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Judge orders mental evaluation for combative air passenger  

At the request of his own lawyer, a Miami man accused of disrupting a flight and forcing it to make an unscheduled stop in San Antonio has been ordered to be examined by a psychiatrist.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Pamela Mathy this week approved the request from assistant federal public defender R. Clark Adams. His client, Manolin Jesus Villaverde, “may be suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent” to understand the proceedings against him “or to assist properly in his defense,” Adams said in a court motion.

FBI agents said they arrested Villaverde, 37, last week after he became combative when told to put out cigarettes on a Continental Airlines flight

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Artists lend their voices to airport PSAs 

We're talking messages from the likes of Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), hip-hopper Macklemore and grunge legend Jerry Cantrell, who alerts travelers to the airport's no-smoking policy with a decidedly sympathetic twist:

"This is Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains reminding you that smoking is allowed on the lower drive outside the building and only in designated areas … Bummer, dude."

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Jet Diverts To San Antonio When Man Lights Cigarette 

A passenger has been accused of smoking and causing a ruckus on a California-bound Continental Airlines jet, which then diverted to San Antonio.

A detention hearing is scheduled Friday for Manolin Jesus Villaverde of Miami.

The FBI says Villaverde has been charged with interfering with flight crew members Tuesday night.

Investigators say Villaverde became unruly, on Continental Flight 1287 from Houston to Ontario, Calif., when he lit up twice and was told to put out the cigarettes. Other passengers helped a flight attendant subdue Villaverde.

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Cops: Passenger arrested at NJ airport after smoking pot on flight; claimed medicinal reasons 

A man faces drug charges after allegedly smoking pot on a JetBlue flight to Newark, N.J.

Airport police say the man claimed he had the marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Crew members from Flight 510 from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., say they became suspicious Monday when the man, identified as 43-year-old Adam Blumenkranz of Los Angeles, dropped a clear plastic bag in the cabin.

As the plane approached Newark the crew reported the man entered the lavatory. When he emerged, they say there was a strong smell of marijuana.

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Airport smoking rooms a 'retrograde' step 

New designated smoking rooms at Perth Airport will set a dangerous precedent and are a step backwards for the campaign to denormalise smoking, health experts warn.

A purpose-built smokers' area is being built at the southern end of the domestic terminal and will open next month, with a second facility to follow at the international terminal.

A Perth Airport spokeswoman said the buildings were aimed at creating a pleasant, smoke-free environment for passengers and staff by reducing the impact of passive smoking.

The 44sqm building will have capacity for 60 people and will feature flight information displays and vending machines.

But Professor of Health Policy at Curtin University Mike Daube described the move as retrograde and bizarre.

"I don't think we have anything like that at Australian airports. It goes absolutely dead against the approaches we have been taking towards the decline of smoking," he said.

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Perth Airport Not Building Smoking Rooms  

Today's edition of The West Australian newspaper has inaccurately portrayed Perth Airport's strategy to deal with smoking on the forecourt at the International and Domestic Terminals.

Perth Airport is not constructing 'smoking rooms' as implied in the article. Instead, a dedicated, wellventilated outside smokers' shelter in the vicinity of Domestic Terminal 3, but well away from the main doors of the terminal, is currently under construction.

The facility will be a short walk from the terminal and will feature Flight Information Displays as well as soft drink vending machines and seating, and is not located inside the terminal or fully-enclosed as is sometimes seen at airports in Asia.

The design of the facility meets the requirements for enclosed public space calculations as per the Tobacco Control Authority.

Perth Airport CEO, Brad Geatches says it was important to address the issue of smoking on the forecourt of the terminals so that passengers, visitors and airport workers did not have to walk through a curtain of smoke to enter the terminals.

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Perth Airport: "we won't build smoking rooms"  

Perth Airport has issued the following clarification to the report in WA Today which claimed the airport was set to open the first of two smoking rooms at its domestic and international terminals.

"Perth Airport is not constructing ‘smoking rooms’ as implied in the WA Today article" a spokesperson for the airport stressed.

Instead, it is building a "well-ventilated outside smokers’ shelter in the vicinity of Domestic Terminal 3, but well away from the main doors of the terminal", and not a fully-enclosed facility inside the airport.

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• Airport smoking shelter plan sparks fierce debate  

The airport management says they are seeking a practical solution to decrease passive smoking, but opponents say the plan for smoking areas is bizarre.

Smoking is banned inside the Perth airport and on Australia flights, but this has lead to clusters of smokers outside the terminal doors and a passive smoking problem for people entering and leaving the building.

Brad Geatches, CEO of the Perth airport says he's looking for a practical solution to the problem by creating outdoor shelters for smokers away from the forecourt and walkways. Building work has begun on the first at the Virgin terminal with another planned for the Qantas end.

"The perennial problem," he says, "is that people smoke out the front of the terminal, it's technically outdoors but they create a real passive smoking problem." . . .

Mike Daube, president of the Australian Council on Smoking and Health, says the shelters are "a backwards step."

"I'm a frequent traveller and I agree there is a real problem with passive smoking - you have to run the gauntlet when you go into the terminal."

"The airport should be moving smokers on and I don't see why you need to normalise smoker and create a precedent with smoking areas and essentially encourage people to smoke somewhere on the airport premises."

