Up in the air . . .

IN a UK airport first, passengers, staff and local residents can now reserve and pick up a 100% electric car at Gatwick – and return it to any of 300 compatible pick up/ drop off points across London or back at Gatwick - the airport announced today.

Operating in a similar way to existing cycle schemes across the capital, ten cars and charging points are currently available on Gatwick’s South Terminal forecourt. This is Bluecity’s first airport hub and discussions are in progress to increase capacity.

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On the runway . . .

BRISTOL Airport gains Autism Friendly Award after joint project with OCS Group to improve assistance for passengers with hidden disabilities.  Bristol Airport has been named an Autism Friendly airport by the National Autistic Society following work with OCS Group to ensure the airport offers a friendly environment for autistic passengers along with support services that target the accessibility needs of the passengers and their families.

The Autism Friendly Award recognises the success of Bristol Airport and OCS Group in providing assistance that improves the experience at the airport for autistic passengers, their families and caregivers. Bristol Airport and OCS Group have worked together to ensure clear information is available about the airport, how to plan their journey and how to access assistance at the terminal.

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On the runway . . . .

TUI the UK’s largest holiday brand, has today announced it has added an additional weekly flight to the popular Greek island of Kos and Turkish destination of Dalaman for summer 2018 operating out of Bristol Airport.

As well as the additional flights to Kos and Dalaman residents from in and around Bristol now have a wider choice of destinations to choose from when booking their holidays this summer with new routes to Hurghada in Egypt and Skiathos in Greece already on sale.

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Discounts for domestic flights from Heathrow

UK fliers are set to save even more when flying from #Heathrow as the airport announced a 50% increase in the discount for domestic flights. From 1st January 2018, passengers flying to any UK destination from Heathrow will have a £15 discount on the airport charges they pay – the biggest discount in the airport’s history and resulting in #savings of nearly £40 million annually and over £750 million over the next 20 years.

Heathrow has been a long-time and ardent campaigner for boosting domestic flights at the UK’s hub and last year committed to keeping a discounted domestic passenger charge for at least the next twenty years as long as it is in the public interest. The further reduction in the domestic passenger charge announced today will save passengers even more money while making domestic routes more commercially viable for airlines – encouraging them to add more domestic services.

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Heathrow Enhances Service for Passengers with Hidden and Visible Disabilities

HEATHROW has announced a multi-million pound package of investments and tools to improve the travel experience of passengers with disabilities and mobility restrictions at the airport.

The number of passengers requesting special assistance at Heathrow is rising at approximately 8% annually, with over one million requests in 2017 alone – more than any other European airport. Following a report by the Civil Aviation Authority this year, Heathrow is taking proactive steps to transform its service for these passengers, backed by an investment of £23 million in a revamped, upgraded contract with its special assistance partner, OmniServ.

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UK Airports: Regional airports have highest levels of satisfaction

AS millions of Brits gear up for their big summer holiday, Cheapflights, has once again asked them to share how they score the UK’s airports across more than a dozen categories including shopping, cleanliness, Wi-Fi access, bar and restaurant facilities, check-in and security - even the loos come under scrutiny!

In the second of its annual poll, Cheapflights asked frequent air travellers from across the UK to review London City, Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton and Stansted, Belfast International, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow International, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle airports. 

Newcastle emerged as the overall winner, achieving the highest levels of satisfaction across all categories, followed closely by London City, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Bristol. London’s airports, with the exception of London City, continue to lag behind, with Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted and Luton all trailing their regional cousins.

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Up in the air . . .

Research from global flight search and travel deals website, Cheapflights.co.uk, has revealed that the UK’s regional airports are giving London a run for its money when it comes to price, popularity and pick of destinations. Cheapflights’ analysis of 20 million searches and more than 200 different routes reveals that it doesn’t always pay to fly from the Capital.

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Up in the air . . .

