Archive for the ‘Leeds Bradford airport’ Category
The war of words over border control strike action continues in the press and it is unknown how badly affected airport passengers are going to be by the action – reports vary from minor disruption to significant. Border control will be affected from the evening of Tuesday 29 November until midnight on Wednesday 30 November – strike action start times will depend on shift patterns. Any delays will affect passengers arriving into the UK that need to pass through passport control – outgoing flights should not be affected. Tips to help avoid delays:
The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has said that it has robust arrangements in place to maintain the security of the border and that it has
Rob Whiteman, chief executive of the UK Border Agency, said: ‘Securing the border is our priority and over the last weeks and months we have considered all options to ensure we are prepared for union action. ‘We always aim to minimise any disruption caused by the decision of unions to strike, but travellers could see longer waiting times at some ports and airports.’ For up-to-date UKBA information visit http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/ Bmi Regional and Leeds Airport has recently celebrated the tenth anniversary of Leeds to Brussels flights. The flights launched on 12 November 2001 and since that time the airline has carried more than 280,000 passengers on the route. bmi Regional flights from Leeds to Brussels operate twice a day, Monday to Friday, with one flight on Sundays.
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.”
Jet2.com and sister company Jet2holidays are celebrating with a trio of wins at two of the top award ceremonies in the travel industry calendar. Jet2holidays led the awards haul after being voted Best Tour Operator to the Iberian Peninsula and Islands at the prestigious British Travel Awards – the largest survey of public opinion on UK travel industry performance and the most anticipated awards in the travel industry calendar. The accolade recognises the package holiday specialists’ position as the leading British tour operator to that region. Jet2holidays was also named Best Mainstream Short Haul Operator at the 19th Annual Travel Awards of the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association, where Jet2.com was declared Best Low Cost Airline and runner up in the Best European Airline category. Voted for by Scottish travel agents, the airline and package holiday specialist beat off tough competition from rival travel companies to win the coveted accolades at the biggest event in the Scottish travel calendar. Jet2 received further national praise from readers of The Telegraph newspaper in its annual travel awards. The airline was unveiled as runner up in the Favourite Short-Haul Airline category, second only to British Airways. Steve Heapy, Managing Director of Jet2holidays and Chief Commercial Officer of Jet2.com, said: “This latest flurry of awards is a reflection of our continued dedication to providing the best possible service to our customers who clearly enjoy our growing list of city, sun and ski destinations. The recognition from both customers and agents is hugely important to us and is a clear indication that we are getting it right across the board.” “Our friendly flight times from eight regional bases and generous 22kg baggage allowance as well as our ATOL protected holiday packages to suit all tastes and budgets are what set us apart from our competitors and help to keep us the airline and tour operator of choice for our loyal customers.” Ryanair is to add an extra aircraft to its base at Leeds Bradford Airport. The third aircraft will arrive at Leeds in time for the summer 2012 season and enable the airline to add a further six routes to its destinations. The new services will operate to Chania (Crete), Corfu, Dinard, Kos, Milan (Bergamo) and Tenerife. Ryanair will also extend its popular Kaunas and Riga routes in to its summer 2012 schedule.
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.”
Regional airports and airlines have renewed their call on the Chancellor to reduce Air Passenger Duty (APD) on flights from all UK airports outside of London. The move follows the Chancellor’s decision to reduce APD on long haul flights from Northern Ireland, in recognition of the harmful effect the tax was having on air services. In a joint letter to the Chancellor, twelve airports and airlines called for urgent action to support the economic growth and development of the UK regions. The letter states: “Regional airports and airlines have a lower percentage of business travellers or inbound tourists than the London airports, and have been hit hard by economic downturn. That’s not just bad news for our businesses. It’s bad for jobs, bad for inward investment and bad for wealth creation in the UK regions. If the Government is serious about truly rebalancing the economy, then decisive action is needed on behalf of the 86 million passengers that fly from our airports.” Andrew Strong, Managing Director, Flybe UK said, “Flybe welcomes the Chancellor’s acknowledgement that air services from the UK’s regions are impacted by the high price of Air Passenger Duty (APD) and we look forward to the Treasury expanding these plans so that other lifeline regional routes, including domestic lifeline routes, may receive a differential rate of APD. It is nothing short of scandalous that domestic passengers should be hit not once but twice by this tax unlike overseas-bound travellers who only pay once.” Air Passenger Duty was introduced in 1994 and doubled in 2007. Manchester Airport’s passenger traffic peaked in that year at 22 million passengers but since then the fall in the regions has been almost double the fall in London. London airports are down 9% on the 2007 peak (127m in 2010, down from 139m in 2007) while regional airports have felt a bigger impact, down 17% on the 2007 peak (86m in 2010, down from 103m in 2007). Jonathan Bailey, External Affairs Director