News Archive

Record month for business class airline.

Business class only airline Silverjet has reported an impressive 23% increase in passenger numbers in March on flights from Luton airport to New York and Dubai.

The airline sold 10,885 of 16,800 available seats in March, compared to just 8,829 in February, giving a total load factor of 65%. It also reports that 81% of flights took off on time.

Airlines hiding charges says TSI.

Airlines are making extra money from passengers by not making baggage fees clear and even by using faulty scales at check in an investigation by the Trading Standards Institute has revealed.

One airline was investigated by Trading Standards at the request of BAA after a complaint about the weighing of cabin baggage. 18 sets of scales were tested at check in and 10 showed a weight even before any baggage was placed on them.

Manchester airport welcomes easyJet.

Low cost airline easyJet begins flights from its new base at Manchester airport today and is offering the chance to win flights and holidays.

The budget airline plans to paint the city orange today – although Man Utd and Man City fans will doubtless have something to say about this. An orange easyJet fun bus is touring Manchester calling at main sites including Piccadilly Gardens, Deansgate, Oxford Street and Church Street.

Mancunians will have the opportunity to win easyJet prizes such as flights and holidays to summer sun destinations from Manchester airport. New flights from Manchester airport include holiday hotspots such as Tenerife, Paphos, Malaga, Malta and Heraklion.

Low cost airline launches new flights.

Budget airline Flybe is starting 34 new flights to UK and European cities and holiday hotspots including flights from Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh airports.

New flights include Exeter airport to Brussels with fares from £29.99 one way including taxes and charges, and Exeter to Dubrovnik with one way fares from £69.99.

There are also two new year round routes from Jersey to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, and from Dublin to Glasgow. As a result of a franchise agreement signed earlier this year, Flybe is also starting to operate two new Loganair routes from Dundee airport to Birmingham and Belfast.

Break up BAA monopoly to stop airport chaos.

Budget airline Ryanair believes that breaking up BAA would prevent the kind of airport chaos seen at the opening of Heathrow Terminal 5 yesterday.

"The security queues, flight delays and baggage chaos endured by passengers at Heathrow’s T5 are symptomatic of widespread failure common at many BAA airports including Stansted and Gatwick where passengers routinely suffer long queues at security and passport control as well as repeated baggage belt breakdowns," Ryanair says in a press statement.

As well as Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, BAA also operates Glasgow airport, Edinburgh airport and Aberdeen airport as well as Southampton airport. BAA is owned by Spanish group Ferrovial, which took on more than £10 billion of debt when it acquired the ailing airport operator.

Ryanair contends that the "abject customer service" at BAA airports continues because the Civil Aviation Authority, which regulates UK airports, has failed to protect airport users because it is too busy rewarding the BAA with price increases.