UK airports information blog

Jet2 adds Fuerteventura flights

April 25, 2013 By Paula Garrett Leave a Comment

Jet2 has announced the addition of flights and holidays to Fuerteventura, a brand new destination for the company.

The airline, which already offers flights to Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Tenerife, will now offer summer 2014 flights to Fuerteventura from Leeds Bradford, Manchester and Glasgow Airports.

Steve Heapy, Chief Executive of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays said: “The addition of the sun soaked island of Fuerteventura is great news for our customers who now have even more choice when it comes to selecting their next far sun getaway.

“Fuerteventura is a bit of an unsung gem when it comes to the Canaries, but with plenty on offer for families as well as beach and watersports lovers, we’re confident the island will prove extremely popular with those wanting guaranteed sunshine.”

Leeds Airport hosts guide dog training day

April 25, 2013 By Paula Garrett Leave a Comment

Leeds Bradford Airport yesterday hosted a very special group tour for a litter of Guide Dogs puppies in training. The airport is an ideal venue as it is a unique environment for the pups to encounter many of the obstacles that they will need to deal with in their day-to-day life as a guide dog.

Guide dog pups live with volunteer puppy walkers for the first year of their lives, during which they undertake early obedience training and socialisation in many different environments; this can be anywhere a guide dog owner may want to go once the pup is qualified. The aim is to encourage the puppies to stay focused on the job in all situations.

Five pups attended this extraordinary training event, with ages ranging from 3 to 8 months. Some of the more advanced puppies were taken through the check in and security procedures to explore the recently developed terminal.

The pups were accompanied by their very special volunteer puppy walkers, who play a vital role in preparing the pups for their future as an assistance dog from a young age.

Nicola Morgan, puppy training manager from the Leeds Guide Dog Mobility team explained: “The thing which is often hardest to achieve is keeping the pups calm in all sorts of situations. The airport provides an excellent setting for this, as it is a microcosm of many of the things that a guide dog could expect to encounter in its life. There are lots of people (that the pups need to ignore), new noises, announcements, and obstacles such as trolleys and wheeled suitcases, as well as different floor surfaces, lifts and stairs. We are very grateful to the staff and passengers at Leeds Bradford Airport for being so accommodating.”

Sophie Brown, Chief Financial Officer at Leeds Bradford Airport said: “I am delighted that Leeds Bradford Airport can support the hard work that Guide Dogs and their wonderful volunteers do. We hope our passengers enjoyed meeting these special pups on their visit to the airport.”

Filed Under: Leeds Bradford airport

BA extends and increases London City winter flights

April 24, 2013 By Paula Garrett Leave a Comment

Year-round British Airways flights to the Balearic Islands have proved so popular that there are even more from London City this winter.

The winter schedule, from October 27, will offer five flights a week direct from the Docklands to Ibiza, increasing from two last winter, and flights to Palma will increase from two to four flights a week.

Once again British Airways will be the only airline offering direct flights from the UK to Ibiza during the winter months.

Luke Hayhoe, British Airways general manager commercial, London City, said: “We decided to extend our new routes to Ibiza and Majorca through the winter last year because our customers wanted to get there all year round. The flights were so busy all winter that we have decided to add even more capacity and frequency for this year.”

Filed Under: London City airport Tagged With: British Airways

Passenger numbers continue to grow at HIAL airports

April 23, 2013 By Paula Garrett Leave a Comment

Passenger numbers at Scotland’s regional airports grew last month, heralding a positive end to the winter season.

Latest figures from airport operator HIAL show that its 11 airports handled 103,616 passengers in March, an increase of 5,507 (+5.6%) on last March. An early Easter and continuing growth in the energy sector helped boost passenger numbers.

Passenger numbers were up at Sumburgh, Wick John O’Groats, Barra, Kirkwall and Benbecula, while numbers at Inverness were essentially static.

However, passenger numbers fell at Campbeltown, Islay, Stornoway, Tiree and Dundee.

The figures also show that annual passenger numbers at HIAL have reached a four year high.

In the 12 months to March, passenger numbers across the group increased by 3.1% to 1,297,676 – the highest since 2008/09 financial year.

Inglis Lyon, Managing Director of HIAL said: “This winter has seen some particularly strong growth, with passenger numbers up during every month of the winter season. In large part, this is a result of the upturn in oil related traffic at Wick John O’Groats and Sumburgh, a key sector for our business and one with real growth potential. Kirkwall and Barra have also been performing well, with significant growth at both airports.

“After a difficult period for the aviation industry, we are encouraged to see annual passenger numbers reach a four year high.

“There are some challenges for the aviation business, with fuel costs remaining high and the UK economic outlook still weak.

“Nevertheless, we are look forward to what we hope will be a busy summer season with additional capacity on several key routes and the launch of some fantastic new holiday packages.”

