Up in the air . . .

JET2COM and Jet2holidays will base a further aircraft at Glasgow Airport and launch two new routes as part of the airline’s summer 2019 plans.

The announcement marks another hugely expanded summer programme from Jet2.com’s Glasgow base - the biggest in Scotland - and demonstrates the airline’s continued commitment to the airport.

As part of a busy summer 2019 schedule Jet2.com and Jet2holidays will introduce two weekly services to Kos and Naples, taking the airline’s total number of sun and city destinations from Glasgow to 33. The airline will also introduce an additional 90,000 seats across its Glasgow Airport-based destination network.

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On the runway . . .

THE launch of a daily service between Frankfurt and Glasgow which was announced by Lufthansa has been welcomed by VisitScotland.

Lufthansa already flies from Munich to Glasgow five times per week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and the new route from Frankfurt further underlines the airlines commitment to the Scottish market.



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On the rails . . .

VIRGIN Trains has named one of its trains after one of Scotland’s most famous cultural icons in celebration of its role in serving #Glasgow.

The Charles Rennie Mackintosh Express will depart Scotland’s biggest city today (Monday, March 19) in support of Mackintosh 150, a year-long programme of events throughout 2018 celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Glasgow’s renowned artist, architect and designer.

The 390008 Pendolino train is adorned with Mackintosh’s trademark moustache on the front and his name displayed in his own lettering on plaques on either side.

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On the runway . . .

GLASGOW Airport reported its busiest May on record after more than 910,000 passengers travelled through its doors during the month, representing an increase of 10% on the same period last year.

International and domestic routes were up 16.5% and 2% respectively thanks to additional capacity from a number of airlines including Thomson and Thomas Cook.

There was strong demand for the airport’s growing list of European city destinations including Eurowings’ Dusseldorf route and Ryanair services to Brussels, Sofia and Valencia.

Ryanair’s recently launched Lisbon route performed particularly well as hundreds of Celtic fans made their way to the Portuguese capital to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the club’s historic 1967 European Cup win.

May also saw the airport’s long-haul services up by 15% thanks to an increase in demand for North American flights including Florida and Emirates’ double daily service to Dubai, while easyJet’s Bristol services and Loganair’s Highland and Island routes helped boost domestic travel.

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Virgin Trains’ wins prestigious Public Transport Operator of the Year

VIRGIN Trains’ role in transforming rail journeys between Scotland and England has been recognised at a prestigious awards ceremony in Glasgow.

The intercity operator was named as Public Transport Operator of the Year at the Scottish Transport Awards, cementing its reputation as the UK’s leading long-distance rail service.

Virgin Trains has seen strong customer satisfaction levels and record passenger numbers on its east coast and west coast routes over the past year following a raft of investment, innovation and customer service improvements.

On the east coast route between Edinburgh and London, passenger numbers grew by 8% last year as train interiors were overhauled on its entire fleet and 45 additional services between the capitals were added.

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Up in the air . . .

AIR Transat has launched its Summer 2018 programme and is doubling capactiy on its Winter 2017/18 flights.

The Canadian carrier will offer direct flights from Glasgow to Toronto five times a week and a weekly Vancouver service in Summer 2018, along with a range of connecting flights to Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver.

In addition to unveiling its 2018 programme, the airline has also announced its also doubling its Winter 2017 season flights through to April 2018 from Glasgow to Toronto from once a week to twice weekly.

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Virgin Trains launches celebratory 20th Birthday Seat Sale

VIRGIN Trains is launching a record six-day online 20th Birthday Seat Sale, to thank customers for twenty years of travelling with Virgin Trains on the West Coast. 

From its birthday on Thursday 9 March to Tuesday 14 March, prices will be slashed on Standard and First Class fares on the Virgin Trains West Coast route.

Customers booking in advance to travel on Virgin Trains to West Coast destinations including Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow can save up to 55 per cent for travel between Saturday 25 March – Thursday 24 August 2017.

Discounted tickets will be available to book at www.virgintrains.co.uk from 00:01 on Thursday 9 March.

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Direct rail link between Glasgow Airport, Paisley and the city centre announced

THE £144m Glasgow Airport Access Project, which is the flagship project for the £1.13 billion Glasgow City Region City deal, will strengthen the city region’s link to the world, positioning it as an attractive place to do business and helping to create jobs within the area. 

Journeys to and from the airport would be transformed as a state-of-the-art system would carry passengers on specially designed tram-trains using both the existing railway network a new light rail spur from Paisley to the airport.

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Air Travel News

GLASGOW Airport is gearing up for one of its busiest periods of the year as tens of thousands of holidaymakers jet off for the October holiday week.

