Archive for the ‘Gatwick airport’ Category
easyJet is set to trial allocated seating on selected routes. The trial, which will be introduced in the spring of 2012, will mean each passenger will be allocated a specific seat, however, if they wish to sit in a specific seat, such as in the front row they can pay to reserve them. Carolyn McCall, easyJet CEO, said, “This is another example of easyJet trying to do all it can to make travel easy and affordable for our passengers. We look forward to seeing how our passengers respond and how the trial works. We will roll it out further only if it works operationally, from a revenue perspective and increases passenger satisfaction. If it doesn’t, we won’t.” Hong Kong Airlines is to operate daily flights to Hong Kong from Gatwick Airport. The non-stop Gatwick to Hong Kong flights will commence in March 2012 using an Airbus A330-200 in a unique Club Class seating configuration (Club Premier and Club Classic). Guy Stephenson, Chief Commercial Officer said: “We are very excited to welcome Hong Kong Airlines to Gatwick. This is a unique service which provides a real choice to business and premium leisure traffic to one of the world’s great cities, with excellent connections to other points in Asia.”
“No” Says Government. “Will cost the UK £47 billion” says Gatwick… The debate over airport expansion across the UK can be seen in the headlines on an almost daily basis. Aviation and industry heads are regularly quoted about how plans to ban airport expansion will seriously harm the UK economy. Not only now, but also in years to come. This comes as the Government refuses to allow expansion at South East airports. The Government, which is due to issue its vision for ‘sustainable growth’ in the UK’s aviation industry early next year, says that the three South East airports need to concentrate on making the airports “better, rather than just bigger”. Campaigners however continue to lobby the Government, refusing to take “no” for an answer. Most recently, Gatwick Airport issued a report with findings that say any negative plans to halt airport growth across the UK’s three largest airports could cost the UK £47 billion pounds over the next 50 years. Such figures in themselves could cause panic at a time when the UK economy could suffer from a double dip recession. Perhaps this is the plan, adding financial fuel to the runway ban fire? Equally, in recent weeks, BAA, owner of the UK’s largest airport, Heathrow, has said that with the threat of emerging markets across Europe, and their expanding airport strategies, the UK could lose out on trade worth more than £1.4 billion a year if Heathrow is not allowed to expand. And former owner of BMI, Sir Michael Bishop, has formally stated that Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted need new runways. Yet the Government stands strong on their South East airport expansion ban. New transport secretary, Justine Greening, has ruled out revisiting the ban on Heathrow’s third runway at the annual conference for the Airport Operator’s Association. She also ruled out expanding Gatwick and Stansted saying: “the reality is that the Heathrow runway decision has been made and it is done.” Even opposing party, Labour, has formally said that a new runway at Heathrow is ‘off the agenda’. In the meantime, new airport proposals are being put forward. Renowned Architect, Lord Foster, who designed Stansted Airport and London’s iconic Gherkin building, this week presented an International transport hub, named the Spine Project, in Kent that includes a controversial estuary airport – located on the Isle of Grain. The self-sufficient airport would be powered by tidal generators, and operate four runways, handling 150 million passengers a year – twice that of Heathrow. Could this be a rival to the Lord Mayor of London’s new city airport, dubbed ‘Boris Island’? The battle of increasing airspace and capacity, expansion plans being banned, anger and headlines lingers on. If the Government thought that the debate was a dwindling flame it seems they are wrong. More like a fuelled, somewhat raging fire. Gatwick Airport has received the award for ‘Best UK Airport’ (more than 6 million passengers) at the Airport Operators Association (AOA) Awards ceremony. The awards ceremony was held at the Hilton Metropole in London on Monday 31 October. The awards, which were presented by Simon Calder, were determined by the British Air Transport Association (BATA) and the Airport Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). British Airways is set to launch a new service from Gatwick to Nice next year. Flights will commence in March 2012 and operate three times per day. BA will continue to operate it flights to Nice from Heathrow and London City Airports. easyJet has announced it will add an extra daily flight between Gatwick and Barcelona. The additional flights will commence on Friday 6 January 2012 bringing the total number of daily flights between the two destinations to six, and adding an extra 2500 seats per month. Paul Simmons, easyJet’s UK Director, said: “Due to increased demand we are adding extra frequency on our popular Gatwick to Barcelona route, making it even more accessible for both business and leisure passengers in the region. “The fact that we are Gatwick’s largest airline reflects easyJet’s commitment to providing travellers in the region with the best choice of destinations, at convenient times and at the lowest possible fares.” Today will see Gatwick Airport’s first ever live question and answer session on Twitter. Between 4pm and 5pm this afternoon, 12 October 2011, Stewart Wingate, CEO of Gatwick Airport, will be available for questions on the @Gatwick_Airport Twitter feed. To participate, questions need to be tweeted using the hashtag #askgatwick – questions are being taken ahead of the session. Flybe has received a top accolade for on-time arrival and departure performance at London Gatwick airport The airline outperformed all other airlines flying to and from London Gatwick airport during the first quarter of the year for on-time arrival and departure performance (1 April – 30 June), receiving the airport’s gold award ahead of British Airways (silver) and Ryanair (bronze), Flybe operates nine routes out of London Gatwick offering a choice of up to 408 flights a week to popular leisure and business destinations namely Aberdeen, Belfast City, Bergerac, Guernsey, Inverness, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Newquay and Nantes. Andrew Strong, Managing Director, Flybe UK comments; “Flybe is committed to providing excellent service to its customers and we are extremely pleased that our punctuality performance at the country’s second busiest airport has been recognised with its first-ever gold award for the most punctual airline.” “The statistics speak for themselves and are a testament to the commitment to on-time performance by our staff. All at Flybe recognise that time is an extremely valuable commodity in today’s busy world and it is important for passengers to reach their destinations on time.”
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to investigate the charges over foreign currency exchange after being issued a super complaint by consumer watchdog, Customer Focus. The super complaint says that the British public are being charged around £1 billion a year in charges. Charges, which the watchdog says were unclear, excessive and possibly even unwarranted. Charges for exchanging monies were exampled in the report, citing that exchanging £500 into Euros can vary as much as from £10 up to £30 – Customer Focus says that consumers are confused as to how much foreign currency they will actually get for their £500 budget. The complaint also cites that advertising for foreign exchanges are misleading. It states that marketing headlines such as “0% commission” and “competitive exchange rates” are ambiguous. The phrase, 0% commission is under fire, given says the research, that rates have been inflated to include mark-ups, which is effectively the bureau de change or bank’s ‘commission’. Talking about the super complaint, Consumer Focus Chief Executive, Mike O’Connor, says “Almost half of us travel abroad every year, and we face a confusing array of hidden charges every time we buy currency. There are huge differences in the prices charged, for essentially providing the same service and, typically, banks offer the worst deal.” As a result, Consumer Focus are calling for the OFT to review three key areas in which will help consumers. These are:
Mr O’Connor concluded, “A cocktail of confusing charges and poor transparency means collectively we are losing out in a big way. We are calling on the OFT to investigate and work with the industry to send these dubious and complex charges packing.” easyJet has announced the introduction of a new service from Gatwick Airport. Gatwick flights to the Greek Island of Kefalonia will commence on 28 April 2012, operating three times per week until the end of October 2012. |
