Blackpool Airport responds to Zoo SOS!

The team at Blackpool Zoo has come up with an ingenious idea that infuses the historic site’s past and present to produce a spine tingling, socially distanced spookfest this Halloween. 

In order to make it happen the zoo needed a very specific item; something that isn’t easy to find!

But one call to the friendly fire department at Blackpool Airport and they secured their super-sized story centrepiece. 

Now, keepers and staff are reassembling the various parts of a surplus PA28 Cherokee light aircraft in the middle of its popular Dinosaur Safari ready for the telling of a fictional tale that is sure to enthral visitors young and old. 

It’s a story that’s haunted the darkest corners of the zoo since it first opened, a story swathed in mystery and ghostly horror, more details of which will be revealed later this week. 

Jim Johnson, Senior Airport Fire Officer at Blackpool Airport, said: “When we got the call from the team at Blackpool Zoo asking if we had any spare aircraft, we were intrigued to know what they were planning!

“Once they explained everything, we knew we had to help and the crew on blue watch got to work!

“Of course, it wasn’t just a case of finding and donating an aircraft, we had to get it there too, so we called on our friends at High-G Flight Training School here at the airport. 

“High-G’s mechanic and our crew then dismantled it and helped load it onto various vehicles for its journey to the zoo. 

"We’re all looking forward to seeing what they do with it and will be going over to take a look when it reaches its final destination!”

Laura Ockenden, Digital Marketing Executive at Blackpool Zoo, who has been working on the idea of a socially distanced journey through time, added: “We’re well known for our tall orders here at Blackpool Zoo and last year we called on Lancashire Fire and Rescue to help us move a 50 stone pumpkin for our Halloween celebrations.

“With the usual Halloween antics of pumpkin carving and group activities off the agenda for 2020, we wanted to go bigger and better than ever before and to really give visitors something to smile about. 

“But we ‘just’ needed to get hold of an aeroplane.

“Never did we imagine that we would be able to find one that would tick every single box, but a couple of calls later we were making our way to Blackpool Airport to collect the perfect plane!

“We spent a very windy afternoon disassembling and loading it onto our trucks and now it’s all hands on the deck to get the zoo ready for Halloween.

“I want to say a huge thank you to everyone at Blackpool Airport and High-G Flight Training for making our almost impossible dream a reality!

“We can’t wait to reveal the full details of what we have planned!”