+ THE NEWS IN BRIEF - Everything you need to know

A suggested Christmas present

Aurigny and Guernsey

Aviation Club lunch

British Airways First Class

EasyJet and summer 2025

Find your way around the stations

Flights to Israel

Goodbye the Boeing 757

Jet2 at Luton

London City Update

New Leicester Square hotel

Remarkable (Electric) Dash 7

Restart for Eurostar London to Amsterdam

Ruby Hotels in London

Simon Calder and New Zealand

Spirit Airlines

Transport Secretary for Airports conference

Turkish delight

Virgin Atlantic 2025

Wizz Air ban



A suggested Christmas present

Now in prototype form the Joby electric air taxi has been added to Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Joby recently brought its aircraft to Grand Central Terminal in New York City and The Grove in Los Angeles, sharing the company’s vision for the future of flight with local communities.

Joby’s electric air taxi is designed to carry a pilot and four passengers at speeds of up to 200mph, offering high-speed mobility with a fraction of the noise produced by helicopters and zero operating emissions.

Try it yourself.

www.jobyaviation.com

www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/microsoft-flight-simulator


Aurigny and Guernsey

Guernsey-based Aurigny is to operate daily flights from Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester this summer. Dublin services will also return, with up to three per week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

The airline’s successful additions of Edinburgh and Paris are set to continue. The London City service, another success, will offer increased frequency in summer 2025, of up to 15 flights per week – a welcome boost for the business community. Leeds Bradford flights will operate twice a week.  The Stansted flights are dropped.  Gatwick remains the main gateway with up to six services a day.  Southampton is three times daily for the 45 minutes flight.

Three ATR72-600s are the backbone of the Aurigny fleet, augmented up by a pair of Dornier 228s, capable of using a short 880m runway.

www.aurigny.com


Aviation Club lunch 

Unless you see this notification on or before Friday 29 November you are too late to secure a place at the Aviation Club’s Christmas lunch.  Tuesday 3 December is the date at the Royal Automobile Club (RAC), 89 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HS, where we will be joined by guest of honour, Campbell Wilson, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Air India.  

If it is the Monday when you read this story you can always contact the Secretary, who might have a cancellation.

Campbell Wilson joined Air India, now part of the TATA Group, in summer 2022 spearheading an ambitious five-year programme to transform the formerly state-owned carrier into a world-class airline.  Air India has in recent times placed orders for 470 wide-body and narrow-body aircraft.

https://aviationclub.org.uk


British Airways First Class

BA will debut its new First Class in mid-2026 on the Airbus A380.

Currently the airline has Business Class (C), Premium Economy, and Economy, on the upper deck, and First Class, Business Class and Economy, on the lower deck, a daft arrangement which means that clients in C can be on a different deck than their travelling companions.

With the arrangement both First Class and Business Class will be on the upper deck.  

The new cabin forms part of the airline’s A380 retrofit plans, expected to take to the skies in 18 months’ time.  Whilst suggestions by this publication and others to rename First Class ‘Concorde Class’ have been ignored, the official press release states “The elegant curves throughout the cabin take inspiration from British Airways’ Concorde wings”.  

https://mediacentre.britishairways.com/pressrelease/details/21380


EasyJet and summer 2025

An entirely new service to Cape Verde has been announced from Luton by easyJet for next summer.  The airline will offer in total of 74 destinations across Europe and North Africa once the season gets under way.  Tel Aviv does not currently feature in the airline’s plans although things might quickly change.  Before the pandemic (and war) the airline flew to Israel from Gatwick and Manchester, as well as Luton.

Cape Verde will become the first ever sub-Saharan destination easyJet has flown to in its history, when it takes off from Gatwick airport next summer.

Inaugural flights to Cape Verde will commence on 31 March 2025 and operate three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the summer season.  Located off the west coast of Africa, the tropical islands are the latest destination added to the airline’s growing network, offering another far-flung choice for UK customers planning their summer holidays. By this time current CEO Johan Lundgren would have stood down replaced by CFO Kenton Jarvis.

www.easyjet.com


Find your way around the stations

Although it is designed to help disabled passengers, those whose mobility is not that good (or with heavy belongings) will find a series of interactive station maps recently published by Govia (Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express ) most useful.

