ULUWRONG

The new Uluru viewing platform, which opened last month at a cost of £12m, has been built in the wrong place, local experts claim. Talinguru Nyakunytjaku, which means “place to look from the sand dune” in the local Aboriginal language, was billed as the perfect spot to catch the dramatic sunrise over Australia’s most famous icon. However, its position two miles to the south of the rock means it sees Uluru cloaked in shadow at dawn during the popular winter season.

“It’s a second-rate location at best,” said veteran landscape photographer Ken Duncan. “To call it a sunrise viewing area is laughable.”

IT’S SCRATCHCARDS AT DAWN

The chief executive of the no-frills airline Germanwings has sparked a furious row with Ryanair by predicting that the Irish giant would go out of business. “The Ryanair model is coming to an end… travellers do not want to fly from nowhere to nowhere,” said Thomas Winkelmann, at the launch of Germanwings’s new Manchester-to-Bonn flight. Asked for a response, Ryanair told The Sunday Times: “We only reply to airlines that have a significant market share. Germanwings is the fly on the arse of the airline industry, so we’re not going to bother.”

PASSENGERS DOUSED

Four passengers on a Brussels Airlines flight were taken to hospital after their faces and arms were splashed with hot hydraulic fluid on Tuesday. Their Avro RJ100 aircraft had landed safely at Brussels airport when the fluid began leaking into the cabin from the overhead wing area. The cause of the incident is unclear and the airline is investigating.

SO LONG, MOTORAIL

Motorail from Calais to the south of France, beloved by a generation of British drivers, has been axed. The service whisked car and passengers to Avignon or Toulouse overnight. The decision by French rail operator SNCF leaves Motorailers with one option, a luxury summer service from Den Bosch, in Holland, three hours from Calais: singles to Avignon cost from £642 for a car and four-bed couchette, with Railsavers (railsavers.com).

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