UK authorities last week issued new rules that ban passengers on flights from Queen Alia International Airport and other airports in the region departing to London from carrying laptops and tablets in the aircraft cabin, in addition to the phones that are larger than, Length: 16.0cm, Width: 9.3cm, Depth: 1.5cm. These devices can be placed in the checked baggage. 

The decision of the UK authorities included the flights from Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport and flights departing to the UK from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia and Lebanon. The ban excludes the flights departing from the UK to Jordan and the mentioned countries.

This followed on from the the US authorities who issued new rules that ban passengers on flights to the US from carrying electronic and electrical devices in the aircraft cabin, but have them in their checked baggage.

The decision of the US authorities included the flights from Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport to the US, besides the departing flights from nine other airports in the Middle East, the Arab Gulf and North Africa.

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Bristol Airport opens terminal extension

BRISTOL AIRPORT has opened its terminal extension to passengers as the airport prepares for a busy summer holiday season.

The first phase of a £24 million expansion, a 9,000 square features the latest technology in an enlarged security search area which will comprise 12 security lanes, including a Fast Track zone which will go live later this year.

A pre-boarding preparation area offers new space for passengers to get their belongings ready for screening, and an automated tray return system with extended conveyor belts to streamline the process through metal detectors, x-rays and security scanners, where required.

Following the current extension, the immigration hall will be developed in 2017, with plans for the installation of up to 10 of the latest ePassport gates.

Robert Sinclair, chief executive officer at Bristol Airport, said: ‘We want to make Bristol Airport the first choice for passengers across the South West of the UK by combining world class facilities with West Country hospitality. This terminal extension raises the bar for regional airports by combining a spacious feel with the latest technology and a real sense of place.

‘Seven million passengers use Bristol Airport every year, but the same number again travel to airports in the South East in order to fly. By providing an even better local alternative, we can generate time and cost savings for travellers while freeing up capacity in the congested London airport system.’

Bristol Airport is also expanding its route network, with direct services to 117 destinations and frequent daily services to major hubs including Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, and Frankfurt, as well as a recently launched WOW air service to Reykjavik, with onward connections to North America. From May 2017, Thomson Airways will operate the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Florida and Mexico, with more direct long-haul destinations in future. 

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Birmingham unveiled as UK base for Jet2

JET2.COM and Jet2holidays have announced Birmingham as their eighth UK base. 

They will launch 15 destinations for summer 2017 from the airport – Alicante, Crete, Faro, Fuerteventura, Girona, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Majorca, Malaga, Menorca, Paphos, Reus, Rhodes, and Tenerife.

Flights to Alicante, Faro and Majorca will be daily and the first will take off on March 30 to Faro and Malaga.

Alan Cross, head of trade for Jet2holidays, said Birmingham’s summer programme would also be extended into the winter 2017/18 period.

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New UK-Montreal flights

AIR TRANSAT, WOW Air, and Icelandair will all launch new routes from the UK to Montreal, Canada, in May.

Air Transat will launch a route from Glasgow to Montréal opening up the entire Quebec region for Scottish travellers. Flights will depart every Monday beginning May 30, with prices starting from £385 return per person.

WOW Air will be flying from the UK to Montreal via Reykjavik from three UK airports from May 4, with tickets starting from £99 each way.

Icelandair will launch flights from the UK to Montréal via Reykjavik on May 19 four times weekly until November. Prices start from £380 return from five UK airports (London Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, and Aberdeen), and £397 return from London Heathrow.

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Stephen Fry fronts Heathrow welcome film

TOURISTS touching down at London’s Heathrow Airport will be introduced to the idiosyncrasies and quirks of modern British life by the television ‘celebrity’ and writer, Stephen Fry, in a video guide.  

With 75 million passengers travelling through Heathrow each year, Fry has teamed up with BAFTA award-winning scriptwriter Graham Linehan to create ‘Stephen Fry’s Guide to the UK,’ which gives visitors tips and tricks on handling etiquette in the UK.

