Tag Archives: LGW

Ryanair produces a 3Q net profit of $55.9 million, expands at Copenhagen

Ryanair (Dublin) reported a fiscal third quarter net profit of €49 million ($55.9 million), reversing a previous third quarter €1.13 billion net loss a year ago.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

In other news, Ryanair is expanding operations at Copenhagen, starting on March 26 with new daily routes to London (Luton), Milan (Bergamo) and Warsaw (Modlin) per Airline Route.

The ultra low fare airline will expand again on September 2 at CPH with new daily routes to Madrid (Barajas) and Rome (Ciampino).

Again on October 25, the airline will continue its expansion with new daily routes to Charleroi (near Brussels) and Skavsta (near Stockholm).

Ryanair aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-3/Airlines-Europe3-QZ/Ryanair

EasyJet expects first half losses to fall after growth in sales

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) expects first half losses to shrink, helped by growing capacity and record number of business passengers in the first quarter.

The economy airline expects losses of between £10 million ($15.1 million) and £30 million ($45.5 million) in the first half of the year, compared with £53 million ($80.4 million) last year. The company also hopes to pass lower fuel costs on to passengers.

Easyjet chief executive Carolyn McCall said in a statement:

“We further strengthened our network in the quarter adding around 500,000 seats, the majority of which are from airports where EasyJet has a number one or number two position,”

“This combined with our new TV ads aimed at business travellers enabled EasyJet to sell record numbers of seats to business travellers in the first quarter,” she added.

Oil prices:

The largest carrier in the UK said it expects to pass fuel cost savings on to passengers, probably cutting around £2 off its average fare.

“EasyJet expects that lower fuel costs will be beneficial for its customers as fares adjust,” it said.

Oil prices have fallen by more than half since the summer, and the firm expects its annual fuel bill to be between £90m and £130m less than it was in the 12 months to 30 September 2014.

Competitor Ryanair (Dublin) is also trying to attract more business travellers, with the Irish carrier adding new routes and boosted capacity, and has made moves to improve its customer service. Its shares hit an all-time high this month after a surge in passenger numbers.

Read the full report from the BBC: CLICK HERE

Assistant Editor Oliver Wilcock reporting from Manchester.

Copyright Photo: SPA/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 G-EZWV (msn 6177) with Sharklets arrives back at bLondon’s Gatwick Airport.

EasyJet (UK) aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-1/Airlines-Europe-1/EasyJet-UK

Norwegian announces three new routes

Norwegian Air Shuttle (Norwegian.com) (Oslo) has announced new weekly nonstop flights between Stockholm (Arlanda) and Bastia in Corsica starting on April 25. Additionally the airline will launch new twice-weekly nonstop flights between Madrid and Nice starting on March 29 as well as weekly flights between London (Gatwick) and Kefalonia in Greece on April 18.

Copyright Photo: SPA/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-8Q8 LN-NOD (msn 35280) with Sonja Henie on the tail approaches the runway at Gatwick Airport near London.

Norwegian aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-2/Airlines-Europe-2/Norwegian-Air-Shuttle

Norwegian carries a record number of passengers in 2014

Norwegian Air Shuttle (Norwegian.com) (Oslo) set a new passenger record in 2014 with nearly 24 million passengers. The carrier transported three million more passengers in 2014 than the previous year. Since its inception in 2002, 130 million passengers have traveled with Norwegian.

According to the airline, “2014 was characterized by high capacity growth but also a high load factor. The load factor in 2014 was 81 percent against 78 percent in 2013. In 2014, the airline renewed the fleet considerably, launched many new routes – both intercontinental and in Europe and established new bases in the United States and Spain.”

Copyright Photo: SPA/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 737-8JP LN-DYG (msn 39165) with Swedish opera singer, Jenny Lind, arrives in London at Gatwick Airport.

Norwegian aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-2/Airlines-Europe-2/Norwegian-Air-Shuttle

Ryanair to add the Manchester – Stuttgart route

Ryanair (Dublin) has announced a further extension to its Manchester summer 2015 schedule with a new route to Stuttgart in Germany, which will operate six times weekly from April 2. This is in addition to two new summer 2015 routes to Eindhoven and Shannon (38 routes in total) and extra flights to/from Alicante, Lisbon and Madrid.

Ryanair aircraft slide show:

Gambia Bird ceases operations, an apparent victim of the Ebola crisis in west Africa

Gambia Bird Airlines (Banjul), since the Ebola crisis spread, continued to operate the Banjul – London (Gatwick) route but dropping the stop in Sierra Leone due to the on-going crisis. A few days ago, the company announced they would add London (Gatwick)-Accra and Gatwick-Lagos flights. However yesterday (December 30), the west African airline ceased all operations.

