Gatwick Airport News
BAA to retain UK airports following appeal victory
The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has ruled BAA may maintain its present position in the UK market, quashing an earlier decision by the Competition Commission.
Gatwick’s new owners rule out second runway
The new owners of Gatwick Airport have ruled out plans to build a second runway, saying there was “not a shred of interest”.
Abu Dhabi acquires 15% stake in Gatwick for £125m
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is to buy a 15 per cent stake in Gatwick Airport for £125 million. The purchase by the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund comes in the same week as South Korea’s National Pension Service bought a 12 per cent stake in the UK’s second largest airport for £100 million.
South Koreans take 12 per cent stake in Gatwick for £100m
South Korea’s National Pension Service is to take a 12 per cent stake in Gatwick airport, worth about £100 million. The deal could be completed as early as next week and comes as part of a sweeping international expansion programme by the world’s fifth biggest pension fund.
Snow causes more travel chaos
Snow continued to fall across the UK creating fresh chaos for travellers and closing Gatwick Airport for the second time in a week. Heathrow is currently open but airport operator BAA is warning of cancellations and delays due to the weather. Birmingham Airport and Cardiff Airport were also closed but both have now reopened but warned of severe delays and cancellations.
Travel chaos continues
A number of UK airports remain closed due to the adverse weather conditions which are affecting the entire country. Gatwick, Bristol, Exeter and Blackpool all remain closed as snow is cleared from runways.
New Gatwick owner to eliminate queues
The new owner of Gatwick has earmarked the elimination of long check-in and security queues as a top priority upon taking control of Britain’s second largest airport this week. The investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners is expected to close the £1.5bn deal by the end of this week, subject to European Commission approval.
BAA agrees Gatwick airport sale
BAA has agreed to sell its 100% interest in Gatwick, the second busiest airport in the UK, to Global Infrastructure Partners for a fee of £1.51bn.
Gatwick sale set for this week
Gatwick Airport could be in the hands of a new owner this week, as BAA moves closer to closing a deal with Global Infrastructure Partners, a joint venture between Credit Suisse and General Electric for an estimated £1.6 billion.
Premier Inn set to open new airport hotels
Premier Inn will be opening four new hotels at London’s main airports from Autumn 2011. The budget hotel chain will open two hotels at Heathrow and one at Gatwick and one at Stansted, creating a total of 1,570 new rooms. Premier Inn is spending more than £125 million on the developments.
Air Malta boosts Gatwick service
Air Malta is increasing capacity on its London Gatwick - Malta route this winter, with 2 flights per week during the months of November and March. This means that instead of a daily service to London Gatwick, Air Malta will operate 9 weekly flights.
Aer Lingus launches six new Gatwick routes
Aer Lingus is launching six more routes from its new Gatwick hub - Bucharest, Eindhoven, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Warsaw and Vilinus for winter this year.Its current flights to Dublin, Faro, Knock, Malaga, Munich, Vienna and Zurich will continue, but it will drop Nice during the winter months. With the addition of these new routes, the airline will operate 118 round trips a week.
Fears mount over Gatwick valuation
Gatwick Airport could be fetch as little as £1.3 billion when it is auctioned off, rather than the £2billion-plus BAA is hoping for, according to a secret report commissioned by three of the airport’s largest airlines - Virgin Atlantic, Tui and TUI.The report valued Gatwick between £1.33billion and £1.73billion last December. Traffic has subsequently slumped sharply in 2009 which could erode this range even further.
UK watchdog begins vetting Gatwick bidders
The Competition Commission has begun vetting bidders for Gatwick to ensure that they are ready and able to run operations at the UK’s second-busiest airport. The government watchdog has set out criteria that potential new owners of Gatwick must meet. Any bidder considered to have insufficient funds or experience running an airport will be blocked from submitting a final bid.
3i pulls out of Gatwick bidding
One of the favourites in the bidding for Gatwick airport has pulled out of the auction amid speculation it was neither ready nor able to meet the £2bn price tag asked by Ferrovial.BAA has dismissed the overvaluation claims by 3i Infrastructure, saying the market would dictate the price and it was confident of achieving offers at a significant premium to its Regulated Asset Base of £1.65bn.
BAA traffic hit as UK grounds itself
The global downturn has forced the number of long-haul passengers flying from Gatwick Airport to drop by almost a quarter (24 percent) last month compared to January 2008.BAA also reported a slump in traffic across all its seven airports - down 6.3 percent in January to 9.4 million. This comes on top of a fall of 6.9 percent in December and 8.9 percent in November.
Record snowfall causes travel chaos
The airline industry could face a £10 million bill from cancelled flights after the heaviest snow in the UK for 18 years brought chaos to airports. Services at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, London City Airport and Southampton were severely disrupted, together with road, rail and public transport connections.At Heathrow, a plane slipped off a taxiway. Snow and ice are being blamed for the incident which happened when a Cyprus Airways flight landed this morning and was moving to T1.
Interview: Oasis Hong Kong improves its business class product
Breaking Travel News interviews Gerard Clarke, General manager UK & Ireland for Oasis Hong Kong. Gerard talks about the improvement of its business class product and the introduction of a lounge at Gatwick Airport. The interview was conducted at the Business Travel Show, Earls Court, London.