The start of the summer season, which runs from April to October, will see the return of international flights from Inverness to Zurich, operated by Helvetic Airways, and the launch of new package holidays to some of Switzerland’s top mountain resorts as well as the French Riviera. Flybe’s popular service from Inverness to Amsterdam will operate daily from 13 April.

Flights from Kirkwall and Sumburgh to Bergen, operated by Loganair, will resume in May.

Campbeltown is set to benefit from the launch of a new Sunday service to/from Glasgow on 16 June and Loganair will extend its Sunday service between Glasgow and Tiree, operating from mid June until the end of September. Flights to Jersey will also operate from Dundee, from 4 May, and Inverness, from 8 June. Flybe’s mid afternoon departure from Inverness to London Gatwick will also return from 1 May.

Last month, HIAL became the first airport operator in Scotland to offer passengers free wifi. The system is now live across HIAL’s 11 airports. Regional airline flybe also confirmed a new weekly service from Inverness to Geneva, starting in December.

Filed Under: HIAL airports, Inverness airport

Heathrow Express announces partnership with Aer Lingus

April 23, 2013 By Paula Garrett Leave a Comment

Heathrow Express has announced a partnership with Aer Lingus, which allows customers to book their train travel as part of their flight booking.

This is a first for Heathrow Express and forms part of their plan to provide their customers with easier options for booking their journey while broadening the company’s online presence. Aer Lingus was selected as the first airline to partner with Heathrow Express for their strong range of existing ancillary online services and large number of business travellers from Ireland who already use the service.

Aer Lingus passengers are now able to book their flight and also opt for their Heathrow Express journey to London to be included in the same transaction. For the customer, this means that together with their airline e-ticket, they will also receive a Heathrow Express e-ticket, reducing the time they spend planning their journey and creating an easy seamless solution.

Heathrow Express Managing Director, Keith Greenfield said: ‘We are very excited to be partnering with Aer Lingus on this initiative and to be able to help make the process of booking faster travel between London and Heathrow easier. This new booking mechanism provides a great way for Aer Lingus to enhance their online product and create a seamless transition for their passengers from online booking, to airport and onto Central London. ’

Aer Lingus operates up to twelve flights a day between Dublin and London Heathrow, four flights a day between Cork and Heathrow and three flights a day between Belfast and Shannon and Heathrow.

Filed Under: Heathrow airport Tagged With: Aer Lingus, Heathrow Express

‘Smart Access’ boarding pass checks begin at Stansted airport

April 22, 2013 By Paula Garrett Leave a Comment

Stansted Airport’s new £1.2m ‘Smart Access’ scanners come in to operation today, 22 April 2013.

The state-of-the-art scanners offer self-service boarding pass checks, which scan boarding passes and verify that passengers are travelling on the correct flight and date.

Neil Banks, Stansted Airport’s Terminal Manager, said: “The introduction of the new ‘Smart Access’ system will make it quicker and simpler for passengers to reach the departure lounge. The innovation is the first part of some really exciting changes planned across the airport, part of which involves developing a fantastic new and improved departure lounge for our passengers to enjoy.

Filed Under: Stansted airport

New lounge opens at Bristol Airport

April 22, 2013 By Paula Garrett Leave a Comment

A new airport lounge has recently opened at Bristol Airport.

The new £600,000 Aspire Lounge replaces the old executive lounge, increasing the space available by 50 per cent and introducing a range of product improvements for passengers wanting to relax in style before boarding a flight.

Aimed at both business and leisure travellers, the Aspire Lounge will be operated by long-standing business partner, Servisair, which runs more than 20 other airport lounges across the UK and Europe.

The new facility offers greater levels of comfort in a stylishly designed environment, including kitchen facilities which enable hot food to be provided for the first time, alongside snacks and premium brand drinks.

A series of distinct zones will cater for the differing requirements of business and leisure passengers, depending on whether they want to do some last minute work before boarding or relax ahead of a holiday flight. Families will also be welcome, with a new entertainment area complete with personal televisions. Specially designed side tables provide charging facilities for laptops, iPads or games consoles and the lounge will include toilet facilities.

The new lounge forms part of an overall strategy to enhance facilities for business passengers using Bristol Airport. Recent improvements include an extension to the Premier Car Park, an enhanced Fast Track security product and improvements to the boarding gate used by full-service scheduled airlines. These improvements have taken place alongside the introduction of new routes by airlines such as bmi regional (to Aberdeen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Milan and Munich) and additional capacity on existing services operated by Blue Islands, Brussels Airlines and KLM.

Entry to the new Aspire Lounge will start from as little as £17.49 per adult and £9.99 for children when booked online. Walk up prices on the day will be £19.95 per adult and £10.95 for children.

