p24 Air June5 2/6/09 17:58 Page 24
Air
Chris Gray
020 7921 8003
cgray@ttglive.com
For the latest news about flights, airlines and airports, visit ttglive.com/air
BMI’s new lounge
at Heathrow T1
Newcastle put in
BMI has opened a new
international lounge ‘jeopardy’ by APD
for customers flying
through Heathrow’s
Chris Gray.
Terminal 1. NEWCASTLE airport has warned MPs its entire
The airline unveiled programme could be jeopardised by planned
the lounge, called BMI Number One Heathrow, increases in Air Passenger Duty.
this week following five months of work. Graeme Mason, head of planning and corpo-
The facility, which replaces the former rate affairs, said the airport had already lost
international lounge and is now on the first floor, services to Belfast, Bristol and Bergen in Norway
includes a traditional British-style pub, study as a result of increases in APD last year.
area, free Wi-Fi access and a cafe serving snacks And he warned that APD increases planned for
and meals. this year and 2010, combined with the impact
Sales and marketing director Katherine of the UK joining the European emissions trading
Gershon said the airline wanted to offer scheme, would “jeopardise the entire port-
improved facilities for passengers following folio of routes out of Newcastle”.
BMI’s shift to mid-haul services in the wake of its Giving evidence to the Commons Heathrow, Amsterdam and Paris, as
takeover of British Mediterranean Airways. transport select committee, which well as a direct service to Dubai.
is investigating aviation policy, Businesses were also pressuris-
Mason said the airport directly sup- ing the airport to secure a direct
In brief
ported 8,500 jobs in the north-east. link to New York, he added.
It contributed £400 million, or 1% Uel Hoey, business development
of regional GDP, to the region’s economy, director of Belfast International airport,
■ Ryanair reports annual net loss of ¤169m he said. warned MPs that his airport was already at
Ryanair made a net loss of ¤169.1 million in the Mason called for “urgent action” to assess the a competitive disadvantage to Dublin airport
year ending March 31, 2009. The figure compares potential damage of APD increases to regional because of APD. The planned increases would
with a ¤481 million profit the previous year. The airports and the economies of their regions. lead to passengers and freight traffic from
airline blamed the drop on “substantially higher He added that major businesses in the north- Northern Ireland opting to drive to Dublin
oil prices”, which went up 59% to ¤1.25 billion. east, such as Nissan and Procter & Gamble, could airport instead, Hoey added.
Revenues rose 8% to ¤2.94 billion as air fares fell not function without local air connections.
8%, while carryings grew 15% to 58.5 million. They relied on Newcastle’s links to hubs at ■ Find out more at ttglive.com/travelgivesback
■ Virgin Trains’ Manchester carryings up 12%
Virgin Trains has seen a 12% increase in traffic on
its Manchester to London rail route during the past Iata found guilty of data breach
six months. The operator claimed it was winning
market share from airlines for passengers IATA has been found guilty by the International Iata has been ordered to stop using the data
travelling between the cities, attracting 77% of Chamber of Commerce arbitration tribunal of for anything other than “the orderly operation
all passengers on the route, including both rail breaching the EU Database Directive. of BSP”, according to an Amadeus statement.
and air journeys, up from 75% a year ago. The tribunal said the international airline The technology firm said Iata had confirmed
association was illegally using electronic ticketing it will take all the necessary steps to exclude any
■ British Airways revives Saudi Arabia links information generated by Amadeus. Amadeus ticketing information from its PaxIS
British Airways has relaunched flights to Saudi Iata had been using data from the Billing product with immediate effect.
Arabia following a break of four years. The Settlement Plan – the system used by agents to The news will be welcomed by business travel
carrier’s first flights to the capital Riyadh and the pay airlines for fares booked on global distribu- consortia on both sides of the Atlantic who
city of Jeddah touched down on May 31. BA will tion systems such as Amadeus – to develop, have been calling for Iata to fall in line with the
operate five weekly services to both cities. market and sell its own passenger information recently introduced EU CRS code of conduct.
product, PaxIS. The legislation allows travel intermediaries to
ttglive.com
For the very latest flights, airline and
The tribunal considered this an infringement protect their identity and that of its clients within
airport news, go to ttglive.com/air of Amadeus’s rights under the EU directive. data generated by the GDSs.
24 05.06.2009
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