2007 Articles

Heathrow passenger figures 'scarcely touched by protests'

The number of passengers passing through Heathrow Airport in August seemed barely affected by the climate change protests in spite of concerns that Britons would be deterred from travelling, BAA figures suggest.

August saw the number of passengers at Heathrow reach a record 6.4 million, 6.5 per cent higher than during July and more than the number registered at that time of year over the past half-decade.

In the light of powerful passenger demand, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) this week warned that more must be done to ease congestion in Heathrow Airport as the continuing popularity of air travel risks putting pressure on infrastructure.
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Customers 'expect too much compensation' for delayed flights

Consumers tend to overestimate their entitlement to compensation from airlines after their flights are delayed, consumer champions Which? have warned.

Some airline passengers who feel let down when flights are delayed, overbooked or cancelled often "seem to think that they have more rights than they actually have", commented Which? Legal Service lawyer Suzy Valentine.

In most cases, she stressed, passengers are entitled to receive accommodation and refreshments to tide them over the waiting period if a flight is delayed and to make free phone calls or emails to let friends or family know the situation.
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Norwich Airport bosses eye Spain routes

Norwich Airport authorities are holding talks with a range of airlines to discuss restoring routes cut by Flybe earlier this summer, local press have reported.

According to the Norwich Evening News, popular outcry has stimulated airport bosses into talking with alternative providers after Flybe announced that routes to Alicante and Malaga would no longer operate during the winter.

"We are looking at every possibility because we know people want the product back at Norwich," Louise Wilkinson, airport spokeswoman, told the paper.
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Security cameras which analyse 'demeanour' on horizon?

Cameras with a facility to detect possible terrorists are to be rolled out across major British airports, according to a report in the Scotland on Sunday newspaper.

Glasgow Airport, Edinburgh Airport and Aberdeen Airport will join scores of travel hubs south of the border in installing the cameras, which are able to spot given individuals and detect 'microexpressions' and alterations in demeanour which could be deemed suspicious, the newspaper claimed.

According to the paper, the cameras, already used in US and Israeli airports, would be trained on crowds as they wait to check in their luggage, eliminating a loophole whereby security checks currently happen only after check-in is complete.
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BAA tracks August passenger growth in UK airports

The number of passengers passing through BAA airports in August soared to 15.2 million in August, according to company data just released.

The 5.9 per cent rise in passenger figures compared to July drew on a marked increase in European scheduled traffic, with 8.2 per cent passenger growth and a 10.2 per cent rise in the number of passengers travelling to the north Atlantic including America.

Charter flights to Europe, by contrast, fell 5.7 per cent in terms of passenger figures while the number of people crossing to the Irish Republic by air grew only by a modest 1.3 per cent.
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Teething troubles for baby milk scheme

Cardiff Airport authorities have defended the price of baby milk sold at the airport amid concerns that parents were paying over the odds to buy the infants' product at the travel hub.

Following the introduction of security restrictions on the transportation of liquids, many parents with young children found they could not take milk through security barriers onto aircraft.

Ten 100 ml containers could be carried through checkpoints in transparent, resealable plastic bags, while any milk outside of a bag had to be tasted to prove it was not harmful.
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Autumn breaks on the horizon for majority of Brits

Seven in ten Britons are poised to take to the skies again this autumn on their way to foreign lands for a welcome break, a new survey from TripAdvisor shows.

Although more than half the people questioned said they thought autumn travel meant they could travel without being surrounded by crowds of Brits, the apparent popularity of an autumn break could dispel that hope.

With 90 per cent of Britons itching to leave the country, 43 per cent are heading 'offshore' in search of sun and sand.
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Build-up to Christmas breaks 'starts a year in advance'

Holidaymakers tend to book Christmas trips up to 12 months in advance, a spokesperson for the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) has said.

With the festive season becoming an increasingly popular time to get away from the UK, Christmas is the next major holiday after the summer when parents can expect children at school and university to be available for family holidays.

"People do tend to plan ahead because it's so busy and it's such a short period of time", the ABTA spokesperson explained, adding that every year early bookings for Christmas getaways tend to exceed those of the year before.
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All-night bus links Manchester Airport to town

Travellers accessing Manchester Airport can now take advantage of round-the-clock services on the 43 bus route which links the travel hub to the centre of town.

The Stagecoach service, which runs from Piccadilly Station every 30 minutes, will run on a 24-hour basis after operators reported increased passenger demand.

Airport authorities have encouraged the prolongation of the link's running hours as part of a drive to improve environmentally-friendly transport links between Manchester Airport and the city centre.
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London theatre welcomes Stewart as the Thane

Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart is to star in a West End staging of the Scottish play when the Chichester Festival production of Macbeth, directed by Rupert Goold, opens at the Gielgud Theatre on September 21st.

Although the Edinburgh Festival has ended, the spirit of theatricality that flourishes north of the border is nowhere better encapsulated than in Shakespeare's tragedy of family dysfunction, hubris and madness.

With some of the most rousing passages in the English language, the poetry and prose are unmatched and this production profits from a star with extensive Shakespearean experience behind him, including an award-winning turn as the eponymous hero in Othello at Washington DC's Shakespeare Theatre and a stint as the vicious Claudius in Hamlet in 1980, a role he is set to reprise with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2008.
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Stansted Airport eyes increased arrivals

Stansted Airport expects to complete a £40 million project to extend its arrivals capacity by 2008, an airport BAA spokesperson announced shortly after the hub overtook Manchester Airport as the UK's third largest airport.

The investment is focused on creating more belt space and more baggage space, with the aim of speeding up the process of luggage reclaim after passengers touch down on the runway.

Passenger flow is set to increase by up to ten million people passing through the airport annually if airport authorities' ambitions are realised, processing 35 million passengers a year instead of the 23.7 million the airport recorded this July.
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