Over 160,000 people are expected to pass through the airport this weekend with many flying out to popular sunspots in the Canary Islands and Florida and city break destinations such as Prague, Dublin, Milan, Paris, Berlin, Las Vegas, and New York.

In anticipation of the busy period ahead, the airport and its airline partners will have extra staff on hand to help guide passengers, particularly those with young children, through check-in.

Francois Bourienne, Glasgow Airport’s commercial director, said: “The October school break is a huge week for us, and follows on from the busiest summer in our 50-year history when we welcomed nearly three million passengers through our doors between June and August. This weekend in particular will be very busy and we are expecting to welcome even more passengers than we did during the same period in 2015.

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Glasgow Airport Express bus service takes off

PASSENGERS travelling to and from Glasgow Airport have the opportunity to become high flyers with the launch of a premium bus fleet that links the airport with the city centre. 

The service is operated by First #Glasgow which has invested £2.1 million in 10 state-of-the-art buses.

Previously known as the Glasgow Shuttle, the Glasgow Airport Express is the fastest link to and from Glasgow Airport, transporting passengers from the airport to the city centre in 15 minutes. Buses operate 24/7 with a main day frequency of up to 10 minutes. 

Passenger numbers on the airport service have risen from 12,000 to 15,500 a week – an increase of almost 30% – since First Glasgow began operating the route in January 2011. 

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Delta to launch daily Glasgow-New York flights

DELTA AIRLINES will launch a daily flight from #Glasgow to #NewYork next year following the successful launch two weeks ago of its inaugural service between Edinburgh and JFK. 

The new summer service will start on May 26 and will be the only non-stop flight between Glasgow and New York-JFK.

From JFK, passengers will have a choice of 60 same-day onward connections throughout the US.

‘As a core component of our global strategy, we are eager to build our network across the UK, and this new flight shows our commitment to Scotland,’ said Dwight James, at Delta. ‘With this service, Delta will operate from four airports in Scotland and England, offering our customers more choice of local services to reach their chosen US destination, as well as offering tourism and business opportunities for Scotland."

Delta will also launch a new service from Heathrow to Portland, Oregon, next May.

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Up in the air …

WIZZ AIR has launched direct flights from Aberdeen to Warsaw. The service will operate the year-round twice weekly service on Monday and Fridays. 

Wizz Air arrived at Aberdeen Airport last year when it launched a twice-weekly service to Gdansk, Poland, in June.

EASYJET has recorded the busiest ski season in its history this year. With a 40 percent share of the UK ski market, easyJet carried 1.3 million passengers to destinations across Europe, 90,000 more than last year. New routes, good ski conditions, and a strong consumer demand have fuelled the growth in customer numbers, the airline said. 

easyJet operates ski flights to Lyon, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Grenoble, Friedrichshafen, Turin, and its largest gateway, Geneva.

ICELANDAIR will take its Glasgow to Reykjavik service daily on September 7. Currently it runs six flights a week between the cities.

Icelandair now offer services to 16 North American gateways with connections from six UK airports: London Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, and Aberdeen.

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Ryanair unveils new winter routes from Scotland

RYANAIR has announced new services from Scotland for winter 2016/17. 

From Edinburgh, it is adding twice-weekly winter flights to Bologna, Bordeaux, Bratislava, Gran Canaria, Palma, and Poznan in Poland. 

It is adding extra schedules on six other routes, including Alicante, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Malaga, Rome Ciampino, and Tenerife. 

At Glasgow Airport, the airline is adding four new routes – to Alicante, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, and Malaga – and is increasing flights to Berlin. 

From Glasgow Prestwick, it is adding new winter services to Barcelona, Faro, and Malta, and putting on additional flights to Tenerife. 

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Fun on the train

A GAGGLE of comedians have turned the overnight #CaledonianSleeper into a carriage of laughs as they start the build-up for this year’s #Glasgow International Comedy Festival (March 10-27).

Now in its 14th year, the festival brings a selection of top comedy stars including Daniel Sloss, Des Clarke, and Frankie Boyle, from across the UK and beyond to Scotland.

Ryan Flaherty, guest experience director at the Caledonian Sleeper, said: ‘We are extremely pleased to be supporting this year’s Glasgow International Comedy Festival, and what better way to kick off the extravaganza of laughs than by bringing some of the top acts aboard the Caledonian Sleeper?

‘With regular services from the centre of London to the heart of Glasgow, the Caledonian Sleeper is the perfect way to sleep while you travel before arriving refreshed and revitalized ready to enjoy a full day at the festival.’

www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com

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Virgin Atlantic extends Glasgow-Orlando winter service … and cuts fuel surcharge

VIRGIN ATLANTIC is to extend its Glasgow-Orlando service to meet high demand. The airline said that it will add a Friday flight to its winter 2016 schedule.

