News Archive

Thai airports reopen as Brits try to fly home.

Phuket, Krabi and Hat Yai airports in Thailand have reopened as Brits stranded abroad try to get flights home following the political demonstrations in the country.

Anti-government protestors closed the airports' runways and left thousands of holidaymakers unable to catch their flights home for much of the weekend.

Phuket is Thailand's second busiest airport and was closed from late on Friday afternoon until 11am on Sunday. The airport is a popular gateway to some of the main tourist areas in Thailand and is also used for connecting flights within the country.

Many of the holidaymakers unable to catch their flights had to make alternative arrangements and try to find transport to Bangkok airport, which has remained open during the political unrest. Bangkok is the largest airport in Thailand and is the airport most visitors to the country fly into.

Although the airports have now reopened, the political situation in Thailand remains unstable. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office warns that demonstrations are taking place in central Bangkok and advises holidaymakers to avoid any large gatherings of people.

Manchester airport trials facial recognition.

Manchester airport is trialling a new facial recognition system as the UK Border Agency aims to improve security and shorten queues at immigration at UK airports.

The facial recognition system will allow passengers with electronic passports arriving at Terminal 1 at Manchester airport to fast-track through immigration. They will be guided through 'smart gates', helping to reduce queues at immigration and improving the airport experience for passengers arriving at the terminal.

Fujitsu Services and Vision-Box S A have developed the automated border clearance system. The system combines the operation of reading and checking electronic passports with an innovative feature for assessing the biometric data needed to open the smart gates.

Bank holiday airport strike is off at Gatwick.

A Strike at Gatwick airport that could have caused travel chaos on Bank Holiday Monday has been averted thanks to last minute negotiations.

The strikes planned for Manchester airport on August 27th and September 1st have also been called off while negotiations continue. However, Stansted airport is still likely to be hit by a strike by baggage screening staff on Bank Holiday Monday.

Baggage handling and check in staff at Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester airports employed by airport services company Swissport have suspended strike action while their union, Unite, holds a new ballot. As well as the 24 hour strike on Monday, further 24 hour strikes were also planned at Gatwick and Stansted on Friday August 29th.

easyJet taken to High Court by Stelios.

Low cost airline asked to focus on carrying passengers on planes.

The founder of low cost airline easyJet, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, is taking the airline to the High Court to clarify the terms of its branding agreement.

Stelios is a non-executive director of the airline he set up and still holds almost 16% of the shares. He wants to ensure that easyJet is sticking to the terms of the brand licence that was agreed in 2000. This states that no less than 75% of easyJet’s revenue must be derived from its core activity, which is defined as ‘transporting passengers in aeroplanes’. This is commonly known as the 75:25 rule.

The budget carrier’s charismatic founder is thought to be concerned about some of easyJet’s non-core activities such as selling co-branded credit cards, car hire and hotels. The sale of scratch cards on board and the percentage of these sales that goes to charity is also thought to be a concern.

Gatwick and Stansted airports could be sold.

Gatwick and Stansted airports could soon be up for sale if, as expected, the Competition Commission orders the break up of BAA’s airports monopoly this week.

Airport operator BAA seems to have already accepted that it will be forced to sell Gatwick airport, and possibly others as well.

As well as Gatwick and possibly Stansted airport, BAA could also be asked by the Competition Commission to dispose of one of its three Scottish airports – perhaps Glasgow or Edinburgh.

There is likely to be no shortage of interest from buyers in whatever airports are put up for sale. If Gatwick airport goes to auction, bidders could include Manchester Airport Group and a number of overseas groups such as the Australian airport operator Macquarie, GE-Credit Suisse Investment fund, and German company Hochtief.

Low cost airline Ryanair has already expressed an interest in putting money into Stansted airport.