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Gatwick airport news - January, 2009 |
Mexicana, Mexico’s leading airline, last week announced the launch of its new route from London Gatwick Airport.
In the first instance, 2 flights will operate each week. Leaving Mexico City at 14.30 every Wednesday and Saturday, the flights will arrive in Gatwick at 07.25 the next day. The flights departing Gatwick will then leave at 10.30 on a Thursday and Sunday, landing in Mexico City airport at 17.30 on the same day.
Mexicana also announced that from 17 February ‘09 they would introduce a further 2 flights, departing Mexico City on a Tuesday and Friday, of which depart Gatwick on a Wednesday and Saturday. |
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The Times newspaper, earlier this month, cites that the owners of London City airport are to enter into the bidding consortiums for Gatwick Airport.
Multibillion dollar fund; Global Infrastructure Partners, which is part owned by General Electric and Credit Suisse, are believed to have formed a group that will initially bid £2 billion for the London airport.
Initial bids are to be submitted by 19 January ‘09, with the sale expected to be completed by 1 July ‘09, BAA say. |
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It is estimated that the sale of London Gatwick Airport could reach in excess of its original £1.64 billion valuation BAA announced earlier this month. This figure is despite the current global recession which saw passenger numbers in November 08 fall by 14% at the airport, combined with the decrease in air travel.
A spokesperson for BAA said, “As there is a strong interest in the Gatwick sale we expect there to be a significant premium reached as Capital city airports aren’t often in the market. Therefore, we expect that the final sale price reflects that this is a London airport.”
The sale of Gatwick Airport comes as a result of the Competition Commission’s pressure on BAA to sell a number of their airports. It is rumoured that Stansted and Edinburgh may also be put up for sale.
Bidding parties have until 19 January ‘09 to submit their initial offers.
Several overseas groups are said to be interested in Gatwick Airport; including several Canadian consortiums. |
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From 27th January this year, the Virgin Nigeria flights to Gatwick Airport will be suspended, following an announcement from the airline.
This is the second major change from the Virgin Nigeria, after last month’s redundancies being described as a ‘repositioning exercise’. Apparently, the changes are in a hope to make their operations more efficient.
In a statement, the airline said, “The decision to suspend the service is to enable us to review our entire long haul operations including our product offerings. In the mean time, our focus is on consolidating and continuing to expand our profitable domestic and regional flight operations.’
They continued to say that when they have finished reviewing the long haul services, they are ‘certain’ that the long haul routes will resume. |
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easyJet are facing legal action from passengers of a Gatwick to Bulgaria flight, following a 32 hour delay. The holidaymakers plan to sue the airline after their journey had to be diverted to Bucharest in Romania, when the pilot announced that Sofia Airport in Bulgaria was closed due to heavy snow.
The passengers were put up in a hotel overnight, but still had to wait until 6pm the next day for coaches to arrive to take them to their planned destination of Sofia in Bulgaria. However, the nightmare didn’t end there. What was supposed to be approximately a 6 hour drive, took 12 hours as the Romanian coach drivers didn’t know where they were going and were having to map read whilst also negotiating icy roads in -15C temperatures.
Unfortunately, authorities at Sofia Airport disputed easyJet’s claims that they were advised ‘clearly and repeatedly that the airport was closed due to heavy snow’, stating that the runway hadn’t closed and other aircraft had been landing at the airport. Executive Director of Sofia airport, Plamen Stanchev said, “Within 30 minutes of the flight from London refusing to land, seven other aircraft made flights.”
Not only were passengers unhappy with the delay, but they were also furious at the way in which they had been treated. “We were given one sandwich and a bottle of water. We were treated like luggage. I will be taking legal action. Why weren’t we flown to an airport where easyJet has a representative? My holiday is ruined and I hold easyJet responsible.” |
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With the launch of 5 new routes during 2008, Monarch’s scheduled passenger numbers have risen to 3.9 million, an increase of 6.5% from 2007.
With 185,028 passengers being carried on their schedule services in December, Monarch’s passenger traffic for December was also on an up, with an increase of 0.37% from December 2007. It may not look like much of an increase, however when compared with most other airlines who’s numbers shrunk that month, they are doing rather well.
Monarch’s new routes include Gatwick Airport to Cyprus and Menorca, and Manchester to Gibraltar, Cyprus and Murcia.
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A campaign launched by Virgin Atlantic intended to help travellers ‘beat off the credit crunch blues’, and to celebrate their 25th Anniversary, is said to be costing the airline £6 million.
With a plan of promoting ‘red hot fares to red hot destinations’ and various events leading up to the 25th Anniversary, the campaign centres around a 90 second TV advert that takes viewers back to 1984. Featuring iconic images from the 80’s, such as the Rubik’s cube, a huge brick-size mobile phone, the asteriods arcade game, yuppies, and The Sun newspaper headline about the miners’ strike, a glamorous red-suited cabin crew and pilot are seen walking through a dull and dreary airport.
Paul Dickinson, Virgin’s sales and marketing director, said: “When our competitors are feeling down in the dumps, and we enter into a year of economic uncertainty, you can always trust Virgin Atlantic to raise spirits and stare into the future with as much optimism as we did back in 1984.”
Virgin Atlantic celebrate their 25th birthday on 22nd June 2009.
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The previously cancelled Gatwick to Ireland West Airport Knock route by Irish flag carrier, Aer Lingus, is due to start running a daily service again, from 6th April 2009.
An Airbus A320 plane can carry 174 passengers on their new flights, departing from Gatwick at 13.05 and landing at Ireland West Airport Knock at 14.40. The return flights are scheduled at 15.15, arriving back in Gatwick at 16.50.
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Signing a deal to run direct flights from a London airport - yet to confirm Heathrow or Gatwick - to Puerto Rico, Virgin Atlantic expect to start flying from November 2009.
Director of Tourism in Puerto Rico, Terestella Gonzalaz has said: “the weekly flights will generate for our tourism revenue each year around $300 million.”
Talking to a local radio station, he continued to say: “Each flight will reserve 80% of the 240 seat capacity to those passengers booked on a Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.”
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Revealing it has calculated a budget of net proceeds of £1.8 billion from the sale of Gatwick Airport, BAA hope to complete the sale by 1st July 2009, clearing 1.1 times the £1.62 billion regulated asset base of Gatwick the firm reported to investors in a recent statement.
It does stress that this figure is only for budgeting purposes, citing that this figure should not be considered as what they expect the sale to actually bring in. However, the statement does imply an anticipated market value of around £2 billion.
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