Airports - March April 2015

London City Expansion Approved
THE STRATEGIC Development
Committee of Newham Council
has approved planning permission
allowing a £200m development
at London City Airport and the
construction of a 260-bed hotel. The
granting of permission will allow the
airport to handle up to 111,000 flights
a year (up from the current 70,000
limit), although it is 10,000 fewer than
requested. The project is expected to
create 1,500 jobs, on top of the 500
during construction, and could double
the airport’s economic value to the
area – which could reach £1.5bn a year.
London City’s CEO Declan Collier
said: “The development of the
airport will culminate in 2023 when,
having constructed seven new
aircraft stands, a parallel taxiway
and terminal extensions to the
west and to the east, the airport
will be welcoming some six million
THE MANCHESTER Airports Group
(MAG) announced the next phase of
its £260m redevelopment project at
London/Stansted during the Future
Travel Experience Europe event in
London on February 4. The work
will upgrade and rejuvenate the
Satellite One departure gate area
and includes a new Escape Lounge
specifically aimed at attracting more
long-haul carriers. Costing £8m the
development will restyle the satellite
passengers every year.”
Council officers set out 131
conditions that are designed to
reduce any impact on local residents.
These include no more than 45
More Stansted Upgrades
and add more comfortable seats,
refurbished toilets, charging points
for electronic devices and improve
Wi-Fi access.
The airport’s managing director,
Andrew Harrison, commented:
“These are really exciting times and
will be a significant turning point
in the airport’s history. Having
successfully returned Stansted
to growth, making it once again
London’s fastest growing airport,
Planning permission to allow
the development of London City
Airport to handle up to 111,000
flights a year has been approved.
(Simon Murdoch)
flights per hour, the building of a
noise barrier to the south of the
site during construction and limiting
the noisiest work, such as piling, to
weekends.
we’re driving forward our ambition
to attract a greater mix of airlines,
including long-haul connections to
serve our region and the London
– Stansted – Cambridge economic
growth corridor. I’m really excited
and looking forward to this time
next year when this phase of
re-development will be completed
and our passengers can fully
experience how Stansted is changing,
because this is just the beginning.”
NEWS
LATEST UPDATES
IN BRIEF
London/Southend Airport set a new
passenger record last year of 1,090,696,
exceeding the 2013 figure of 970,167. The
most popular destination was Amsterdam,
which attracted 200,973 travellers.
The airport has undergone a £120m
transformation since it was bought by the
Stobart Group in 2008, and has benefitted
from a new hotel, ATC tower, terminal,
railway station and runway extension.
Simon Murdoch
Stockholm/Arlanda Airport could be
the first in Scandinavia to provide US
customs and immigration preclearance.
The Swedish Government is to consider
introducing the capability, which if agreed
would make it only the second European
nation (after Ireland) to offer it. If the
Swedish and US governments approve
the idea, Arlanda Airport would instigate
construction of new facilities.
Amsterdam/Schiphol welcomed 55 million
passengers during 2014 – a 0.6% increase
compared with the previous year. At
Eindhoven Airport numbers were 3.9 million,
up 16%, while Rotterdam’s The Hague
Airport welcomed 1.7 million passengers,
up 6.1%.
Schiphol Group’s President and CEO Jos
Nijhuis said: “These figures show that
Schiphol Group has achieved growth in
all of its operations. This is no reason for
complacency, however. In collaboration
with our home carrier KLM, other airlines
and business partners, we will continue
to work hard to strengthen the role of
Schiphol with a view to remaining Europe’s
preferred airport.”
EMIRATES upgraded its second daily
service from Dubai to Manchester with
an Airbus A380, replacing the Boeing
777 that previously flew the route, from
February 1. The move will deliver an
extra 13% in seat capacity for the North
West facility as well as a more than 20%
increase in premium cabin availability.
AirPortr Pursues New Markets
UK-BASED baggage concierge
provider AirPortr is negotiating with
several London airports, including
Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, to
expand its services. The company
then plans to branch out across the
UK and into Europe. It also wants to
serve international customers and is
currently working with the relevant
UK customs and border agencies to
see if this is possible.
AirPortr has been operating at
London City Airport since last May
and collects passengers’ luggage
for them, then takes it to their
desired location, such as a hotel,
home or place of business – and
vice-versa. Currently this is limited
(MAG)
to domestic flights as operatives
collect luggage from the arrivals
hall carousels.
Customers can track their bag’s
progress using a smartphone app
and real-time GPS location. Prices
start from £15 for the first item and
£5 for each additional bag. For
more details visit: http://portr.com
Belarusian News reports that the
reconstruction of the main terminal at
Minsk National Airport in Belarus is now
complete. The project is believed to have
cost $65m, and according to the Belarusian
Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Kalinin the
project has added 6,561sq ft (609m 2 ) of
floor space to provide more room in the
immigration and customs areas.
Almost 10.6 million passengers used
Warsaw/Chopin Airport in 2014, the
second best result in its history. The
majority of passengers, 9,373,000,
travelled internationally with domestic
services accounting for only 1,217,000.
Airport Director Michał Kaczmarzyk
commented: “It was a very good year
for the airport. We served 10.6 million
passengers without Ryanair, which shows
a significant potential for growth.”
www.airportsworld.com 7