While officials in New York have done their best to ensure airliners can land and take off at the city's airports without being hit by birds, a birdstrike still occurred at the end of June 2009, resulting in some damage to the airframe of the aircraft involved. The issue, therefore, still poses a considerable problem to the airport industry.

The most recent bird strike took place at La Guardia Airport on June 30th. According to industry analysts, approximately 7,000 similar incidents are occurring per annum in the US, with close to 1,000 of them inflicting damage on the aircraft. The financial impact these 7,000 birds strikes have on the airport industry in the US is substantial - with annual costs of as much as $650 million dollars - while the worldwide cost is in excess of $1 billion.

"It's a problem that has been increasing", the U.S Department of Agriculture's Michael Begier explained. "We're flying a lot, we have quieter planes, and we have a lot more wildlife. We're all competing for the same airspace."

While not elaborating in full, Begier - who coordinates the department's Airport Wildlife Hazards Programme - referred to the gradual increase in recorded bird strikes since the middle of the 20th century.

Hudson River Landing

The recent Hudson River landing incident in which an airliner came down after striking a whole flock of geese illuminated the issue on a worldwide scale. "I think when people hear the word 'bird strike' now they know what it means", Begier acknowledged.

The effect of the Hudson River landing ignited a new wave of attempts to eradicate the airliner/birdstrike issue, including a wide-scale goose cull at New York's two principal airports - La Guardia and JFK - and a dedicated bird radar trial at JFK airport only. As Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York, recently put it: "The incident served as a catalyst to strengthen our efforts in removing geese from, and discouraging them from nesting on, city property near our runways."

Bird Strikes at Airports

Bird strikes at airports or their peripheries represent 75 per cent of all bird strikes. Culling the birds, according to Begier, was only to be done after other methods like noise-making had been tried.

"We know we that we can mitigate the problem and we can definitely reduce it at airports", he concluded.

"But there's always a chance that there could be an incident."