London Gatwick airport for sale

Do you have spare $3.5 billion, more less? If yes, here is your big chance to buy yourself UK second largest airport.

You might have some competition though. Australian company Macquarie, Germany's Fraport and Virgin Atlantic expressed their interest. However, if you miss this opportunity, you may always bid for Stansted airport, which is going to be sold next.

New routes from Newcastle to Corfu and Rhodes

Jet2.com will be flying to popular the holiday destinations of Corfu and Rhodes this summer from Newcastle International airport.

The two new scheduled services have just gone on sale and the first flights will depart on June 4th to Rhodes and June 20th to Corfu.

The new services from Newcastle airport are part of Jet2.com's continued expansion programme in the north.

Terminal 5 shambles continue

The chaos at London Heathrow Terminal 5 seems to carry on today.

British Airways cancelled a fifth of its flights from Heathrow's Terminal 5 this morning as it admitted the £4.3billion facility was not ready to be opened.

The airline continues to offer apologies. It has set up an information line for passengers: 0800 727 800 and service updates are available at www.ba.com.

I think today’s Metro summed this national embarrassment very well with a question; ‘Why can’t BA and BAA get you from A to B without A BA**S-UP?’

Picture: Daily Mail

KLM pilot misses new Hyderabad airport

One would thing that all that state of the art equipment on board of airplanes should make it impossible for pilot to miss the arrival port, but then one would be mistaken.

In a slip-up barely hours after the Shamshabad airport opened for business, a KLM flight from Amsterdam, which was supposed to land at Hyderabad, skipped the airport and flew across the country — first to Delhi, and then to Mumbai.

Apparently, the pilot knew nothing about the new airport and was flying towards Begumpet only to be told that the facility had been shut. He was directed to Shamshabad, to which the pilot asked the air traffic control: "Shamshabad? What’s that?" The pilot then flew to Delhi, from where, after being refused permission to land, he took the plane to Mumbai.

Next time, give a guy GPS system, I heard TomTom is good.

A380 superjumbo lands in Heathrow

The world's biggest passenger plane, the Airbus A380 superjumbo, has touched down at Heathrow after its first commercial flight to Europe.

The 471 passengers applauded loudly on landing at the west London airport which had spent over £100 million to accommodate the jet which had taken off 14 hours earlier from Singapore's Changi airport.

The Dubai-based carrier Emirates will start A380 services to Heathrow in December and Australian carrier Qantas is also expected to use the superjumbo to fly to London.

In the future, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic will be flying the A380 at Heathrow, where both Terminal 3 and the new £4.3 billion Terminal 5 can take the new aircraft.

All of those on board were given a certificate with their names on to mark the event, with intrepid traveller Mark Barden, 45, from Southampton possibly the most worthy recipient.

Mr Barden, a male nurse, flew out to Singapore to be on the inaugural flight. After just eight hours in the Far East, he was then flying back for his third A380 trip in two days and was even contemplating going in to work on Thursday.

And Roger and Sue Simpson from Fowey, Cornwall, had expected to be on a conventional jumbo jet but found to their pleasure that their flight had been earmarked as the inaugural A380 European run.

Mr Simpson, 56, a retired environmental manager, said: "This plane is a step in the right direction. It's quiet, less-polluting and roomy."

Passengers sat in three classes - first, which has 12 luxury suites with 23-inch TV and cinema screens and double beds; business, where 60 people can enjoy flat-bed sleeping; and economy where nearly 400 passengers have seat-back screens and more room than rival aircrafts.

The aircraft's huge wings are manufactured in Broughton, North Wales, and Filton, Bristol, while the superjumbo is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines.

Source: msn news UK

Dubai to launch cheap airline

Dubai’s government is to establish a low-cost airline, which will be managed by the biggest Arab airline Emirates.

Dubai is also spending $33 billion to build what it intends to be the world's largest airport at Jebel Ali in the south of the emirate. The six-runway al-Maktoum International Airport will be 10 times the size of Dubai's existing airport and bigger by area than London's Heathrow and Chicago's O'Hare airports combined when completed in 2012.

American Airlines moves from Gatwick to Heathrow

After 26 years at London Gatwick Airport, the American Airlines are moving to London Heathrow.

The American Airlines’ planning senior vice-president Henry Joyner said: "We want to strengthen our competitive position within the new open skies regime, so it makes sense to focus our efforts in London at Heathrow.

"These changes do not impact the total number of American flights to and from London. We'll operate up to 18 daily departures to Heathrow this summer from seven US airports."


The last American Airline service from Gatwick will be will be a Dallas/Fort Worth connection on April 13.