Passengers will also be able to take advantage of Servisair’s LoungeMiles® rewards scheme which entitles customers to one free lounge pass or a £5 gift voucher from retailers such as Boots, John Lewis or M&S, for every five visits made.

Filed Under: Bristol airport

Students help Monarch launch Leeds flights

April 19, 2013 By Paula Garrett Leave a Comment

Monarch has celebrated the start of summer departures from its newest base, Leeds Bradford Airport, with the help of travel and tourism students from Leeds City College and The Aviation Academy.

The airline is basing two of new Airbus aircraft at Leeds Bradford, the first of which has just arrived and is fitted with Sharklets – the only one of its kind to operate in the UK. These enhancements to the wingtip save fuel, increase performance, lower carbon emissions and improve payload by up to 450kg.

Monarch’s summer programme of flying includes flights to Majorca, Faro, Larnaca and Lanzarote, with the remaining seven new summer routes to Menorca, Heraklion, Rome, Dalaman, Antalya, Barcelona and Bodrum (22 July – 16 Sept only) starting in May.

Commenting on the departure of the new summer flights from Leeds Bradford, Monarch Airlines’ Managing Director, Kevin George, said: “We are delighted to be celebrating the departure of our first scheduled summer flights from Leeds Bradford in conjunction with the arrival of our new aircraft. Basing the new aircraft at Leeds Bradford demonstrates our commitment to the airline’s expansion in Yorkshire and our 12 new routes allow greater choice to our new customers in the region. We are looking forward to a busy summer at Leeds Bradford.”

Tony Hallwood, Leeds Bradford Airport’s Commercial Director, said: “We welcome the introduction of the Monarch base to Leeds Bradford Airport and the unveiling of the new, state of the art A320 aircraft, which features the latest technology and enhanced passenger facilities as the summer 2013 schedule commences. Monarch’s new scheduled services offer flights to key leisure destinations across the Mediterranean including Turkey, Italy, Cyprus, Spain, Greece and Portugal with increased beach and city break choice for travellers from Yorkshire’s gateway airport.”

Filed Under: Leeds Bradford airport Tagged With: monarch

BA CityFlyer tops on-time table

April 18, 2013 By Paula Garrett Leave a Comment

British Airways London City subsidiary BA CityFlyer is officially the most on-time of the nine largest airline operators in the UK and Ireland.

In figures just published the airline tops the table with almost 88 per cent of flights overall last year departing on time.

The aviation industry standard for On Time Performance (OTP) is flights that depart within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure time.

The figures also show British Airways services operated by BA CityFlyer came out top for on-time departures on seven routes from London City Airport – Amsterdam, Barcelona, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Madrid and Zurich.

Carl McNally, British Airways general manager operations and engineering, said: “We do place a great deal of importance on punctuality and our crew and ground staff work extremely hard to achieve this. This is excellent recognition of their efforts which I am sure are appreciated by our customers”.

Filed Under: London City airport Tagged With: BA Cityflyer

Double win for Heathrow at World Airport Awards

April 18, 2013 By Paula Garrett Leave a Comment

Heathrow’s Terminal 5 has been named the world’s ‘Best Airport Terminal’ for a second time and Heathrow has been named ‘Best Airport for Shopping’ for a fourth time at this year’s World Airport Awards held at the Passenger Terminal EXPO in Geneva.

The award reflects the findings of the independent Airport Service Quality survey which shows that the proportion of passengers rating their journey as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ has increased from 48% in 2007 to 72% today.

The Skytrax World Airport Survey is widely regarded as the quality benchmark for the world airport industry, assessing customer service and facilities across 388 airports in 2012. The World Airport Awards are independent of any airport control or input and are therefore an impartial benchmark of airport excellence and quality.

Since 2003 Heathrow has invested £11 billion in the airport and has recently announced plans to spend an additional £3 billion between 2014 and 2019. Heathrow will open the new Terminal 2 in 2014, a £2.5 billion investment which will result in most passengers travelling through new facilities.

This year, Heathrow has introduced a range of brands to its passengers through ‘pop-ups’ from names such as Cath Kidston and Omega, designed to provide a customers with the latest in retail trends and a new experience each time they fly. Heathrow has over 52,000 square metres of retail space and more than 340 retail and catering outlets in total offering a wide range of premium brands and high street favourites including the recently opened Alexander McQueen and Dolce and Gabbana.

Fidel Lopez, Heathrow’s Commercial Director said: ‘We’re delighted that our passengers have recognised Heathrow once again at the prestigious World Airport Awards for a fourth year in a row for our shopping and for a second time for Terminal 5. Next year will see the opening of Terminal 2 which will allow even more of our passengers to enjoy an experience similar that offered by Terminal 5 today. Later this year we will also begin to announce a range of exciting brands set to open in Terminal 2 as part of our work to remain on the cutting edge of retail trends.’

Filed Under: Heathrow airport