50 SKY SHADES - World aviation news

United Kingdom aviation news

Major alert at Heathrow after man locks self in jet cockpit

Portuguese national Louis Pedro Verdasca dos Santos Costa, 38, has been charged over the incident at Britain's biggest airport on Saturday. A major security alert was sparked at Heathrow Airport after an intruder broke through a security cordon, climbed aboard an empty British Airways 747 airliner and locked himself inside the bomb-proof cockpit. Police were alerted shortly after 11.30am...

easyJet signs distribution deal with Sabre

easyJet has signed a new long-term distribution agreement with Sabre Corporation. The agreement gives corporate travel agencies across Europe continued access to easyJet fares through the Sabre GDS. Around 20 percent of easyJet’s passengers travel for business. The airline’s agreement with Sabre helps easyJet continue serving this important corporate segment. “easyJet made...

Manchester Airport: £1bn plan to 'transform' site approved

A £1bn programme to "transform" Manchester Airport has been approved. The 10-year plan includes doubling the size of Terminal 2, expanding self-service check-in facilities and building a larger security hall. Manchester City Council also approved plans to demolish Terminal 1 and build a ramp from an M56 slip road to give access to a new departures forecourt. The work, whic...

British man forced off easyJet plane after passenger saw message about 'prayer' on his phone

A British man was removed from from an easyJet plane by armed officers after a passenger saw a message on his phone about 'prayer' and reported him as a security threat. Laolu Opebiyi, 40, a Christian, born in Nigeria and now living in London,was ordered off the flight at Luton Airport and asked if he was converting to Islam as the 6.45am flight to Amsterdam took off without him. A f...

Loganair unveils first revamped plane in 13-aircraft fleet

The refurbishment of the first of 13 aircraft operated by the Scottish airline Loganair has been completed. The interior of the Saab 340 that flies to and from Orkney was stripped out and renewed and the exterior repainted at a cost of almost £270,000. Loganair, a franchise partner of Flybe, will spend £3.5m having the same work done to the rest of its fleet. The first stage i...

London City Airport Deal Shows Infrastructure Investors’ Willing to Pay Up for Smaller Airports

Infrastructure investors are hot on the trail of airport assets and are willing to pay a premium, even for secondary and regional airports. Emblematic of this quest is the deal reached by a consortium that included Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Borealis Infrastructure to acquire London City Airport, located just east of the city’s Canary Wharf district and favored by business t...

Gatwick Airport runway closed to all flights after spillage

Passengers faced long delays and diverted flights after the runway at Gatwick was closed because of a spillage. No flights were able to land or take off at the West Sussex airport after a plane was believed to have dropped oil on Monday morning. At least 18 incoming flights were diverted to other airports, while outgoing flights were being delayed by up to an hour. An airport spokesm...

easyJet links London Southend with Paris CDG

easyJet entered into the congested London to Paris market on 26 February, starting a four times weekly A319 operation between London Southend (SEN) and Paris CDG (CDG). The LCC will join London-Paris incumbents offering 184 weekly rotations ‒ Air France (which flies London Heathrow to Paris CDG 46 times weekly), British Airways (Heathrow to CDG 53 times weekly and Paris Orly 27 times weekly) a...

Ryanair marks its side of the Brexit debate

For those of you outside the European Union or the United Kingdom, you may or may not heard of the upcoming poll of the British public on if they wish to remain in the European Union (which the media has dubbed the “Brexit”). And normally, I wouldn’t write about this – mainly because the wall-to-wall media coverage of this, with politicians tearing each other into bits w...

British Airways to Grow Fleet After Profit Leap in 2015

British Airways owner IAG SA said it’s making progress in talks to add more wide-body jets at the U.K. carrier in order to tap surging demand after profit across the group jumped 68 percent in 2015. Chief Executive Officer Willie Walsh said Friday that he’s in detailed discussions with potential suppliers of used Boeing Co. 777-300ER aircraft and is continuing to look at leasin...

Fire-damaged British Airways jet getting preflight tests

 A British Airways jet that was damaged by fire during an aborted takeoff in September flew from Las Vegas to a California airport on Friday after six months of repairs including an engine replacement and fuselage patch. The Boeing 777 took a circuitous route over the Mojave Desert to Victorville, where it will be repainted before being flown back to the United Kingdom, airline spokeswoman...

Qantas to begin work on luxury lounge at London Heathrow

London is the location for Qantas’ next flagship global lounge, with construction on a new, dedicated facility at Heathrow Airport to begin in September 2016. The premium lounge will occupy a split-level space in Terminal 3 that will have capacity for approximately 230 people and offer views over the Heathrow airfield when it opens in early 2017. Its design will combine the signature f...