Passengers will be able to plan their journeys through selected stations in the South East using new digital 3D maps on their mobile phones and computers.

The scheme, which is being trailed at ten stations, makes it easier for passengers to identify staircases, lifts, and ticket gates on a bespoke aerial map of the station. Journeys can be planned from street to seat before the trip even starts.

TNU here highlights Gatwick airport.  

www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/govia-thameslink-railway/images/gatwick-airport-2-dot-jpg-3135973


Flights to Israel

Following the terrorist attack just over a year ago, and its repercussions, flights to Israel’s only international airport Tel Aviv Ben Gurion (TLV) have been restricted.

Other than the airport itself the best source of up-to-date information is Israel Hayom (Israel Today).  It is Israel’s most widely read newspaper and watches the situation all the time.

Malcolm Ginsberg, TNU’s Editor in Chief, will be updating the situation at the LIMMUD Festival, NEC Birmingham, Tuesday 24 December.

www.israelhayom.com/2024/11/29/the-complete-guide-to-all-airline-flight-cancellations-to-israel-2


Goodbye the Boeing 757

The last Boeing 757 came off the Seattle production line in October 2004, the prototype having first flown on 19 February 1982.  Just over 1,000 were built. Offering up to 239 seats, its cabin cross-section was the same as the Boeing 737, which in a much developed form is still in production.  The premature cancellation of the 757 was an early mistake by a company that seems to have lost the plot.  

Jet2, the last British passenger operator of the popular plane, will say goodbye to G-LSAI and G-LSAE on 4 and 5 January respectively bringing the era of the 757 with UK airlines to a close.  It was as long ago as 2010 that BA retired its last of 24 757s, the aircraft also synonymous with Britannia Airways, now part of TUI.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_757            
      

Jet2 at Luton

It may not be that well known in the south of England but things are about to change.  In summer 2025 Jet2 will have a big presence at Luton Airport serving 17 destinations, many just weekly.  The airline is based at Leeds Bradford Airport.

Jet2 is a pure holiday carrier, with a reputation for some of the most cheerful cabin staff of any airline.  It will compete with Wizz, the largest at the airport, and easyJet, Luton headquartered but much focused at Gatwick.  

Flights start in April. The initial routes are:

• Alicante (twice weekly, 4x from July)
• Antalya (twice weekly)
• Dalaman (twice weekly)
• Faro (twice weekly, 4x from July)
• Fuerteventura (weekly)
• Funchal (weekly)
• Girona (weekly, starts July)
• Gran Canaria (twice weekly)
• Heraklion (weekly)
• Ibiza (twice weekly from July)
• Lanzarote (twice weekly)
• Palma (4x weekly, 5x from May, 6x from June)
• Reus (weekly from May, twice weekly from July)
• Rhodes (weekly)
• Tenerife South (3x weekly)
• Verona (weekly, starts July)
• Zakynthos (weekly, starts May)

www.jet2.com


London City Update

According to an article in The Sunday Times (24 November) London City Airport (LCY) is up for sale by majority owner Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan with the minority shareholders ‘first refusal’ on offer within 30 days.  Suitors are being sought for the airport package which also includes Birmingham, Bristol, Brussels and Copenhagen.

According to the latest CAA figures LCY is doing well with a rise of 10% passenger numbers against the same month last year, but the airport has dramatically suffered compared with 2019 when a record 5.1m passengers quickly passed through.  This year it will barely muster 3.4 m.  

The airport was purchased by the consortium in 2017 for a reported £2bn.  A further £1bn has been spent since, completing the apron expansion, remote air traffic control tower and taxiway.  A terminal development has been put on hold, although major refurbishment works have been undertaken. This time last year CEO Robert Sinclair resigned, since replaced by Alison Fitzgerald, formerly Chief Financial Officer.

