LONDON - Following a summer where 70 percent of the aiport's passengers were travelling for leisure, London City expects business traffic to rebound through the winter season. The airport just saw the return of Sun-Air with its service to Billund, while British Airways switches from leisure to business routes.»
LOSSIEMOUTH - The RAF’s new Boeing P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft based at RAF Lossiemouth was launched on Search and Rescue duties for the first time this month as they helped rescue two transatlantic rowers. The P-8A crew coordinated a merchant vessel to the stricken rowers.»
LONDON - Ryanair adds over one million seats to its winter schedules to and from 20 UK airports "in response to British Airways’ announcement that it will cancel 8 percent of its winter schedule due to staff shortages and capacity cuts" at "hopeless Heathrow" airport. The Irish LCC expects to carry more passengers this year.»
LONDON - British Airways responds to the passenger cap at Heathrow airport. The IAG airline suspended ticket sales for short-haul flights from its main hub until August 8 citing "responsible action" to ease capacity constraints. The move sent ticket fares at other London airports through the roof.»
LONDON - London Heathrow airport caps it daily departures at 100,000 passengers to avoid additional cancellations through the summer period. The airport expects an average of 1,500 passengers per day to be affected by the "intervention" - and blames airlines for not taking sufficient action to help ease the situation.»
LONDON - Staff shortages meet demand peaks: British Airways is canceling 10,300 additional short-haul flights through October to stabilize its schedule and "protect as many of our holiday flights as possible". Pending labor action at Heathrow airport will not cause British Airways additional headaches.»
LONDON - Only once in a while Heathrow slots return to the open allocation pool. British slot coordinator ACI has now reallocated 32 Aeroflot take-off and landing slots among other airlines. JetBlue Airways, Virgin Atlantic and four other airlines will take off on seized Aeroflot slots in the winter season.»
LONDON - Following a further review of its operation Gatwick is temporarily moderating its rate of growth for July and August by putting in place a gradually increasing capacity level at the airport, which aligns its growth trajectory with airlines and ground handler’s resource capabilities. »
LONDON - Jobs and innovation are at the heart of a government and industry initiative for developing the UK aviation sector after the pandemic. A peer council of airlines, airports, industry experts and government officials will work together to implement the conceptual 10-point framework.»
LONDON - British Airways owner IAG commits to 50 Boeing 737 MAX aicraft. The order is split in 25 737-8200s - a high-density version with additional doors that Boeing developed for low-cost airlines - and 25 737 MAX 10s, which is still pending regulatory approval. Deliveries are scheduled between 2023 and 2027.»
LONDON - Royal Mail firms up plans to scale up its use of drone technology and create more than 50 new postal drone routes over the next three years, subject to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approval, as part of a new partnership with Windracers, a leading logistics drone company.»
TEESSIDE - Loganair suspends its flights from Teesside to London-Heathrow and Southampton citing "cost of aviation fuel" and recent fee increases at the London hub. The Heathrow route suffered from a sluggish return of business travel while leisure traffic spearheads recovery of British aviation.»Discussions on current events and developments in the aviation industry
