Airline passenger news and views

With airport literature we define that type of long but fast-paced novels of intrigue or adventure typically found in airport news stands - does the name Dan Brown sound familiar?

Heathrow goes a step further on airport novels and promotes literature about the airport, rather than literature to be consumed at the airport.

But, how would you do that? Simply by sponsoring the residence of literary luminaries and giving them the freedom to visit all areas of the airport to better understand the lives and routines of their potential characters.

The latest author to be granted with such a privilege has been Tony Parsons, who after witnessing for a week in August the behind-the-scenes activities of the world's busiest international airport, has written Departures: Seven Stories from Heathrow.

On Wednesday 26 October the writer and journalist read one of the short stories at Terminal 5. The live feed was streamed on Heathrow's facebook page to give fans a preview ahead of publication and 5,000 copies were also given out for free to passengers.

"There's something both magical and majestic in the way that airports allow us to connect to the world in a way that would have been unfathomable to my parent's generation. I feel very fortunate for the experiences I have had as Heathrow's writer-in-residence and for the chance to learn more about the airport's unique history, folklore and truly global residents," Parsons said.

Allegedly Parsons was eager to take up the role as Heathrow's writer-in-residence after becoming a fan of Airport - the 1968 bestselling novel by Arthur Hailey about a large metropolitan airport and the personalities of the people who use and rely upon its operation.

Normand Boivin, Heathrow Chief Operating Officer, said: "There are so many great untold stories at Heathrow that it's a challenge just scratching the surface of people's lives here, however Tony Parsons is a terrific storyteller and has done a great job in bringing them alive in this fabulous collection of short stories."

Philosopher and author Alain de Botton was the first to join Heathrow's writer-in-residence initiative in 2009. His book about the experience - A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary - is a meditation on the nature of travel, work, relationships and our daily lives from the ultimate "non-place." Somewhere that, by definition, we are all eager to leave.

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