Archive for the ‘Stansted airport’ CategoryRyanair has announced the launch of new flights from Stansted Airport to Turku in South West Finland. The Stansted to Turku service is one of four of the airlines first routes from Turku. Flights will commence on 27 March 2012. Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said: “Ryanair is pleased to announce our first four Turku routes to Barcelona (Girona), Brussels (Charleroi), London (Stansted) and Malaga, which will commence in April next and offer passengers in the South West of Finland really low fares for the first time. Ryanair’s Turku routes will deliver over 100,000 passengers p.a. and sustain 100 local jobs.”
“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. Cyprus Airways has announced it is to reinstate its Stansted to Larnaca flights. From 19 December 2011, the airline will operate a twice-weekly service – Mondays and Thursdays. Dutch rail operator Abellio is to take over the operations of the Stansted Express service. Abellio will take over the Stansted Express franchise from National Express East Anglia in February 2012. National Express East Anglia has operated the Stansted Express service since 2004 – Abellio’s franchise agreement will run until mid 2014.
BAA is expected to announce shortly which of it Scottish airports it will sell. The airport operator is required by the Competition Commission (CC) to sell Stansted Airport and either Edinburgh or Glasgow airport. Stansted was to be the first of the airports to be sold, followed by a Scottish airport, however, the Competition Commission has accepted a proposal from BAA to reverse the order of sale. The reversal of sale will enable BAA to continue its judicial review of the CC’s July 2011 decision requiring BAA to sell Stansted. BAA Chief Executive Colin Matthews said:“We are pleased that the Competition Commission has accepted BAA’s proposal to reverse the order of airport sales in its 2009 decision and 2011 decision. “BAA has already sold Gatwick and will now sell either Edinburgh or Glasgow airport. “We will continue with our judicial review proceedings against the Competition Commission’s decision requiring BAA to sell Stansted. “We believe the South East airports market has changed and BAA has changed since the Competition Commission’s 2009 decision. It is also clearer now than it has ever been that Heathrow and Stansted serve different markets.”
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.”
Firefighting equipment no longer needed at Stansted Airport is being donated to help save lives in Eastern Europe. 30 decommissioned Cromwell Helmets, retired by the airport’s fire service, will be shipped to Macedonia by the firefighter charity, Operation Florian. Based in the UK, the charity provides equipment and training to improve fire fighting capabilities in developing countries around the world. Leading Firefighter, Peter Boon, the airport’s charity representative, said: “I’ve been a member of the charity for about four years in which time I have twice been to Macedonia to deliver equipment and provide training to the local firefighters. The helmets will help replace old fire kit giving firefighters in the area a much needed improvement to their equipment. Operation Florian is hugely grateful for the support they receive from Stansted Airport.” Daren Barthram, London Stansted’s Fire Manager, explained the reason behind the donation: “Stansted Airport is London’s third busiest airport so we need to maintain the very latest firefighting equipment. After years of service, the Cromwell Helmets are no longer suitable here but still have several years of life ahead of them in Macedonia. So rather than leave the helmets on the shelf to deteriorate, we felt that the Florian charity would benefit enormously from the airport’s donation. We’re thrilled to be able to support this wonderful organisation as the work they do is amazing.” At a special ceremony held at the airport on Friday (September 23), BAA Chief Executive, Colin Matthews, along with London Stansted’s Managing Director, Nick Batron, and Airport Fire Manager, Daren Barthram, handed over the 30 Cromwell Helmets to Leading Firefighter and Operation Florian representative, Peter Boon.
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.
BAA is to seek a judicial review of the Competition Commission’s decision to force the sale of two of its airports. At present, BAA is required to sell Stansted Airport and either Glasgow or Edinburgh airport, however, BAA is challenging the decision based on changes in circumstances since the original decision in 2009 was made, making the sale of Stansted Airport unnecessary. |
