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The support of more than 3,500 motorists in Leeds has helped secure the future of a car park previously deemed ‘illegal’ by city councillors.

Sentinel Airport Parking, located in Yeadon, was found to be in breach of planning regulations in September 2010, a discovery that could have resulted in the closure of the car park in as little as five years. However, as of May 2011, a local planning inspectorate has granted the facility’s owner, Austin Hayes, Ltd., a licence to continue operating the Warren House Lane site.

The outcome has secured fifty local jobs, according to a press release by the car park authorities, but the permanence of Sentinel’s agreement with Leeds Council hinges on the fulfilment of a number of conditions. The car park must have no more than 2,000 parking spaces, and steps must be taken towards installing facilities for electric cars and cyclists.

Regardless of the conditions, Ed Hayes, chief at Austin Hayes, was delighted with Leeds Council’s decision, “We were overwhelmed by the public support we received. It is a tribute to the hard work of our staff that (our customers) appreciate the service we provide”. Mr. Hayes indicated that Sentinel would help Leeds Bradford International Airport (LBIA) become a “thriving economic hub”.

The development is nonetheless surprising, given the level of objection raised by officials in Leeds during 2010. Leeds City Council urged the planning committee to refuse Austin Hayes’ application because the land beneath the Sentinel car park was a designated ‘key employment site’. LBIA chiefs were equally unsupportive, noting the planning infraction, and the fact that the hub’s own car parks could accommodate any motorists displaced by the closure of the Sentinel site.

Sentinel Airport Parking has been operating as a licensed – or “LBIA Approved”, to quote the company’s website – car park for more than 15 years.

As part of an ongoing expansion in the North of England, budget carrier, Jet2, is to create an extra 145 summer jobs at its largest hub, Leeds Bradford Airport. The jobs, which include a range of different positions, from flight attendants to baggage handlers, will appear in local newspapers during 2011.

Jet2 enjoyed a highly lucrative summer season in 2010, attracting 2.8m passengers to ‘sun and sea’ routes at seven UK bases, including East Midlands, Manchester, and Blackpool. The airline’s parent company, Dart Group, PLC, described Jet2’s summer performance as “record breaking.”

With the celebrations over, and the last grains of sand shaken from bosses’ flip-flops, the airline has gone about improving its prospects for 2011, increasing the frequency of flights to and from Manchester, and adding five new routes at East Midlands. Jet2 will also create up to 600 jobs throughout the UK, including those at Leeds.

Handling 1.1m passengers on 41 different routes, Jet2’s base at Leeds Bradford accounts for around 50% of the airline’s total traffic in the UK. However, the carrier is looking to increase its stranglehold on Yorkshire aviation, by boosting seat capacity at Leeds to 1.8m, and introducing flights to Funchal, Madeira, and Bodrum, Turkey, from February and June, respectively.

The move will give Jet2 a two-fold lead over closest rival, Ryanair, which offers 21 destinations from Leeds Bradford. The two airlines compete directly on a number of routes, including Alicante and Barcelona in Spain. Jet2’s new flight to Bodrum is likely to trigger a price war with travel agent, Thomas Cook, the third-largest carrier at Leeds.

“We know it’s important to continue to innovate and evolve,” Jet2 chief, Philip Meeson, told the Telegraph and Argus. “That’s why we are introducing new destinations and flights (at Leeds) next year, to meet the needs of our loyal customers.” Meeson also referred to the Yorkshire airport as “our home.”

Holidays 4U is to begin offering holidays from Leeds Bradford Airport to Dalaman and Bodrum in its native Turkey.

Despite having one of the least original names in world travel, Holidays 4U has been around longer than most travel firms, providing “surprisingly cheap” holidays to UK travellers from its main base in Brighton.

The company uses its own “wily Turks” to haggle for the cheapest holiday prices, because Turkish merchants know how to sniff out a good deal, or so Holidays 4U’s website claims. “That doesn’t mean we’re a bit dodgy,” the site adds.

Dalaman, home of the Alexandria Railway Station, which was somehow built by mistake in 1906, will be accessible from Leeds from May 22 next year, whereas Bodrum, a port town in southwestern Turkey, becomes available on July 19 2011.

Leeds’ commercial boss Tony Hallwood referred to the new routes as an “important addition” to the airport’s list of summer flights.

Holidays 4U is the second company to expand at the West Yorkshire hub in under a month, after orange-and-white airline easyJet opened up a new base at Leeds Bradford, adding a flight to popular skiing gateway Geneva.

Joe Laver, Holidays 4U’s sales director, said that the firm was “delighted” to be able to offer new holiday destinations to Yorkshire travellers. Joe, along with Tony Hallwood and a rather cold-looking belly dancer, posed for photographs outside the Yeadon airport, in celebration of the expansion.

As Holidays 4U is not an airline, the operator’s flights are handled by OnurAir, a carrier based in Istanbul, Turkey. Holidays 4U provides package holidays and flights, both of which can be booked on the company's official website.

EasyJet’s UK-wide expansion of its winter programme continued at Leeds-Bradford Airport earlier this week, as the budget carrier moved to open a new base at the West Yorkshire hub, adding a new route to Geneva, Switzerland.

The airline’s Leeds base will “spark a low fares battle” with resident carriers, Ryanair and Jet2, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Despite its position as one of the largest airlines in the UK, offering routes from 17 British airports, easyJet has previously concentrated on Manchester, Robin Hood, and Newcastle airports in the North of England, allowing bitter rival, Ryanair, to have its way with Leeds-Bradford.

EasyJet’s Geneva route is currently the only flight offered by the carrier from Yeadon, but a spokesperson for the company intimated that strong sales could result in further expansions at Leeds Airport.

However, if easyJet wants to stay at Leeds-Bradford, the airline will have to provide a more attractive option than Jet2, which currently provides its own route to Geneva, operating five times a week.

Geneva, the second most populous city in Switzerland, after the capital, Zurich, is a popular skiing gateway, providing swift access to the resorts of Chamonix, Megève, Abondance, and Le Grand Bornard, among others.

A spokesperson for the airline, Ali Gayward, implied that easyJet’s purpose at Leeds was to cater to both business and leisure passengers, and tend to an “unfulfilled demand” for flights to Switzerland.

The carrier also indicated that there was no immediate need to compete with Jet2, as the number of passengers wanting to travel to Geneva from Leeds is sufficient to support both airlines.

Leeds boss, Tony Hallwood, was “very proud to welcome easyJet” to the Yeadon hub. “This announcement underpins Leeds Bradford’s position as one of the fastest-growing airports in the UK.”

EasyJet expects to carry 28,000 travellers on 182 flights between December 17 2010 and April 24 2011, when the Leeds-Geneva route officially ends.

The number of people flying out of Leeds Bradford Airport increased to 352,175 in July 2010, according to the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority), an 11% increase in traffic compared to the same month last year.

Leeds is the largest airport in the Yorkshire area, ahead of Robin Hood in Doncaster and Humberside on the east coast of England. The Yeadon hub regularly attracts in excess of 2.5m passengers per year, compared to 890,000 at Doncaster and a paltry 390,000 at Humberside Airport.

Bosses claim that Leeds’ soaring passenger numbers can be attributed to a series of new routes from budget airlines Thomson and Jet2, rising demand for Flybe’s domestic routes and a new Ryanair base that opened at Leeds in March 2010. The airport is also pursuing a £28m re-jig of its terminal in a bid to attract extra passengers in the future.

Tony Hallwood, commercial director at Leeds Bradford, claims that the Yorkshire airport is “bucking the national trend” by gaining new passengers and can “look forward to 2011 with confidence”. Tony also mentioned on-going expansion by resident airlines, enabling Leeds to offer flights to 76 destinations.

Jet2, which has called Leeds home since 2003, will add a route from Leeds to Madeira, an island owned by Portugal, in 2011.

Flights to Bodrum in Turkey and New York in North America will grace Jet2’s schedules later this year, helping chilly Brits get some sun in the colder months or, in the case of New York, enjoy shopping in one of the biggest cities in the world.

Despite promising figures for Leeds, a second report by the CAA discovered that aircraft punctuality at ten UK airports had fallen to 78% between April and June 2010, a 4% slump on last year’s figures.

Gatwick, the second largest airport in the UK, suffered a miserable 10% drop in punctuality, with local rival Luton reporting a 9% decline in timely planes.

The future of a popular car park near Leeds Bradford Airport is looking increasingly bleak this week, after a local council discovered that the owner of the site, Austin Hayes, Ltd., had been operating the Yeadon facility without planning permission.

Opened in 1999, Sentinel Car Park is used by hundreds of thousands of passengers every year, many of whom are travellers flying from Leeds Bradford Airport.

Austin Hayes has since applied for planning permission for the car park, but disgruntled councillors are already recommending that it be closed. The site is a ‘key employment area,’ according to city officials, due to its proximity to the airport and Leeds centre, and should be commandeered for new projects.

Leeds Bradford currently operates a shuttle bus between the terminal and the car park, emphasising its importance in generating business for the Yorkshire hub.

A report into the illegal Sentinel facility noted that there was a ‘possibility’ that the car park could have become lawful through the passage of time; UK law dictates that structures older than 10 years old, if not being used as a dwelling, should be allowed to stand except in unusual circumstances.

However, the facility will still need to acquire a certificate proving its legality, which could be difficult if city councillors rally against Austin Hayes.

Unfortunately, Leeds Bradford Airport has also spoken out against the Yeadon car park, ostensibly to drive traffic to its own parking facilities. The hub claims that it has enough parking spaces for all of its customers, but the on-going popularity of the Sentinel site suggests that the airport’s on-site car parks are not as attractive to flyers as bosses might think.

Councillors have indicated that immediate closure of the car park is unlikely, and an investigation into the facility would likely result in a temporary planning licence, lasting between 5 and 10 years.

Transport secretary Philip Hammond has told MPs at the transport select committee that the proposed high-speed rail service between Leeds and London could herald the eventual demise of domestic and short-haul flights from airports such as Leeds Bradford International.

He went on to say that this is the reason he supports the high-speed rail link between London and the North and that eventually he would like to see it extended to the Channel Tunnel.

According to Mr Hammond this switch in mode of transport would have a “transformational” effect on the country’s economy.

However, the commercial director of Leeds Bradford International, Tony Hallwood, disagrees. He is confident that domestic and short-haul flights will still be in huge demand despite a high-speed rail service. For a start, many of the destinations served by Leeds Bradford such as Scotland, Cornwall, the south coast and the Irish Republic are nowhere near the areas served by the rail link. There is also plenty of evidence for the fact that many travellers from the North to places such as Amsterdam do not want to go through London.

Mr Hallwood stated that Mr Hammond’s assertions did nothing to change Leeds Bradford’s aims of increasing passenger numbers, flights and choice of airlines and the strategy for the future remained unchanged.

The Government’s preference for a route which would go from London to Birmingham, Manchester and then across the Pennines to Leeds has been the subject of much criticism and experts have predicted that journey times would not be sufficiently short to boost West Yorkshire’s economy.

The Department for Transport is looking into the possibility of a Y-shaped route, branching off at Birmingham, with one line going to Manchester and the other to Leeds.

Routes to the Canary Islands will not benefit from a reduction in baggage fees after September 1, unlike every other route hosted by budget carrier, Ryanair.

At present, travellers departing from Leeds for the Canary Islands can expect to be charged €20 and €30 for small and large bags, respectively. However, baggage fees usually drop back to their winter levels after the summer season, an average of €5 less than at peak times.

The levy only applies to customers who choose to carry extra checked-in luggage, instead of taking advantage of Ryanair’s free 10kg carry-on allowance, but this is likely to include families and groups of friends holidaying abroad.

Ryanair claims that the added baggage fee on flights to the Canary Islands is to encourage people to travel light, but it appears much more likely that the budget carrier is attempting to cash in on the high volume of traffic that travels to the Canaries as part of ‘winter sun’ deals.

Stephen McNamara, Ryanair’s head of communications, claims that only 30% of passengers will be affected by the baggage fees, as the majority choose to travel with just a carry-on bag.

Ryanair's luggage levy has prompted a boom in the number of people travelling with the airline, according to Stephen, whilst simultaneously reducing the number of bags that need to be carried.

The last two winters have been cold and snowy in the UK, and British summers have never been the stuff of legends, so sun and sea holidays are becoming popular all-year round. The Canary Islands in particular are accessible from a number of large airports, including Leeds Bradford.

Leeds currently offers four Ryanair routes to Canarian destinations, namely, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Tenerife and Gran Canaria.

Budget airline, Ryanair, has added routes from Leeds-Bradford Airport to four destinations on the continent – Barcelona in Spain, Dusseldorf in Germany, the Canary Island of Fuerteventura, and Gdansk in Poland. The airline hopes that the new flights will sustain 1,000 jobs in West Yorkshire.

At the end of June, Ryanair’s outspoken CEO, Michael O’Leary, was vocal in his praise for Leeds-Bradford, after the airport cut its landing fees and passenger taxes. The Irishman claimed that Leeds was following the example set by airports in Holland, Spain, and Belgium, by making air travel cheaper for both airlines and customers.

The UK, on the other hand, has made its aviation industry suffer, according to O’Leary. ‘For an island nation to be taxing tourists at a time when Europe is making travel cheaper is insanely stupid.’ The executive was referring to the UK’s Air Passenger Duty, which places an £11 charge on every airline seat.

Leeds-Bradford is one of just two UK hubs to have experienced growth in the past year, alongside Scottish hub, Edinburgh. The two airports are also the only Ryanair bases to have avoided a cull of winter flights. The airline has cut 16% of its seasonal flights from the UK, and sent the extra planes to European bases.

