Monarch airlines have condemned the high aircraft parking fees that are being charged at Luton Airport. Luton Airport currently charges £7,000 a day for each aircraft that is parked at the airport for more than 48 hours in comparison to the £1,000 per day charged at Manchester airport.

Monarch’s managing director Tim Jeans said that Luton Borough Council, the owners of Luton Airport were not investing the money made back into the development of the airport. Mr Jeans went on to claim that the agreement between the airport operators and the council did not give a provision or commitment for the development of the infrastructure at the airport.

Mr Jeans went on to say that “The lack of vision on the part of the council is a crying shame” and that “the terms of the franchise make it more advantageous for it to sweat the assets than to invest in the airport. “The council should recognise its position as part of the London airport system and stop looking at creaming off £2 per plane that takes off.”

Monarch airlines said that they are currently looking at other airports to use as a fifth base for when it takes delivery of a new Airbus A321 that is due for delivery in August.

A spokeswoman for Luton Airport said that high aircraft parking charges had been set by the airport authority to discourage airlines from keeping aircraft at the airport. It’s claimed that this was necessary to prevent airlines from parking aircraft for long periods when not in operation which in turn could cause congestion at the airport during peak times. Travellers will undoubtedly be relieved that the airport authority doesn’t charge the same rates for Luton Airport car parking.

The British Airports Authority (BAA) have announced that they want to fingerprint all passengers at each of their seven UK airports, both domestic and international travellers. BAA airports include Glasgow Airport, Aberdeen Airport and Edinburgh Airport as well as Gatwick and Heathrow.

BAA have warned that an incoming international passenger could potentially switch tickets with an accomplice booked on a domestic flight and then gain entry into the country without having been subjected to immigration checks. They say that fingerprinting is needed in order for domestic and international passengers to mix in the airport lounges and avoid this security risk.

BAA have stated that biometrics is a BAA wide project and anything they do at Heathrow will be carried out at all BAA airport including Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

Ryanair have announced plans for a multi-million pound expansion into Scotland that could bring about a significant boost to tourism in the area. With the planned 19 routes that will operate to and from Edinburgh Airport, Ryanair predicts that the new services will attract more than 1.2 million extra passengers a year to Scotland.

With Glasgow Prestwick Airport being their first, Edinburgh airport will be Ryanair’s second base of operation in Scotland and their 27th in Europe.

The airline claims that the expansion of operations in the Scottish sector will indirectly create up to 1,200 jobs in Edinburgh and the East Scotland areas. Inevitably, with the creation of new routes and services comes a greater demand for additional ground based operations such as Airport car parking and Hotels at or near to Edinburgh Airport. This demand for additional services is likely to bring an economic boost and jobs to the local and surrounding areas.

Sean Coyle, Ryanair’s director of finance, said “Our 19 routes will deliver significant economic benefits for Edinburgh by capitalising on Scotland’s huge tourism potential and making it cheaper and easier than ever before to get here.”

From November 5th, the German carrier Air Berlin will start a twice daily service from Stansted airport to Munich with a one flight service on each day at the weekend.

Air Berlins country manager for the UK and Ireland, Titus Johnson, stated that the new route was formed after demand for the route from customers.

With fares starting from £24 one-way, including taxes, Stansted departures will be at 08:20 and 19:15 hours daily with one flight departing on Saturdays at 08:20 and another flight on Sunday departing at 19:15 hours.

Sir Richard Branson, founder of the virgin group of companies, has been given the go ahead to launch a new Virgin America airline. The inaugural flight will take off from the operations home base in San Francisco to New Yorks JFK airport by mid-summer although no date has been yet confirmed.

The go ahead was finally confirmed after nearly 18 months of negotiations between Virgin and the US competition authorities, a further condition of approval was that Sir Branson limited his interest in the new venture to 25% with the remaining share being owned by US investment banks.

Within the first year of startup, Virgin America is aiming to offer flights to 10 cities within the US including Washington, Las Vegas and San Diego growing to 30 destinations by 2012. Further routes under consideration for future operations currently include Boston, Orlando, Atlanta and New Orleans.