British Airways CityFlyer, 50% of the airport’s business, reduced its fleet to 20 Embraer E190 aircraft at the outbreak of the pandemic and is engaged on a cabin upgrade programme giving 8% more capacity for 2025.  No other airline developments have been announced for next year.

www.londoncityairport.com/corporate/corporate-info/board-of-directors


New Leicester Square hotel

Z Hotels is to open its latest central London property in early 2025. It is located at Garrick House, 3-5 Charing Cross Road, just behind Leicester Square and the group’s  15th across the United Kingdom, mostly in London, but including Bath, Glasgow and Liverpool.

As an incentive for direct booking Z offers a 10% discount from the public rates and cheese and wine.

The property will provide 95 bedrooms in the Z signature style with tea and coffee making facilities and hairdryers with complimentary shampoo, shower gel and soap.  

The hotel will include a Z café offering, a range of toasties, pizzas, sides and salads, sweet treats throughout the day as well as a wide range of soft drinks, tea and barista coffee, spirits, cocktails, and an extensive wine list 24/7.

www.thezhotels.com


Remarkable (Electric) Dash 7 

It was the aircraft that pioneered London City Airport, was the first large commercial plane to visit Antarctica, and it opened up a number of smaller airports around the world which could not at the time accommodate aircraft of its 50-passenger size. A total of 113 were built, the last in 1988.

The de Havilland Canada Dash 7 now has a new lease of life as the flying test bed for the magniX electric propulsion unit (EPU).  

The final stage of the programme will see a second turbine engine substituted. This configuration is expected to reduce fuel consumption by up to 40% on a typical flight. Through the data collected, this will bring the electrification of large-scale commercial aircraft closer to entry-into-service by the end of the decade.  Test flights are planned for 2026.

The Dash 7 remains in service with Air Tinibased at Yellowknife in Canada's North. Five are opertional, some with large cargo door. The British Antarctic Survey operates a single aircraft, and the US Army seven.  The Downsview, Toronto, factory closed in April 2024, with the revilalised DHC based in Calgary Alberta.

www.magnix.aero

https://airtindi.com/fleets/dash-7

https://dehavilland.com

Restart for Eurostar London to Amsterdam

There is good news for Eurostar passengers to the Netherlands. Eurostar has announced that direct services between Amsterdam, Rotterdam and London will resume on 10 February 2025.

Services were suspended some time back due to the major rebuilding project at Amsterdam Central, which had left Eurostar without the necessary space to undertake passport and security checks.

At present, you can take a train directly to Amsterdam, but for the return trip you need to take a separate service to Brussels and change to a London train.

www.eurostar.com


Ruby Hotels in London

Just opened is the Ruby Stella Clerkenwell, adding to the German group’s London properties in Notting Hill (Stacy) and Ruby Lucy in London’s Waterloo district.

The 153-room hotel is located on Eyre Street Hill in London’s Clerkenwell district, around ten minutes’ walk from Farringdon station, with its links to the Elizabeth Line, national rail and Underground services.  Sadlers Wells Theatre is also about the same walk.

Features include a ground floor courtyard terrace, and a bar hosting live performances, as well as signature amenities including galleys on each guest floors offering free tea and coffee and ironing facilities.  It describes itself as a “lean luxury” brand.  

www.ruby-hotels.com


Simon Calder and New Zealand

The doyen of travel writers The Independent’s Simon Calder has speculated in his Travel Week column that Air New Zealand (ANZ) might be returning to London.  

Firstly New Zealand withdrew from World Travel Market, then ANZ dropped its alternative routing via Tokyo and cancelled the stopover at Los Angeles citing problems with US customs and immigration.  Customers had to enter and leave America.

Calder is suggesting routing via Hawaii (once a British colony, which still flies the Union Jack on its flag).  It is around 7,200 miles, less than the 18-hour New York to Singapore route with Singapore Airlines.  Honolulu would welcome the flights and hopes for extra tourist business.  Pearl Harbour and the USS Missouri would be a must for many, and the beaches are great too.

https://simoncalder.co.uk


Spirit Airlines

One of the USA’s largest regional airlines, Spirit, is in serious trouble, and has filed for bankruptcy, but is still flying at this point in time (31 November 2024).