"It's going to create occupational health and safety problems."

"Worksafe have confirmed that there is no way that staff could go into these area s- all that Brad and his colleagues should be saying is 'no smoking on the forecourt' and patrolling that.

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Airport building 'outside smokers' shelter' not smoking rooms 

PERTH Airport is not building smoking rooms but an "outside smokers' shelter", according to the CEO.

Reacting to media reports today, Perth Airport issued a statement to clarify that a well-ventilated outside smokers' shelter was under construction near the Domestic Terminal 3, pointing out a difference between indoor smoking rooms sometimes seen in airports around Asia.

Perth Airport CEO Brad Geatches said the idea for the shelter came about after the airport received complaints from members of the public who had to weave through smokers on the forecourt.

"This is a pragmatic approach to eliminate the impact of passive smoking on all workers and visitors to the airport," he said.

"The facility we are building is not a room, but a well-ventilated area away from the front of the terminal to improve the airport experience."

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Airport smoking rooms a 'retrograde' step 

New designated smoking rooms at Perth Airport will set a dangerous precedent and are a step backwards for the campaign to denormalise smoking, health experts warn.

A purpose-built smokers' area is being built at the southern end of the domestic terminal and will open next month, with a second facility to follow at the international terminal.

A Perth Airport spokeswoman said the buildings were aimed at creating a pleasant, smoke-free environment for passengers and staff by reducing the impact of passive smoking.

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Airport smoking rooms slated  

Perth Airport will soon have purpose-built smoking rooms at its domestic and international terminals, sparking condemnation from health groups who argue it was a backwards step that normalised smoking.

The first of the enclosed smoking facilities, which are common in Asian airports and will have vending machines and flight information displays, is due to open outside the southern end of the domestic terminal next month.

At 44sqm, it has the capacity for 60 people. Perth Airport confirmed it would be followed by a similar facility when the new domestic terminal opened next year.

A temporary smokers' area currently operated at the forecourt of the international terminal.

"Perth Airport is constructing these facilities primarily to reduce the impact of passive smoking," an airport spokeswoman said.

However, Australian Council on Smoking and Health president Mike Daube yesterday described construction of a purpose-built smoking room as a "shocking step backwards".

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• Finance Ministry prohibits selling alcohol, cigarettes outside airports  

Egypt's Finance Ministry has ordered the Egypt Free Shops Company (EFSCO) to stop selling alcohol and cigarettes anywhere other than its branches in Egyptian airports, a company source told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The company source said the decision, which comes days before the celebration of the new year, will grant buyers at the company's outlets in Egyptian airports a customs exemption for one bottle of alcohol and one carton of cigarettes, instead of four of each.

The same source revealed that the new measures have stirred a crisis both in the company and airports, predicting negative repercussions for the company sales.

As part of the new initiative, custom exemptions will also be limited for merchandise and presents brought into the country through airports, the source added.

Alcohol and cigarettes will only be available for buyers in official EFSCO stores upon their arrival at the airport, the source said.

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Imperial Tobacco launches new campaign to support adult smokers 

Imperial Tobacco has launched 'Smoking Allowed', a new campaign to support adult smokers in the UK.

The company's UK communications manager, Iain Watkins, said: "'Smoking Allowed' is a new campaign demonstrating our huge commitment to supporting those 12 million UK adults who choose to smoke. Recent research highlighted areas of their daily lives and routines where they feel they lack adequate facilities.

"Feeling comfortable when they travel was continually emphasised as being particularly important to smokers so one of the first outputs in the 'Smoking Allowed' campaign will be the provision of high-quality smoking pavilions being built and installed at key points across the UK. The first opened at Bristol Airport last week providing heating, lighting, shelter, ventilation, hand-gel and litter solutions."

Imperial Tobacco's UK General Manager, Amal Pramanik, said: "It is important and appropriate for us to initially work with our hometown airport - Bristol Airport - as over one million passengers, who use the airport each year, are adult smokers. Going forward Imperial Tobacco is committed to working with many locations to provide high-quality facilities for smokers."

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Passenger smokes in plane toilet during flight 

A man was caught smoking in the toilet of a Vietnam Airlines plane while it was flying from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City yesterday, the national carrier reported.

When the VN513 flight completed half of its journey, the aircraft's warning system indicated an increased temperature in the restroom.

Attendants immediately checked the toilet and found a passenger, Nguyen Van Truong, was smoking a cigarette there.

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Johnny Depp Has Private Smoking Plane  

Johnny Depp has revealed he prefers to fly on private planes because he can smoke unlike on commercial airlines which ban the practice.

Johnny Depp flies on private planes so he can smoke.

The 'Rum Diary' star prefers to travel in his own personal aircraft so he can indulge his habit . . .

The 48-year-old actor gave up smoking for two-and-a-half years and only took the habit back up after working on 'The Rum Diary' with Bruce Robinson, with the director turning to alcohol after several years of sobriety when making the film, which is based on the semi-autobiographical by late gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.

Speaking about taking up smoking again, Johnny told The Guardian newspaper: "It was the gift we gave each other.

"One bang on Bruce's horrible little Cafe Creme cigar. One bang - yeah one hit and it was over. I just said, 'Come on, give me a bang.'

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