Archive for the ‘Belfast airport’ CategoryIf you thought smoking couldn’t get more expensive, you’d be wrong, well at Belfast International Airport you would be. Not content with charging a £1 drop-off fee and £1 for plastic bags, the airport has now introduced a £1 fee for passengers to access the designated smoking area, the BBC reports. Smokers have to insert a pound coin into a machine to open the doors to the special smoking area. The airport, which is believed to be the first UK airport to impose a charge for smokers, defended the fee by saying that “providing a specialist facility for a relatively small number of users is expensive to build and to maintain, so it is not unreasonable that a small charge should be levied for the use of the facility.”
All Continental flights operated with Boeing 757-200 aircraft now feature new flat-bed seats in BusinessFirst. This marks the second major milestone in the installation of 180-degree flat-bed seats throughout Continental’s international fleet. Continental completed the retrofit on its 22 Boeing 777s in December 2010. Continental operates 41 Boeing 757-200 aircraft, flying principally between its New York hub at Newark Liberty International Airport and Europe – including Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London Heathrow. Jet2.com has just announced a new route to Alicante direct from Belfast International Airport. The new Jet2.com flights and Jet2holidays breaks will depart every Monday for the peak summer period of 27 June to 29 August 2011. Managing director for Jet2holidays, Steve Heapy, is confident that this route will be extremely popular with Northern Irish tourists. He commented: “Alicante is perfect for families, as well as for couples looking for a romantic break or groups looking for fun in the sun. It has proven to be one of our most popular holiday destinations from our other bases and we are delighted to be able to now offer great value package holidays and flights to Alicante from Northern Ireland. Alicante will be the airline’s 13th destination available from Belfast – Jet2.com also flies to the following destinations from Belfast International Airport: Blackpool, Dubrovnik, Geneva, Ibiza, Jersey, Leeds Bradford, Majorca, Menorca, Murcia, Pisa, Tenerife and Toulouse. The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the UK’s specialist aviation regulator, is conduction a two-week online survey on the travelling public’s experiences during the disruption caused to flights in November and December 2010. The survey aims to help the CAA gain a better understanding of passengers’ views about how airports, airlines and other companies operating at UK airports, met, or failed to meet, their expectations. For instance, the CAA is interested in finding out how well passengers were kept informed about the disruption and whether people were told about their rights to assistance from airlines. The survey can be accessed here: www.caa.co.uk/snowsurvey The CAA is keen to hear from as many people who experienced disruption as possible to try and build the best possible picture of what worked well and what did not, so we can work with industry to improve the situation in case of future disruptions. The CAA is also acting as an independent observer on the enquiry panel put in place by BAA to review Heathrow’s performance and establish the lessons to be learned following December’s severe weather. An easyJet plane that had just landed at Belfast International Airport from Liverpool last Thursday, was involved in an emergency passenger evacuation after smoke was spotted in the cabin. Passengers had to use the emergency chutes to evacuate the aircraft as health and safety procedures were followed. Speaking about the incident, an easyJet spokesperson said that passengers were never in any danger but it was critical that the correct procedures were followed. Coincidentally, on the same day a Flybe aircraft flying from Belfast City Airport to Birmingham Airport was also involved in an emergency evacuation due to air conditioning problems, resulting in 63 passengers and five crew being disembarked following concerning smells in the cabin. To book Belfast airport parking and Belfast hotels click on the links.
Passengers using Belfast International Airport, Cardiff Airport and Luton Airport will be able to take advantage of a wealth of information and services on the airports new websites. The airports, all owned by Spanish firm, Abertis Intraestructuras, have undergone the revamp in order to make the obtaining of information much simpler. Passengers will now find a simplistic home page, which then navigates users directly to areas of choice, such as planning a trip, travelling soon or passenger meet and greet. The new sites will also link into social networking sites. Importantly, each website has enhanced booking pages for airport car parking, car hire, airport lounges, flights and holidays. Regular site users will find the customisation areas of the site most useful. This will allow passengers to save specific areas of the site most relevant to them, including airport parking, security, shopping and executive lounges for the three airports, Belfast International Airport, Cardiff Airport and Luton Airport. The Belfast Telegraph has reported that a passenger passing through Belfast Airport, on a bmi flight to London Heathrow Airport, boarded without once being asked for ID as he passed through security. The passenger told the newspaper how surprised he was about the lack of security as he passed through the security checks and also the departure gate. Whilst, as a domestic flight, airlines are not compelled to ask for ID it is apparently extremely unusual for this not to happen. To book Belfast airport parking and Belfast hotels click on the links.
Airports information blog is taking a welcome rest over the Christmas period and will be back with you on Tuesday 4 January 2011. As this is the last post of this year, I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year. Thank you all for following and thanks for all your comments. For those of you still struggling to get flights in to or out of the country, the advice remains the same: if you have any questions about the status of your flight check with your airline. Your airline is totally responsible for your flight – there’s a previous blog post here with airline contact information and snow alerts. Ideally, check your airline’s website before calling – phone lines are busy and I’ve heard from some of you that have been waiting as long as five hours to get though. Check the online departures board of your airport to find out the status of your flight or even try the arrivals board on the website of your destination airport. Many airlines now use Twitter as a means of answering passengers’ questions, so try this contact method too. Have a great Christmas and a very happy New Year, I hope you all get to where you’re meant to be in time for the celebrations, Paula Most of the airports, including Gatwick and Heathrow Airports, that had cancelled all flights have now reopened, however all UK airport are suffering from delays. Heathrow is running a limited service – they have changed their estimated service now until at least 6am on Christmas Eve, although flights are now operating 24 hours a day to help clear the backlog. Advice is to call the airline you are travelling with before heading to the airport. Many of the Airports now have Twitter pages – go online and follow the latest updates. Aberdeen Airport George Best Belfast City Airport Birmingham Airport Bristol Airport Bournemouth Airport Cardiff Airport Dundee Airport Durham Tees Valley Airport East Midlands Airport Edinburgh Airport Exeter Airport Gatwick Airport Glasgow Airport Heathrow Airport Humberside Airport Inverness Airport Leeds Bradford Airport London City Airport Liverpool John Lennon Airport Luton Airport Manchester Airport Newcastle Airport Newquay Airport Norwich Airport Plymouth Airport Robin Hood Airport Southampton Airport Stansted Airport Stornoway Airport Most of the airports, including Gatwick and Heathrow Airports, that had cancelled all flights have now reopened, however all UK airport are suffering from delays. Heathrow is running a limited service until at least 6am on Thursday 23rd December. And George Best Belfast City Airport has cancelled all flights due to severe weather that has come in this afternoon – Tuesday, 2pm. Advice is to call the airline you are travelling with before heading to the airport. Many of the Airports now have Twitter pages – go online and follow the latest updates. Aberdeen Airport George Best Belfast City Airport Birmingham Airport Bristol Airport Bournemouth Airport Cardiff Airport Dundee Airport Durham Tees Valley Airport East Midlands Airport Edinburgh Airport Exeter Airport Gatwick Airport Glasgow Airport Heathrow Airport Humberside Airport Inverness Airport Leeds Bradford Airport London City Airport Liverpool John Lennon Airport Luton Airport Manchester Airport Newcastle Airport Newquay Airport Norwich Airport Plymouth Airport Robin Hood Airport Southampton Airport Stansted Airport Stornoway Airport |