The film can be seen at Heathrow via the airport’s free Wi-Fi page, and on YouTube. It can also be viewed on the Heathrow Express.

Set in a quintessentially British gastropub, the three-minute video sees Fry pondering the many things that make the UK a great place to visit, from the Scottish highlands to Ulster’s Giant’s Causeway via London’s St Paul’s Cathedral.

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Research compares disabled facilities at top UK airports

A GUIDE comparing the disabled facilities and services available at the 20 busiest airports in the UK has been created by Airport Parking & Hotels (APH). 

The research looks at airports including Birmingham, London Heathrow, and Manchester and compares the facilities available for disabled travellers such as mobility access, areas for guide dogs, services for the hearing-impaired, and disabled parking options.

For the hearing-impaired, all 20 of the airports researched have induction loop systems installed and five airports provide text phone facilities including London City, Edinburgh, and London Stansted, with Belfast City providing a text phone on request from the information desk. Airport staff who are proficient in British Sign Language Stage 1 are also available at London Stansted and Birmingham, with most of the staff at London Stansted also being trained in deaf awareness.

For those thinking about driving to the airport, disabled parking spaces are available at all of the 20 airports researched, with eight airports offering free or discounted parking options for Blue Badge holders.

To assist travellers in wheelchairs or those using electronic mobility aids, 10 of the airports researched including Liverpool and Belfast International provide specifically highlighted accessible doors, and East Midlands International offers a dedicated security lane for wheelchair users. Those travelling with their own electric mobility aid should check the airport requirements prior to travel with three airports –London Gatwick, Liverpool, and London Luton – all explicitly requiring electric mobility aids to be switched off before boarding. All of the airports researched require at least 48 hours’ notice prior to travelling in order to plan assistance for disabled travellers.

Changing facilities for disabled travellers are available at nine of the airports researched, including London Heathrow, London Stansted, and Belfast. Travellers wanting to use changing facilities should keep in mind that this needs to be booked in advance at Birmingham. London Heathrow offers disabled travellers access to the Lichfield Suite at Terminal 5, which has a height-adjustable changing bench, hoist, and shower.

All airports researched allow guide dogs within the terminal buildings, but travellers should be aware that guide dogs can travel only if they are registered with the Pet Travel Scheme and permitted by the airline.

The research can be found in the Know Before You Go section of the APH website … www.aph.com/disabledfacilities.

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Up in the air …

Manchester airport on course to top 23 million passengers in 2015 … Manchester Airport is on course to break the 23 million passenger barrier by the end of the year after a record August. Numbers were up by more than 5% in the month to more than 2.6 million, making it the busiest summer in the airport’s 77 year history. 

Gatwick records busiest month ever … Gatwick Airport recorded the busiest month in its history in August, with more than 4.53 million passengers using the airport – a 3.7% increase on the same month in 2014.

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42033648@N00/191558829">Manchester Airport, England</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)

Up in the air …

easyJet faces overbooking accusations – easyJet faces accusations of ruining holidays by over-selling thousands of peak season flights, forcing family groups to fly separately. Some passengers were even sent to airports across the country to board a different aircraft. 

Figures from the complaints handling website Resolver showed that more customers complained about being bumped off easyJet flights than all the other airlines put together, The Times reports. The budget carrier accounted for more than three quarters of complaints.

A spokesman for the airline said that it received the most complaints because it was the UK’s biggest airline. He added that denied boarding caused by overbooking was extremely rare. He told The Independent that 2.6 million easyJet passengers a year fail to show up for booked flights.

Air passenger numbers near pre-recession levels –UK airports handled 50.2 million passengers between January and March this year, according to the Civil Aviation Authority’s quarterly Aviation Trends report. It was the highest recorded quarterly figure since before the start of the 2008 global financial crisis.