“The company’s operations and ability to develop and execute its business plan, its financial condition, liquidity and its continuation as a going concern are subject to a high degree of risk and uncertainty”, Spirit’s filing says.

“Management believes there is substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

Spirit lost $308m in the third quarter, roughly double its loss from the same period last year. It has lost $644m in the first three quarters of the year. The airline ended September with cash and cash equivalents valued at $424m, less than half the $865m it had at the start of 2024.

The airline operates around 200 Airbus 320 series aircraft and employs 12,000 people.

Spirit is working to restructure its debt and secure fresh financing.

www.spirit.com


Transport Secretary for Airports conference

Only appointed on Friday (29 November), replacing Louise Haigh MP who has resigned, Heidi Alexander MP, the new Transport Minister, is expected to  deliver the opening keynote address at Airports UK annual conference 5 December 2024. 

Her experience includes holding the transport portfolio as Deputy Mayor of London,

The venue is London’s Park Plaza Riverbank, a short walk from Vauxhall on the Victoria Line and also served by South Western Rail.  The programme has been published.

https://airportsuk.org/event/airportsuk-annual-conference-2024


Turkish delight

Corendon Airlines is a Turkish airline based in the holiday resort of Antalya.  

It first came to the UK in April 2022 with summer only flights from Gatwick.  

For 2025, besides Gatwick, it will be seen in Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle and Stansted airports with flights to Antalya, Crete and Izmir.  The airline has a fleet of 17 aircraft, mainly 189-seat Boeing 737 variants.

Corendon sponsors Hull City Football Club since 2022, owned by Turkish media mogul Acun Ilıcalı and his company Acun Medya.  

www.corendonairlines.com


Virgin Atlantic 2025

Now with a fleet of around 45 aircraft, and Airbus A330-300 swaps on their way for the more modern 900 series, Sky Team member Virgin Atlantic is opening up new destinations for 2025.  

The airline has confirmed that Tel Aviv will not restart until October at the earliest. Whether Tel Aviv returns to the schedule for next summer remains to be seen.

Already started is the Mexican resort of Cancun with a three times per week service.  Riyadh and Toronto commence in March and there is a return to Accra (Ghana) in May.

www.virgin-atlantic.com


Welbeck Hotel - London

Wizz Air ban

London stock market listed Wizz Air, and always seemingly controversial, has been told to withdraw an advertisement claiming its green attributes.

First seen in June, a paid-for Google ad for the budget carrier told consumers to “fly Wizz Air – one of the greenest choices in air travel”.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that the ad “must not appear again in the form investigated” because it had not made clear the basis of the claim.

Its verdict centres around the fact Wizz Air failed to provide enough information to consumers to make valid comparisons with rival airlines’ emissions.

www.wizzair.com

Index/Home page
 

READERS' COMMENT

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 200 words maximum

Jimmy Sprog, Croydon

Corendon Airlines is clearly a fine air carrier but why it sponsors Hull City is beyond me? Other than perhaps a strange love for the city it is hardly one of the countries most famous soccer clubs and does not even have an airport. And it’s struggling too. Yet another manager for the chop with the club looking destined for League One! Yet the airline is in the Premier League when it comes to European low-cost carriers. Last year I flew from Gatwick to Antalya in cheap comfort.

Sally Small, Sheffield

I am not a supporter of Wizz! Readers should be reminded that it pulled out of Doncaster at short notice, with dire results for people who worked at the airport, and the airlines staff. I believe at Cardiff too. The CAA should monitor its activities. One more false step and it should take action.

Phil Lesser, Chatham

Re VS. What is not noted in the story is that Virgin Atlantic is very much part of Delta Airlines.

Gill Graham, Harrow

Heidi Alexander is an interesting appointment as Secretary of State for Transport. She does know her subject but is to the left and her record when working for Sadiq Khan in London was hardly pro airports.

Jeff Smith, Finchley, north London

It is great that BA has admitted it got it wrong with the A380 layout. Yet another Walsh mistake. And he should stop pontificating from Geneva. What happens with commercial air travel in the UK is none of his business.