Virgin America hopes to build on the reputation of the virgin group as well as providing a service that betters the conventional US carriers, part of the new operation will be the inclusion of first class cabins on the new services.

BMI has pledged to retain Manchester airport as a key part of its network of services. With eleven routes that include flights from Manchester to Barbados, Las Vegas, Chicago and Antigua, BMI says that it sees Manchester as a vital part of its ongoing expansion program.

With the signing of the open skies deal between the UK, Europe and the united states, BMI may now opt to fly from Heathrow to the US, BMI chairman Sir Michael Bishop went on to say that such a decision however would not effect the Manchester operation.

As a member of the Star Alliance, the Chicago route is of particular importance to BMI as the city is a major hub for fellow member United Airlines. Although BMI intends to continue providing long-haul service from Manchester in the future, it has admitted that the number of opportunities for long haul services from the airport are limited.

In addition to the existing services that operate to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, a new Lyon service that operates from London Heathrow airport has been added by BMI Regional.

BMI, the UK airline that operates cheap flights from the UK to Europe the Middle East and the USA is set to announce a reduction in the number of short-haul services that it operates from Heathrow airport.

Over the next two years, the company that currently operates 19 short-haul services plans to cut back on its short-haul services in favour of it’s medium and long-haul operations. The change has been attributed to intense competition on some of the routes from other London airports, the companies purchase of Bmed from BA and the introduction of the new open-skies agreement between the UK, Europe and the US.

BMI’s chief executive Nigel Turner said that the future reductions in short-haul services would likely affect domestic services as well as flights to Spain, these cuts would be in addition to the 25% cut in short-haul services that had already been made over the past 3 years.

The airline is said to be conducting a review of it’s position and considering it’s options following its £30 million purchase of Bmed from British Airways earlier in the year. The acquisition of Bmed gave BMI an additional 17 mid-haul destinations and several slots at Heathrow airport. Sir Michael Bishop, the BMI chairman said that the slots would be returned back to BA in 2009 meaning that BA would need to rethink its services to fit the medium-haul and proposed US routes into the  restricted space at Heathrow.

A new service that will restore a link between Bristol airport and Paris is being re-introduced by Air France. The route that was previously operated by BA Connect will provide 3 weekday flights to Charles de Gaulle airport with a less frequent weekend service.

The new service that starts on the 11th June will be operated with a 48-seat turboprop aircraft that will depart from Bristol airport at 06:30, 10:40 and 17:75 Hrs daily. The service is designed to provide direct access to Paris and the AirFrance network as well as the many other long-haul connections that operate from the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.

Economy return fares are expected to start from £105 and are combinable with KLM’s service from Bristol to Amsterdam providing round-trip options through both the KLM and Air France hubs.

Airline tickets for the first flights to operate from the new Heathrow terminal 5 are being sold by BA.

The new terminal which is due to open in March 2008 will be exclusively used by BA which will operate 90% of its flights from the new site. BA has planned a four phase move that will see the majority of their operation move to the new terminal between the opening date and October 2008. The remaining 10% of BA’s services including some short haul services will continue to operate from Heathrow terminal 3. After BA has moved the bulk of its services to the new terminal 5 the oneworld alliance will have exclusive use of Heathrow’s terminal 3.

BA is spending £60 million on providing premium lounges in the new building which will house up to 2,500 passengers and be known as The Galleries. The overall cost of the new terminal site and building is expected to be around 4.5 billion.

With increasing passenger numbers, the new terminal at Heathrow will bring increased demand for supplementary services such as airport parking and airport hotel services to the Heathrow area.

Customers who fly to Spain with First Choice airways and Thomas Cook airlines during the winter season are being encouraged to recycle the aluminium drinks cans used on the flights.

The scheme that has been organised by The Travel Foundation with the help of Spanish airport authority AENA estimates that around 14 million cans will be recycled in the scheme saving an enormous amount of energy and helping to protect the environment.