Archive for the ‘Leeds Bradford airport’ Category
Jet2.com is celebrating after being named the best airline for three European hot spots by Which? members. The Which? Travel short-haul airline satisfaction survey, for the January edition of the magazine, revealed that Jet2.com has scooped best airline for Mainland Spain and Balearics, as well as Portugal and the Canaries, beating competition from some of the main airlines including easyJet, Ryanair and Monarch. Ian Doubtfire, Managing Director of Jet2.com, said: “Naturally we are delighted with these accolades which reinforce our commitment to providing exceptional service and good value for money. Which? members also named Spain the most visited country so we’re especially pleased to be getting our service, on our numerous Spanish routes, so right. “It’s great to receive this feedback which is hot on the heels of our recent success at The British Travel Awards where we were named Winner of Best Tour Operator to the Iberian Peninsula & Islands. We continue to enhance our service and travel products to ensure we remain the airline of choice for these and other destinations.” Jet2 has announced a new service to the Hungarian capital Budapest from Leeds – its 15th destination from the airport. The flights will launch on 29 March 2012, operating twice weekly (Thursdays and Sundays) – package holidays will also be available via Jet2holidays. Steve Heapy, Chief Commercial Officer of Jet2.com and Managing Director of Jet2holidays, said: “We are pleased to be able to offer the people of Yorkshire yet another fantastic city break destination from Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, direct from their local airport. Based on our experience of Budapest flights from Manchester and Edinburgh we anticipate that the route will also be popular with inbound tourists seeking to explore all that Yorkshire has to offer – therefore providing a welcome boost to the regional economy.” Leeds Bradford Airport has announced the commencement of works on the next major stage of its passenger terminal development, with an £11 million construction project to deliver impressive new facilities and a significantly improved passenger experience. This investment at Leeds Bradford highlights the strength of the Leeds City Region in supporting major infrastructure developments alongside securing and generating new jobs within the region. The development, which is backed by the airport’s private equity owners Bridgepoint, delivers on its commitment to create ‘best in class’ facilities to enhance Leeds Airport’s status as the Yorkshire’s gateway airport. John Parkin, Leeds Bradford International Airport’s Chief Executive, said: ‘I am delighted to announce the next stage of our planned investment to transform the passenger terminal at Leeds Bradford Airport. It marks an important milestone in the development of Yorkshire’s airport and our desire to provide the very best facilities for our rapidly growing numbers of customers and airlines. The broad economic conditions are challenging, but we are the UK’s fastest growing regional airport and with the strong support of our shareholders, Bridgepoint, we are confident now is the time to invest in our future. The investment and developments we are announcing today demonstrate our determination to succeed, to continue to grow and to provide the region with the airport it wants and deserves”. The terminal development will provide a 65% increase in airside space over two floors, creating a new departure lounge, a new range of upgraded food and beverage offers, a major walk through Tax and Duty Free store and additional retail units. The Yorkshire Premier Lounge, which has received passenger and industry acclaim for its stylish and contemporary ambience, will be enlarged and developed to provide both a business and leisure product. The security search zone and all of the boarding gate areas will be enlarged, plus a covered walkway to aircraft from the terminal will be built. The annual UK and Ireland Airport Chaplains’ Network conference was hosted for the first time at Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) this month (November, 2011). Twenty eight chaplains from across the country gathered to learn more about the day to day operations at Leeds Bradford Airport and to share good practice on spiritual and pastoral activity. The Chaplaincy at LBA was set up last year by local Minister, the Reverend Nick Baker of Guiseley Methodist Church. Since then the Revd Richard Dimery of St James Church in Horsforth joined the service to represent the Church of England. During the meeting The Right Reverend John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, discussed the positive relationship between established church and the development of chaplaincy work. Leeds Bradford Airport’s Chief Executive, John Parkin, gave an overview of the aviation industry in the UK and LBA’s role in the wider community. He also highlighted the importance of including spirituality and pastoral care on the business agenda. The meeting concluded with a tour of the airport, including a visit to the fire station where the fire crew demonstrated the latest vehicle to be added to the fleet of fire appliances.
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.” |