Steven Marshall, marketing manager at Glasgow Airport, said: ‘This is fantastic news for Scottish travellers looking to get away to America’s sunshine state from Scotland’s largest city.’

The Daily Mirror reports that Virgin Atlantic has cut its fuel surcharge by £20, following the drop in oil prices. The saving, on return flights, will apply to future bookings, says the airline.

The move comes after complaints that airlines have not been passing the drop in oil costs on to customers.

‘Although we buy our fuel months and years in advance – meaning that recent falls in the price of oil do not immediately impact costs – we have decided to, again, lower our fuel charge by £20 per return journey for customers,’ said Virgin Atlantic in a statement. ‘Overall, our prices have reduced by £70 per trip per person since fuel prices began to fall.’

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Blue Air launches Glasgow-Bucharest route

ROMANIAN airline Blue Air, which currently operates 65 routes in Europe, has started a twice-weekly Glasgow-Bucharest service with one-way fares starting from £24.99, including taxes.

Paul White, business development manager at Glasgow Airport, said: ‘This #Bucharest service from Blue Air is sure to be popular with both our business and leisure customers. As well as offering a key transport link to one of Eastern Europe’s central cities, it will also be a great link for ex-pats and those seeking a historical and cultured #citybreak.’

Tudor Constantinescu, Blue Air chief commercial officer said: ‘This new route is aimed primarily at holidaymakers, considering the vast touristic potential of both Romania and Scotland. It will also be incredibly popular with the Romanian community in Glasgow and the surrounding areas.’

www.blueairweb.com

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Virgin Atlantic to boost US, Cuba services

VIRGIN ATLANTIC is planning to increase the number of its flights to Havana, Las Vegas, and Orlando. 

To meet high demand for travel to these flagship destinations, services will begin to increase from late summer 2016. There will be additional services from Gatwick, Manchester, and Glasgow airports. In total, almost 35,000 extra return seats will be available for holidaymakers.

Capitalizing on strong demand for this Caribbean favourite, Virgin Atlantic will add a third weekly service from London Gatwick to Havana, Cuba, from November 2016 to March 2017 with the extra service taking place on Saturdays.

People in Scotland will have more choice when flying to Florida, with the current seasonal services to Orlando being extended so that a weekly service is available until the end of November 2016 and from the start of March 2017. 

The number of flights from Manchester and Gatwick to Las Vegas and Orlando will also be increased.

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28103712@N00/435906696"></a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">(license), http://www.flickr.com/photos/14020964@N02/5878349974">Vintage american car and colors of Old Havana in the corner of Galiano and Zanja streets | Máquinas americanas y colores de la Habana Vieja. Esquina de Galiano y Zanja</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">(license)

Air France starts Glasgow-Paris route

Air France will launch a daily flight to Glasgow from Paris-Charles de Gaulle in March.

‘The launch of flights to Glasgow next summer highlights our desire to serve growth markets,’ says Frédéric Gagey, chairman and CEO of Air France. ‘These new flights from Paris will expand our offer to Scotland, a region with a strong appeal, both from an economic and a tourist point of view.’

The service complements the four daily frequencies operated by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines between Glasgow and the Amsterdam-Schiphol hub.

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Air Transat to launch Montreal-Glasgow route

CANADIAN airline Air Transat will introduce a new route from Glasgow to #Montreal next summer, with flights from £385 return.  

The weekly service, running from May to October, will be the first direct air link between the two cities.

Lesley Kane, sales director UK & Ireland, Air Transat, said: ‘We’re sure this service will be very popular, as there is a deep historic connection between Scotland and Quebec.

‘Our new non-stop service to Montreal brings our Scottish connections to four great Canadian cities, and adds to Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver which have been Air Transat staple destinations for over 20 years.

Air Transat will operate five weekly flights from #GlasgowtoToronto next summer, along with a weekly direct service to Vancouver and Calgary.

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Picture Credit: "Northern Montreal at night" by Raul Heinrich - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons 

Scotland’s Commonwealth Games dividend: £740 million

THE Scottish economy benefitted to the tune of £740 million during the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth, according to a report published by the country’s devolved government.

The games generated £390 million for Glasgow, with the rest spread around the country.

More than 2,100 jobs were created during the preparation period between 2007 and 2014.

#Glasgow 2014 attracted approximately 690,000 visitors.

#VisitScotland chairman Mike Cantlay said: ‘This year, Scotland’s tourism industry is building on the energy and excitement of 2014, using strengths, such as our food and drink and quality visitor experiences, to take Scotland to the world and enhance our reputation as a must-visit, must-return destination.’

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Picture Credit: Commonwealth Games 2014 by Graham Campbell from Glasgow, Scotland - Commonwealth Games 2014 - Athletics Day 4. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons