"Blackpool's fading Victorian glamour and down-at-heel B&Bs may place it in the second division of seaside resorts, but its airport is the best in Britain.

In a survey of 30 UK airports, the small airfield one mile south of the Lancashire town was applauded for the speed of its check-in and security, ease of reaching boarding gates, quality of food outlets and overall ambience. Travellers, mostly flying to Mediterranean islands, gave Blackpool a satisfaction score of 80 in the survey by Which? Holiday.

In a sign that travellers prefer compact, uncongested airports, two other small airports, London City and Robin Hood in Doncaster, claimed second and third with scores of 78 and 76.

Britain's biggest airports, owned by the country's biggest airport operator BAA – Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted – all performed dismally. "

Read on...

"Remember that episode of Only Fools And Horses where Del and Rodney pinch a "statellite dish" from Gatwick and park it on their balcony? A real-life security manager at Heathrow airport has been sacked having apparently taken inspiration from the Trotters."

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"Kuehne + Nagel (KN) has become the largest air freight forwarder in Germany, according to the latest Iata Cass (Cargo Accounts Settlement System) figures.

With an air freight-related turnover of E115m (US$156.6m) in 2008, the group’s German organisation moved from second to first place in the rankings."

Read on...

"RECENT state incentives to boost Cyprus’ flagging tourism, which included a cut in airport fees, is too little too late, low-cost carrier Ryanair has said.

“The ones who will survive the [financial] crisis will be those who are flexible and nimble-footed. The urgency being shown by competing countries doesn’t seem to be shared by Cyprus. We could have been flying tourists in before the crisis broke”, Berger told the Sunday Mail in an interview.

For the past several years, the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) has been attempting to woo low-cost carriers such as Ryanair.

However the Irish airline, which recently touted charging passengers to use aircraft toilets, had been pushing for the government to lower airport fees.

“We hoped that the new President would make a difference to the way things were done, and be more open to new ideas”, he said.

“Is the government clawing back one-third of landing revenues the correct thing to do in the current situation? There is a crisis situation. You need to look aggressively at the government’s take of airport fees, which is high in relation to Cyprus’ main competitors. The recently-announced cut in the government share is too little too late. It is a huge lost opportunity.”

Berger said in the current crisis the global tourism sector was evolving quickly and developing new niches.

In this context, major industry players like Ryanair measure the CTO’s performance against their other potential partners. “The CTO’s budget should be tested for value for money. Making mistakes is OK, but keeping on making the same mistakes is not right.”

Ryanair first opened discussions with the CTO in January 2007 on bringing tourists to Cyprus on a scale that would cure the already-present problem of falling numbers. Discussions continued until February 2008, when the CTO decided that Ryanair’s requirements were “prohibitive, and not covered by any EU-approved scheme”.

There are also practical reasons why Ryanair won’t be planning UK flights to/from Cyprus, which take four to five hours compared to the low-cost carriers’ usual ceiling of three hours.

“You have built a new palace of an airport in Paphos, but you need to look at travel costs, fees and so on. To use an election metaphor, our “floating voters” will go where it’s cheaper, like Greece or Malta. They’re the ones who will make the difference, not the “core vote” who will keep going to their favourite destination.”

Full Cyprus Mail article...

Amusing sign posted at Gatwick Airport

"A cargo plane has crash-landed in high winds at Japan's largest airport, killing both crew members on board.

The accident happened as the Federal Express plane arrived at Narita international airport, near Tokyo, from Guangzhou in China. "

Full story...

"The enforced break-up of BAA could further disrupt the government's airport expansion plans and push back the opening of a second runway at Stansted, the Competition Commission has warned.

The competition watchdog added further obstacles to the government's controversial expansion programme today by ordering BAA to sell Gatwick, Stansted and Glasgow or Edinburgh airports. "

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"KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 (Bernama) -- Asia Pacific is expected to be the biggest single air freight market in a few years despite the current recession, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).Its director-general and chief executive officer, Giovanni Bisignani, said today that Asia Pacific carriers are the largest players in the global air freight market with 44 percent of the global market."