The airline issued this statement yesterday:

Gambia Bird Airlines has suspended commercial flight operations until further notice. This operational decision is effective as of December 30.

We wish to express our sincere regrets for disrupting the travel plans of those of our esteemed guests who are booked on the suspended flights. We further wish to confirm that we will provide a full refund of all tickets purchased prior to this flight suspension.

Furthermore, Gambia Bird Airlines wishes to reaffirm that we will comply with all our obligations and that we will provide all necessary support services to passengers affected by the flight suspension.

Copyright Photo: Terry Wade/AirlinersGallery.com. Gambia Bird Airlines-AJW Aviation (Germania) Airbus A319-112 D-ASTB (msn 4691) arrives at LGW.

Gambia Bird aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Africa-2/Airlines-Africa2-GZ/Gambia-Bird

Virgin Atlantic flight VS 43 to Las Vegas returns safely to London Gatwick with a main gear problem

Virgin Atlantic Airways (London) flight VS 43 from London (Gatwick) to Las Vegas today encountered a technical problem after departure with its main landing gear. After dumping fuel over the Atlantic Ocean and circling south of LGW, the Boeing 747-400 landed safely at LGW. One of the main gears was not fully locked.

Virgin Atlantic tweeted this message:

Virgin Atlantic can confirm that flight VS 43 has landed safely back at Gatwick. Our priority now is to look after our passengers and crew.

Above Twitter photo by GorseFires Collectif. Boeing 747-443 G-VROM (msn 32339) circles over Brighton with the unsafe gear.

Below Copyright Photo: Robbie Shaw/AirlinersGallery.com. A close-up of the main gear moments before it landed at London Gatwick. The right outboard main gear did not deploy fully.

Read the full report from The Guardian: CLICK HERE

Video of the landing minus one main gear:

Virgin Atlantic aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-3/Airlines-Europe3-QZ/Virgin-Atlantic-Airways

EasyJet to start flights to the Azores

EasyJet (easyJet.com) (UK) (London-Luton) has announced that it is to commence four-times weekly flights between Lisbon and Ponta Delgada in the Azores as of March 2015. The marketing director for the company’s Portugal operations made the announcement.

José Lopes told journalists in the Azores capital: “Finally we have all the guarantees that we needed for us to be able to announce the opening of the Lisbon-Ponta Delgada route, which will be a reality from the end of March of next year,”

Lopes added that EasyJet will start with a 180-seater Airbus A320 making four flights. He said details of prices would be announced next week.

Report by Assistant Editor Oliver Wilcock from Manchester.

EasyJet (UK) aircraft slide show:

Emirates to add a third daily flight to Birmingham

Emirates (Dubai) has announced a third daily service to Birmingham Airport, becoming the first airline to offer a direct First Class service to the region.

Commencing on Saturday August 1, 2015, Emirates flight EK 41, operated by a Boeing 777-300 ER, will depart Dubai International Airport at 0235 and arrive in Birmingham at 0705. The outbound flight, EK 42, will depart Birmingham Airport at 0910 and arrive in Dubai at 1910. The additional service adds seven more inbound flights a week to Birmingham, increasing passenger and cargo capacity on the route by 42 percent.

Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 777-31H ER A6-EBK (msn 34481) holds short of the runway at London Gatwick Airport.

Emirates aircraft slide show:

EasyJet flight attendants in France to strike on Friday

EasyJet (easyJet.com) (UK) (London-Luton) flight attendants, angry over scheduling and pay, announced a strike on Friday. The planned action is expected to force the low-cost carrier to cancel about half its flights in France the day after Christmas day.

Though workers from SNPNC-FO and UNAC unions said their strike is to start on Christmas, there are no flights scheduled that day, so the walkout will only impact travellers flying on December 26.

EasyJet said in a statement it “doesn’t know exactly how many workers are to down tools”, but anticipates fewer than half of all flights will be impacted.

The British airline will know the extent of the strike Tuesday because aviation workers are legally obligated to announce strikes 48 hours in advance.
But general director, of EasyJet’s France operations, François Bacchetta told AFP agency the company expected “less than half of flights” to be cancelled.

“On Monday, we will pre-emptively cancel a certain number of flights in order to transfer passengers, so they can adjust their plans,” he said.

Workers are upset over schedules that “can change twenty times per month”, making “family life totally impossible”, said Laurent Nicolas of the SNPNC-FO flight attendants’ union.

Bacchetta acknowledged the demands of the industry were “complicated” and that he understood the “frustration” of workers.

But he was less lenient with protests over salaries, which he said were currently entering annual negotiations.

EasyJet employs about 1,000 people in France, including 600 flight attendants.

Read the full report from The Connexion: CLICK HERE

Assistant Editor Oliver Wilcock reporting from Manchester.

EasyJet (UK) aircraft slide show: