with cherry trees, Canaran says he recommends that residents get them mildly pruned during the dormant season to keep them healthy and looking their best.

In Toronto, Monday marked peak bloom for the famed cherry trees in the city's High Park, where tens of thousands of sightseers go every year to see the blossoms.

Know of a good place to see cherry blossoms in London? Email us the location at londonnewstips@cbc.ca.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Reporter/Editor

Matthew Trevithick is a radio and digital reporter with CBC London. Before joining CBC London in 2023, Matthew worked as a reporter and newscaster with 980 CFPL in London, Ont. Email him at matthew.trevithick@cbc.ca.

Julian Birkinshaw has spent the last quarter-century at London Business School. His next home will be a smaller London an ocean away.

On Thursday (February 8), Ivey Business School at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada named Birkinshaw its next dean, effective August 1. What Birkinshaw loses in urbanity, he gains in familiarity: The long-time professor of strategy and entrepreneurship earned both an MBA, in 1991, and a Ph.D. in business administration, in 1995, from Ivey.

He also met his wife Laura there.

“Doing my MBA at Ivey was very formative,” Birkinshaw says in the announcement of his appointment. “I loved it.”

AUTHOR OF 15 BOOKS & RECIPIENT OF MULTIPLE AWARDS

Birkinshaw, who is also currently vice dean at London Business School, joined LBS as an assistant professor in April 1999 and became a full professor with tenure in 2004. The native of Hexham in Northumberland, Great Britain is the author of 15 books and more than 90 scholarly papers, as well as the winner of multiple academic awards and honors, including the 2022 Harvard Business Review Prize for his article How Incumbents Survive and Thrive, an analysis of the impact of technological disruption on corporate stability. He holds honorary degrees from Copenhagen Business School and Stockholm School of Economics, and he is a Fellow of the British Academy, Strategic Management Society, and the (American) Academy of Management. He regularly ranks amongst the Thinkers50 list of global management thinkers.

In short, in the words of Western President Alan Shepard, Birkinshaw is “an internationally renowned scholar in business research and education,” whose “expertise on innovation, digital transformation, and the agility of large multinational firms will be invaluable” to Ivey and Western.

Birkinshaw replaces Ivey Dean Sharon Hodgson, who retires on June 30. He goes from one of the largest B-schools in the world to one that is smaller by a third: LBS has nearly 2,400 students across all programs; the Ivey School has about 1,600. In Poets&Quants‘ 2024 ranking of full-time MBA programs at international business schools, LBS ranked 4th, while Ivey was 25th. In The Financial Times’ 2023 global ranking of business schools, LBS ranked 16th and Ivey was 84th. (FT’s new ranking is out next week.)

EXCITED ABOUT IVEY’S ‘COMMITMENT TO PEDAGOGY’

There are advantages to the change in scenery. LBS is an independent business school, unattached to a larger university, and “If you want to teach about climate change, you don’t have the environmental sciences. If you want to teach about artificial intelligence, you don’t have computer scientists. I’m excited Ivey is part of a full-fledged university, with experts in these areas,” Birkinshaw says.

It was as a student at Ivey that Birkinshaw first became “a believer in innovation and agility,” according to the Ivey news release, which he sees as key to the future of business education. That’s evident in his track record: At LBS, he helped steer the creation of the school’s master’s in management program in 2010 and a master’s in analytics management in 2019. Birkinshaw is also credited with leading the school’s digital development in the years leading up to 2020, helping to create a suite of online courses that kept LBS students learning in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic — driven by his belief that B-schools must embrace, and lead, change in a time of rapid disruption.

Now he takes that belief across the Atlantic, where Ivey, which uses case-based teaching, presents what he calls “opportunities to evolve the world of business education.” Birkinshaw’s new academic home, which recently celebrated its centennial and is currently rolling out major changes as part of a new strategic plan, “is in a better place to deliver because the school has always been about leadership,” he says. “Using the case method puts the student in the shoes of the decision-maker, asking them to take on the complexities of being a leader.

“What excites me most about Ivey is what I experienced in terms of my learning about the business world — a commitment to a pedagogy that helps people understand the world of business properly, and to good quality research, which also influences the world of practice. Those are values I’ve held and pushed for throughout my career and are central to what Ivey has always done.”

Nor does the prospect of being at a smaller school, in a much smaller town, trouble Birkinshaw. “I’m eager to help consolidate Ivey’s position as the number-one business school in Canada,” he says, “and to raise its prominence globally. Ivey really helped shape my worldview, so the opportunity to help craft the school’s next stage of development is hugely exciting.”

‘WE NEED STUDENTS WHO UNDERSTAND THE WAY BUSINESS IMPACTS THE WORLD’

In December 2023, as the new year loomed, Birkinshaw shared with P&Q his hopes for 2024: “The economic, geopolitical and environmental challenges witnessed in 2023 are showing no signs of abating. Consequently, the overall landscape in which business schools will be operating in 2024 is likely to remain unsettled. The global cost of living crisis is still biting for many. Conflicts are fuelling humanitarian crises on a significant scale. Extreme weather events across the globe are demonstrating the climate emergency. All will continue to demand attention in 2024.

“Our students are the business leaders of tomorrow. We need to help them make sense of the pressing issues facing society – sustainability, social inequality, technological disruption — and give them the tools to help them find solutions. We also need to instil a sense of ambition in them — a courage to take responsibility for what needs to be done, rather than allowing others to set the agenda. In short, we want our students to become positive agents of change. We need leaders who understand the way business impacts the world and are willing to be part of the solution. After all, there is no Planet B.”

Birkinshaw has touched on these issues throughout his career, including during a “fireside chat” as part of P&Q’s CentreCourt event in June 2023. In a discussion with Matt Symonds, he spoke at length about how B-school students can change the world for the better. Watch the interview below.

Train ride to hell? CPKC's rail cars catch fire, blazing trail to London, Ont.

A CPKC train with five railcars went up in flames as it was travelling in London, Ont., on Sunday night. No injuries were reported and fire officials said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the railcars were carrying old railway materials made of wood and so there were no dangerous goods involved.

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'Teachers want kids to pay attention,' Ford says as Ontario limits cell phone use in schools

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Five railcars on a CPKC train went up in flames as they were travelling in London, Ont., on Sunday night.

Platoon chief Colin Shewall said the railcars were carrying used wooden railway ties, which are used in laying railway tracks, and no injuries were reported.

“My understanding is the locomotives were tested recently for any type of emissions, and they passed that,” Shewell said.

“The train crew disconnected the cars that were on fire with some possible dangerous goods that were on board other cars that were empty, but still a threat.”

Still, residents in the area were urged to stay inside with windows shut because of heavy smoke just south of Oxford Street between Richmond and Waterloo streets.

The London Fire Department said multiple 911 calls came in from residents in the west end of the city at 10:49 p.m. The train continued travelling, heading eastbound to downtown, before coming to stop at Waterloo and Pall Mall streets.

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“At the height of the incident, we had about 28 firefighters and 10 apparatus on scene,” Shewell said.

Crews focused on protecting the Drewlo Holdings building from smoke and fire damage and used about 250 litres of foam to get the fire down.

By 12:30 a.m. Monday, firefighters lifted the request for residents to stay indoors with windows shut, saying there was no more smoke in the area.

Shortly after 1 a.m., fire crews began clearing the scene and CP crews moved the train cars to the railway yard that stretches between Adelaide and Quebec streets, just north of Central Avenue.

Eight firefighters and two apparatus were then dispatched to the yard to finish dousing hot spots, using a “T-Rex Aerial Truck,” the fire department said, and remained there until around 4:30 a.m.