While passenger numbers rose, airline punctuality dropped at London airports from 84% last year to 80% and from 86% to 81% at regional airports compared with the same quarter in 2014. The overall on-time performance at all UK airports dropped from 85% to 80%.

Increase in families crossing England-Scotland border for flights – The
Barrhead Travel group says it has seen an 18% increase in the number of holidaymakers from England choosing to depart from Scottish airports for their summer holidays. The company attributes the rise in numbers to the difference in the price of trips during Scottish and English school holiday periods. As children in Scotland go back to school two weeks before English children, Barrhead believes English families are booking cheaper flights from Scotland after that country’s school holidays have ended. 


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Ryanair widens booze ban on Ibiza flights

RYANAIR is banning ‘duty-free’ alcohol on flights from all UK airports to #Ibiza, to improve the ‘comfort and safety’ of passengers and crew.

Alcohol purchased after security checks would now have to be placed in hold luggage or disposed of at the departure gate, says the airline. Previously, it had banned alcohol only on flights to Ibiza from Scotland.

The airline said: ‘Any alcohol purchased in airport shops or elsewhere must be packed carefully in a suitable item of cabin baggage, which will be tagged at the gate and then placed in the aircraft hold free of charge. If the alcohol is unsuitable for placing in the hold, customers will be required to dispose of the alcohol in the bins provided.

‘Boarding gates will be carefully monitored and customers showing any signs of anti-social behaviour or attempting to conceal alcohol will be denied travel without refund or compensation.’

#Ryanair operates flights to Ibiza from Bristol, East Midlands, Stansted, Birmingham, Liverpool, Prestwick, Manchester and Leeds-Bradford airports.

The Civil Aviation Authority says it backs attempts to deal with drink-related problems on flights. 

‘It is a specific criminal offence to be drunk on board an aircraft, and also to refuse to comply with instructions from the captain,’ the regulator said. ‘We support UK airlines' efforts to deal with disruptive passengers to ensure the safety of all those on board, and welcome criminal prosecutions where appropriate.’

Go Holiday editor David Kernek comments: Congratulations to Ryanair on this sensible – and overdue – move, but why do so many newspapers and writers continue to talk about ‘duty free’ sales in the context of flights within the European Union? Duty free was abolished on these flights many years ago … another of the many disadvantages of British membership of the EU.

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Up in the air . . .

HEATHROW’S TERMINAL 1, opened in 1968, has closed, with airlines having completed their move to new terminals. 

Terminal 1 was renowned for being the biggest short-haul terminal of its kind in Western Europe, and handled nine million passengers at full capacity.

Chief executive John Holland Kaye said: ‘The closure of Terminal 1 marks another important milestone in the transformation of Heathrow. It has served Britain well for almost 50 years, but will soon make way for the expansion of Terminal 2.’

HEATHROW has been named best large airport in Europe at the Airports Council International Europe awards.

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Portugal, Heathrow top flight delay league

A SURVEY published by passenger compensation company Flightright has found that more than half (51%) of flights to Portugal from the top six UK airports were delayed or cancelled in June, July, and August last year.

Greece and Egypt had the least flight disruption, with fewer than one in five flights affected by delays or cancellations.

Percentage of flights from top UK airports delayed or cancelled, by destination (June 1-August 31 2014):

Portugal 51%, France 45%, Spain 37%, Turkey 33%, Egypt 19%, 

Greece 14%

Travellers planning their summer holidays should avoid Heathrow Airport if at possible. Flights departing from Heathrow were the worst affected, with more than half (54%) of delayed or cancelled. Gatwick also faced disruption with 40% of flights delayed or cancelled, while only one in four departing from Stansted were affected.

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Tourism growth for Lithuania

#LITHUANIA saw strong growth in inbound tourism in 2014, when it rose by 7.7%.

For UK visitors, there are direct flights from London, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Aberdeen, Liverpool, Birmingham, Doncaster, and Bristol.

www.Lithuania.travel

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