Archive for the ‘London City airport’ CategoryBritish Airways has seen a massive increase in passenger numbers at London City Airport as travellers seek to escape the worst of the British summer. This year the airline has carried nearly 60 per cent more customers to sunshine destinations from the Docklands airport compared to last year. The combination of poor British weather, an exciting new schedule of popular leisure destinations, low fares and a brand new fleet of aircraft are seen as the key factors in attracting new customers. Luke Hayhoe, general manager commercial BA CityFlyer, said: “We first introduced leisure flights to Mallorca and Ibiza last year and they proved so popular we extended the season and brought them back this year. We also introduced year-round flights to Faro and Malaga this year giving customers the option of some winter sun destinations as well. “We are obviously delighted with the number of people choosing to flying with British Airways from London City and hope the trend continues into next year.” This summer the airline added extra flights to Palma, Ibiza and Nice to meet demand from passengers.
Consultant Martin Hill brings 30 years’ experience as an air traffic controller and supervisor at the London Air Traffic Control centre to Gama. He is now in situ at the company’s Farnborough Airport HQ and is advising Gama’s operations and charter teams as they communicate to clients about their air travel to London coinciding with next year’s big event. Gama’s Director of Client Relations Trevor Jones was participating as a panellist at BGAD 2011’s Practicalities of the Olympics Panel at Cambridge Airport on Tuesday, 20th September. “We are advising our customers and charter brokers to book their slots early in order to avoid disappointment. For international clients coming to London between 21 July and 15 August we urge them to contact us as soon as possible so we can make the slot applications accordingly. This is because there will be capacity constraints in the airspace over the London area, affecting a total of 40 airports in the South of the UK.” Slots will be required for all flights arriving or departing the London area during the period from 21st July to 15th August 2012, inclusive – this covers the Olympic Games only, there are no extra slot restrictions for the Paralympic Games. Flights will also be subjected to security screening, even at small airports/airfields. Martin Hill explains: “Slots will be issued on a first come, first served basis and where the requested slot time is not available, the closest match will be offered as an alternative. Airports will be charging a non-refundable fee for the booking of the slots, which will be added to the cost of the flight, and in some cases, requiring payment of landing and handling fees in advance.” Gama is advising its clients and charter brokers that once a slot is issued, changing the time of the flight will invalidate that original slot. There will be no guarantee that a slot will be available for the revised time, on the day concerned. If the slot is not adhered to the flight will not be able to depart until a new slot time is granted, which could be many hours away. The slot system is now operational to take bookings at Farnborough Airport, and will become active at other London area airports over the coming months. The following airports, all subject to slot co-ordination, have confirmed their available capacity and effective September 5th it is possible to make a reservation at those highlighted in bold: Slot co-ordinated airports during the period of the Olympics
The following airports are yet to confirm their capacity so slot bookings are not yet available:
* slot reservations available 30th November 2011 ** slot reservations available 1st February 2012 *** slot reservations available as soon as capacity determined
For the year to date, London Oxford Airport increased the number of average daily business aviation departures by 12.2%, year-on-year up to September 2011 according to the latest statistics released by Eurocontrol. In the Eurocontrol report, London Oxford Airport ranks fifth in the UK with an average 7.8 daily business aviation departures, up from an average 6.9 last year, which represents a growth of 12.2% over the past year. Ahead of Oxford were London Luton (34.2 daily departures) Farnborough Airport (27.5) Biggin Hill (14.5) and London City Airport (8.9). A marked slide by London Stansted positioned it in 8th place behind East Midlands and Bournemouth airports. UK Business Aviation Activity – Year to Date to September 2011
* UK mainland airports excluding MOD (Military) airports “This buoyant business is great news, demonstrating the attraction of our airport to business and VIP travellers. August was surprisingly busy for a holiday month, total GA movements increased by 49% compared with last August. We hope this trend continues for some time as business aviation sees a welcome increase in activity,” said James Dillon-Godfray, Business Development Director at London Oxford Airport. Just five months after its arrival at London City Airport, SkyWork Airlines has increased flights between London City Airport and Bern to 11 flights per week, up from six per week. The new schedule also features a new Saturday morning flight and Sunday evening roundtrips, operated by Dornier 328 or Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft with 31 and 72-seats, respectively. SkyWork Airlines CEO Tomislav Lang said: “We have been delighted with the early success of our direct flights from London City Airport to the Swiss capital. We recognised at the outset that this important route requires a minimum of two flights a day to meet the needs of both business and leisure markets and are confident the extra six weekly flights will further strengthen the route and attract more passengers. SkyWork offers the fastest route to the City of Bern and the Bernese Oberland.” A minor technical fault on a BA flight from Edinburgh resulted in the runway at London City airport being closed for about an hour last Friday morning, 19 August 2011. Due to the fault, the plane could not clear the runway after landing and had to be towed to its stand. Four flights were diverted to other airports during the incident. London City Airport is advising passengers that, due to an operational issue, the runway is currently closed. Some disruptions may be experienced. Passengers are advised to contact their airlines. London City Airport airline contact numbers available here www.londoncityairport.com/AirportInformation/UsefulTelephoneNumbers.aspx 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/ CityJet has today launched the UK’s first interactive Concierge service. The service, which is currently being run as a trial, will operate for two hours per day – 2pm – 4pm – Monday to Friday, via its Twitter feed @cityjet. The Concierge service will offer customers the latest service information, answer travel-related queries, provide travel advice, information on its destinations, offer hotel and restaurant reservations and organise taxi pick-ups. Christine Ourmieres, CEO CityJet, says “Twitter has become the ‘go to’ tool for customer service within the travel industry but we wanted to add value to the experience and offer a personal service where possible. The majority of our passengers are business travellers and the Twitter Concierge taps into their need for a swift, efficient and seamless travel service. It sits comfortably alongside our 15-minute check-ins and convenient flight schedules. If the trial proves successful, we will extend and build on the Concierge service.”
A third Q400 will follow in September, when the airline prepares to take its popular London City Airport to Bern service to double daily. From 5 September 2011, for the rest of the summer timetable, the schedule between London City and Bern will be as follows: London City Airport to Bern SX501 departs 07:55 arrives 10:35, weekdays Bern to London City Airport SX500 departs 06:45 arrives 07:25, weekdays Further enhancements to the departure and arrival times become effective from 30th October. “London City-Bern has become a star performer in our route network,” said Tomislav Lang, SkyWork Airlines’ CEO, adding “we are very much looking forward to building on that success by offering morning and evening departures, affording the business traveller a full day in the cities of Bern and London. And we are looking ahead to the winter and hope to announce some interesting initiatives just ahead of the ski season.” |