Damage is pegged at $25,000 for any maintenance required due to heat stress on the rail cars and $10,000 to the Drewlo Holding building at Waterloo and Pall Mall streets (formerly the Siskinds building).

Shewell said the railway company was investigating the cause of the fire but that “at this point it’s deemed obviously suspicious until proven otherwise.”

A CPKC spokesperson said only that the incident “remains under investigation.” They also extended thanks to London’s first responders for their “effective response.”

Shewell also took the opportunity to praise the co-operation involved in responding to the fire, particularly from the rail crews.

“We called our partners at city hall to make sure that we were looking after any runoff into the water system, and that was looked after,” he said.

“We worked in conjunction, unified command, with CP rail as well.… The crews crew did a great job, the conductor and engineer also supplied us with pertinent information of what we were exactly dealing with. I can’t say enough about CP employees all around that helped make sure that we could bring this situation under control.”

— with files from Global News’ Ben Harrietha

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An investigation is underway into a Sunday evening freight train fire in the city’s core that caused about $35,000 damage to five rail cars and a downtown building and lit up social media. But it remains to be seen what sparked the blaze, an occurrence that happens about once a week on average in Canada. Our Jennifer Bieman reports

How did a burning freight train end up in downtown London?

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A massive nighttime fire engulfed five CPKC Rail freight train cars north of the core Sunday. Multiple residents called 911 to report an eastbound Canadian Pacific Kansas City train on fire along Oxford Street near Cherryhill Village Mall at about 10:45 p.m.

London fire crews intercepted the train near Waterloo and Pall Mall streets. More than two dozen firefighters used water and foam to douse the flames. The train crew disconnected the burning cars that were carrying wooden rail ties from other empty cars used to carry hazardous material.

No injuries or significant damage to property were reported.

Who’s investigating the incident?

CPKC has launched its own investigation into the incident, spokesperson Terry Cunha said Tuesday. No further updates on the status of the probe were available Tuesday.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) – an independent agency that probes air, marine, pipeline and rail transportation incidents – may launch a full investigation into the train fire as well, but it’s not a given, said Ian Naish, a rail safety consultant.

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“They’ll investigate ones they think they can learn something from and apply those lessons to other events to minimize risk,” said Naish, a former chief of policy, regulations and standards for Transport Canada’s Railway Safety Directorate.

The TSB said Monday it was aware of the incident and was gathering information.

If the TSB does launch a full investigation into Sunday’s fire, the final report on the incident will likely take many months to complete, Naish said.

What causes train fires?

Speaking generally about train fires and not about the particular London incident, Naish said there are a few potential culprits. Arson or vandalism are possibilities, he said, but there also are other potential ignition sources involving the train itself.

“Equipment can be faulty and you can get sparks,” he said. “Bits of hot metal can also start fires. . . . Wheels of trains get hot.”

Sparks also can fly out of the train’s exhaust system if the system is not well maintained, Naish said.

Sparks and pieces of hot metal flying off trains have been culprits in bush fires along rail tracks, Naish said.

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Investigators hunting for what caused a fire will interview witnesses, including fire crews, and piece together the events leading up to the crash using locomotive data recording software, communications with train dispatch and other details, Naish said.

How common are train fires?

Of the 995 accidents investigated by the TSB in 2022, the latest year data is available, 46 were fires or explosions aboard trains. In 2021, fires aboard trains accounted for 46 of the 898 accidents investigated by the national transportation safety regulator.

Fires and explosions aboard rolling stock, an industry term for rail cars, is one of several categories of accidents investigated by the TSB. Derailments, crossing accidents and incidents involving trespassers were the top three accidents reported by the TSB in 2022.

The number of fires involving rolling stock has been increasing since 2012, TSB statistics show. In 2012, the board investigated 17 fires and 10 the following year. From 2014-18, the number of train fires probed by the board hovered in the low- to mid 30s.

jbieman@postmedia.com