for the Manchester Airports Group (MAG), said: “We are delighted that the Chancellor has recognised the detrimental effect air passenger duty (APD) is having on UK aviation but disappointed that only Belfast’s plight has been noted. Action must be taken to address the disproportionate impact of APD in the regions outside London and the South East, as well as Northern Ireland. Every European country that has removed its equivalent of APD has duly felt the benefits and we are all aware of the difficult economic situation and how our economies need a boost. Aviation could provide it and we hope that the government will have the same foresight for other regions.” Dave Laws, Chief Executive at Newcastle Airport, said: “If the Government can pull out all the stops to protect an air link serving Northern Ireland, then it can do the same for the North East. We have said before that APD should be abolished or reduced significantly across the whole country. “Any differentiation based upon geographical criteria, which appears to be the case with the Northern Ireland proposal, would be unfair and possibly illegal under EU State Aid Regulations. Also, where would it end? Would Scotland and Wales also be successful in arguing special circumstances? A much fairer, and probably legal, approach would be to give all regional airports a stimulus by varying the rate of APD between congested and non-congested airports, thereby protecting the interests of all disadvantaged regions.” Earlier this year, MAG, Newcastle Airport and Flybe were involved in the ‘Fair Tax on Flying’ campaign and joined an alliance of more than 25 airlines, airports, tour operators, destinations and trade associations who were uniting to call on the Government to make the system of aviation tax in the UK fairer. That helped to raise awareness of the current system amongst UK travellers and saw the issue of a regionalised system of tax being mentioned in the Treasury’s subsequent consultation on the current system. To see a copy of the letter click here. Manx2.com is celebrating the fifth anniversary of flights between the Isle of Man and Leeds Airport. The Isle of Man based airline began flights to Leeds in 2006 and since that time has carried more than 50,000 passengers on the route. Leeds Bradford International Commercial & Aviation Development Director, Tony Hallwood, said: ‘Congratulations to Manx2.com. It’s always a popular route and the level of service offered by Manx2.com and their handling agents here is excellent. We look forward to celebrating many more years to come!’ The Air Travel Advisory Bureau (ATAB) is teaming up with law firm Barker Gillette to launch a coordinated legal claim against UK airlines that have not refunded Air Passenger Duty (APD) to passengers who have booked flights and not flown. Since the tax was introduced in 1994, ATAB estimates that consumers have lost out on millions of pounds in un-refunded APD. In fact, Which? Estimated that in 2003 alone Ryanair retained more than £5 million in un-refunded taxes. ATAB Chairman, Tony White said, “It is a scandal that some airlines hang on to this money. It never belonged to them. It’s a tax collected on the behalf of the Government. With a couple of exceptions, most of the UK airlines make it as difficult as possible to get your money back. If you don’t actually fly, for whatever reason, you are entitled to get the APD refunded. The airlines already have your credit card details, they should refund your card immediately. They make it difficult or expensive in the hope that you’ll go away – and most people do just that”. “It is truly shocking, we’ve found some airlines that will charge an “administration fee” greater than the value of the refund. This is a complete rip-off and it’s our intention to put an end to it. If you have booked an airline ticket out of the UK anytime since 1994, and not flown, then we want to hear from you” said White. For more information in reclaiming APD on unused flights visit www.atab.org.uk/action-now/reclaim-your-taxes/ A campaign to persuade the Chancellor to drop planned hikes in the tax levied on all flights leaving the UK was launched last Monday at airports across the country as a new poll is released showing 3 out of 4 people think that Air Passenger Duty (APD) should not go up in the next Budget. Of those saying APD should not go up 49 per cent said APD should be reduced. Only 6 per cent said APD should be increased. The Chancellor announced in this year’s Budget that APD will rise by double inflation in 2012. The ‘Hands off our Holiday’ campaign, backed by the Airport Operators Association (AOA), Board of Airline Representatives in the UK (BAR-UK), and the British Air Transport Association (BATA) is urging people to email their MP via the website www.handsoffourholiday.com and to tweet their support for the hikes to be abandoned using the hashtag #handsoffourhols. The poll, carried out by Opinium Research for the Hands off our Holiday campaign also shows that nearly 4 out of 5 people were unaware of the plans to further increase the tax by double inflation. Commenting on the campaign, Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the AOA, said: “Our message to the Chancellor is that enough is enough. Air Passenger Duty has already gone up by 325% on long haul flights and 140% on short haul flights in the last five years. Family finances are under great pressure at the moment and most people save hard all year for their holiday. Working families deserve a break.” Mike Carrivick, Chief Executive of BAR-UK, added: “The UK already has the highest rate of flight tax in the world. Why should families be discriminated against for wanting to fly off on a hard-earned break once a year?” Simon Buck, Chief Executive of BATA said: “The government already takes nearly £3bn in tax from passengers. This is more than the tax on the banking industry. Most people simply aren’t aware how much flight tax they pay. The government should come clean about this stealth tax and drop the hikes planned for next year.” |