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"THE new operator of mainland Scotland's sole European ferry link will double sailings next year if there is sufficient demand, the firm that runs Rosyth port in Fife hopes. Norfolkline will relaunch thrice-weekly services between Rosyth and Zeebrugge in Belgium in May after they were abandoned by the Greek-owned Superfast last September.

Forth Ports said yesterday: "It is hoped the service will build up from the initial three sailings per week to six sailings per week, should the demand warrant it next year. The new vessel will offer both a freight and passenger service, and there is a significant amount of interest from Scotland's freight community."

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"Experts have warned there is a "high probability" that a fault which caused a British Airways jet to crash-land at Heathrow could hit other Boeing 777s."

(British Airways operates 15 777s on longhaul routes to North and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, Australasia, the Far East, Middle East and Gulf destinations)

Full news story..

"Protestors objecting to the expansion of London's Stansted airport lost a legal challenge today against a government decision to allow flight capacity to rise by 10 per cent."

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"Helioslough, the developers attempting to build a controversial rail freight terminal on green belt land in Hertfordshire, says it will submit its application by the end of the month. Spokesman Simon Hoare says the current recession has not stalled its plans to build the vast strategic rail freight exchange in Radlett, near St Albans."

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"BOOTLE will see 50,000 fewer lorries on its roads every year because a railway cutting has been officially brought back to life.

The reopening of the Olive Mount chord, which has been redundant for more than 20 years after a signal box was sabotaged, will see freight companies ditch lorries and revert to using the Bootle branch line to transport goods."

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"MANSTON airport's chief executive has announced British Airways will not be using the airport for cargo flights. The airport applied for changes to the its legal agreement last month saying a "major global freight carrier", widely speculated to be British Airways, was set to move in.

But in a statement released today (Wednesday, March 11), an airport spokesman said British Airways World Cargo had decided to stay at Stansted airport in Essex."

Read on..

"The inaugural flight of a new budget service connecting Europe and Asia jets off from Stansted for Kuala Lumpur today, providing a rare note of optimism in the recession-whipped aviation industry."

Full story...

"A professional magician who claims he transported himself aboard a cargo plane on a cross-country flight from upstate New York to Las Vegas may find it difficult to escape prosecution from federal authorities who want to know if he really pulled off the stunt. "

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"COPENHAGEN, March 9 (Reuters) - All container shipping companies are likely to lose money this year and some will go out of business if freight rates do not recover, Maersk Line's chief executive told Reuters on Monday.

"SOUTH African Airways Cargo (SAA Cargo) is adopting the Cargo 2000 programme making it the third African business and the 29th carrier to join the system. Cargo 2000 is a quality management system that aims to improve the process of managing shipments in a paperless environment.

Justice Luthuli, operations executive at SAA Cargo, said: “Cargo 2000’s quality management system will enable us to enhance our operational efficiencies, detect and address irregularities immediately, improve relations with our major customers and save costs.

“This is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss as it brings together airlines and the freight-forwarding community in order to improve the management and visibility of air cargo transportation. We will be implementing Phase 1 which will be for point-to-point shipments on our major routes.”

Full news release...

"An integrated IT system can greatly maximise a company's freight forwarding process, says CargoWise, a provider of integrated international supply chain logistics management systems. "

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"Groupe Eurotunnel, the company that operates the undersea rail link between Britain and the Continent, took a major step Wednesday toward regaining credibility with investors, saying it would pay a dividend for the first time in its history after posting a profit for 2008.

The French-British company said it would pay a dividend of 4 cents a share after it posted a net profit of €40 million, or $50 million, last year, compared with a 2007 pro forma loss of about €1 million.

....Eurotunnel said its freight business - mainly shuttling trucks between Britain and France - suffered after the fire, as it gave priority to the Eurostar passenger trains that ply the route from London to Paris and Brussels. The total cost of the fire will be nearly €200 million, including damage and loss of revenue, said John Keefe, a Eurotunnel spokesman. He said all but €10 million of that would be covered by insurance.

Full report...

"Melbourne Airport has overtaken Sydney in volumes of airfreight exported. Figures show the airport moved two million more kg exports, up to 10 million, in December 2008 from 2007.

Chief executive Chris Woodruff said the increase was due to increased international flights and lower airfreight costs. In addition, more exports that were originally up to Sydney by road are now being flown directly from Melbourne."

More info..