p24 Air Oct9 6/10/09 16:37 Page 24
Air
Chris Gray
020 7921 8003
cgray@ttglive.com
For the latest news about flights, airlines and airports, visit ttglive.com/air
Mexico calls for
Cancun boost
MEXICANA Airlines could decide to redeploy
one of its aircraft currently flying from Gatwick
to Mexico City to serve the beach destination
of Cancun.
Jesus Almaguer Salazar (pictured), director-
general of Cancun CVB, said talks with the airline
Manchester puts
were under way, with a decision expected by
mid-October.
The airline started flying from Gatwick to Mexico
City in January, increasing its service to four times
fizz into terminal
a week in February. It currently takes passengers
a further two hours to connect to Cancun.
Philippa Jacks.
£14 million, with the number of lanes increased
Salazar was in London this week to launch THE WINNER of this year’s TTG Travel Award for to 14, and new Rapiscan scanner technology that
Cancun’s new taxi campaign, comprising 20 Best Airport is aiming to put the “romance” back can detect potentially explosive liquids.
branded taxis in London and 10 in Manchester. into air travel. Passengers now pass through security at a
Meanwhile, the tourist board’s Cancun Manchester airport’s new £50 million much earlier stage, and there are few land-side
Tourism Institute Programme, launched in the US Terminal 1 was showcased last week, along with retail outlets. After security, they move through
in 2005, is to come to the UK next year. a new Emirates lounge opening later this month. a blank “Transference” tunnel, then into the
It was built after research into passengers’ “Reassurance” zone where they can buy holiday
■ Latin America feature, p59 psychology as they travel through the airport. essentials. Next they move through the “Desire”
“Airports have become a pain for passengers, zone of duty-free shopping and “Explore”
rather than the beginning of their journey,” zone of high street retailers. Finally, there are
Virgin Atlantic in
said Andrew Cornish (pictured), managing restaurants and a spa in the “Relax” zone.
director of Manchester airport. “We want to The new retail and catering space has a total
Amadeus deal
bring a bit of romance and fun back into it.” of 52 retail units, a third of which are new,
The security area has seen an investment of including Kurt Geiger, Fat Face and Mango.
The duty-free shopping area is the first of a new
VIRGIN ATLANTIC has agreed a full content concept called Biza, which features a champagne
worldwide deal to distribute its flights through Manchester airport in numbers “tower” surrounded by glass bubbles (pictured).
the Amadeus booking platform. 61,000 – average number of passengers per day The Emirates lounge for the airline’s
Jon Harding, the airline’s general manager for 40,000 – bottles of champagne sold in first-class, business-class and gold card-holding
distribution, said the deal underlined Virgin duty-free per year passengers officially opens on October 22.
Atlantic’s commitment to travel agencies. 1.8 million – books sold per year Two years ago, Manchester was ranked 12th
The Virgin Atlantic fares, schedules and 19,000 – number of people employed on site out of 13 medium-sized European airports bench-
inventory available through the Amadeus system 28 million – number of passengers handled marked in an Airport Service Quality survey. But
will be the same, and offered under the by all four airports in the Manchester Airports the four-year redevelopment had helped it leap
same conditions, as any offered through any Group (Manchester, East Midlands, Humberside to seventh place by the first quarter of this year.
indirect or direct channel, distribution provider and Bournemouth)
or website. ■ TTG Travel Awards 2009 results in full, p38
24 09.10.2009
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