Ryanair claims that its new routes from Leeds, in combination with the eleven winter routes already offered by the airline, will attract one million passengers a year to the West Yorkshire hub. The number of flights available is a direct contrast to winter 2009, when Ryanair had just three flights out of Leeds-Bradford.

Both airport and airline expressed their ‘delight’ at the development. Tickets for Ryanair’s new routes are already on sale.

Flights out of Leeds-Bradford Airport were halted for two hours on Monday 7 June, after a private jet burst into flames and overshot the runway. The plane, a Cessna Citation, was expected in France later that day, but wound up smouldering by a perimeter fence.

The incident is one of several to occur at Leeds Bradford Airport in the last 30 years. In 1985, a British Midland Airways – better known as budget airline, BMI – plane skidded off the runway during wet weather. Then, in 2005, an aeroplane owned by defunct Spanish carrier, LTE, lost its brakes during landing. The plane eventually landed safely, albeit in a field to the side of the runway.

Fortunately, very few people have died in accidents at Leeds-Bradford, and Monday’s incident was no exception: both the pilot and co-pilot were hauled from the wreckage by a Yorkshire fire crew, escaping with minor injuries. Airport bosses have opened a full investigation into the mishap, however.

The West Yorkshire Fire Brigade explained that the plane’s starboard engine had caught fire during takeoff. The brigade’s website indicates that fire engines attended from three different towns - Idle in Bradford, and Cookridge and Rawdon in Leeds. The airport was closed to traffic from 17.50 to 20.00, while crews worked to remove the wreckage.

The fire brigade is not the only emergency service with links to Leeds Bradford; the Yorkshire Air Ambulance was recently offered discounted landing fees by airport bosses, in a bid to keep the charity’s yellow helicopters at the site for another year. Tony Hallwood, director at Leeds, professed to be ‘committed’ to local charities.

Even the most disciplined of travellers can find it difficult to get everything they need, even for a short break, into the small piece of luggage permitted as carry-on baggage these days. However, many people are loathe to end up paying more in charges for “optional extras” than they have paid for the actual airfare.

There are of course certain things which you cannot help having to fork out for, such as Ryanair’s charge for checking-in online (hardly an option now that it is not possible to check in at the airport), but baggage is a contentious issue.

It was good news therefore when Jet2 announced their offer last week for free check-in baggage, up to 22kg, for passengers travelling between May and October from Leeds Bradford, Edinburgh, Manchester, Newcastle and Blackpool airports to a range of European destinations - a saving of almost £20 for a return trip. You can find more information on how to make use of this offer together with a full list of applicable routes here.

Jet 2 are unusual amongst the low-cost carriers in offering allocated seating, so for those of us who are fed up with the scrum that takes place on certain budget airlines, even on occasions when Speedy Boarding passes have been purchased, this would seem to be a distinct advantage.

The airline offers flights to a large number of European destinations as well as New York. The Jet2 boss, Philip Meeson, said that city breaks are becoming more popular than ever, and certainly with the latest offer on free baggage his customers will be able to enjoy the shopping opportunities at their destination as well as the cultural highlights.

Ryanair has opened a new base at Leeds Bradford Airport, sparking another war of words with resident airline, Jet2.

Leeds is Ryanair’s 34th hub in the world, and the airline’s only active base in Yorkshire, following its desertion of Robin Hood Airport in August last year. The carrier claims that its total investment will exceed £90m, and sustain more than 1000 jobs, both at the airport and in the surrounding towns and cities.

Michael O’Leary, the boss of Ryanair, is not known for his people skills, but his business philosophy is admirable. Ryanair has expanded at a prodigious rate since its birth in 1985, cornering a large majority of the British holiday market, and carrying more passengers per year than EasyJet, its bitter rival.

The airline’s new Leeds base will offer 14 new routes to continental Europe, in addition to the three that Ryanair already operates from the airport. The routes include Dublin, Ibiza, Krakow, and the walled city of Carcassonne in southern France. Ryanair intends to keep its destinations affordable, warning of ‘like-for-like’ price cuts if Jet2 begins to offer cheaper flights.

‘We don’t see Jet2 as competition.’ Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara explained. ‘It’s a relatively small company, but if Jet2 come out with a spring sale with 50% off flights then we will match that.’ Airport bosses noted that the two airlines are not in direct competition, as only half of the new routes are served by both carriers.

A full list of new destinations is available on Ryanair’s website. The airline hopes to attract 1m passengers a year to its new base.

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Skiers and snowboarders in the region of Leeds Bradford Airport have been granted a reprieve from Yorkshire’s snow-less peaks, with the announcement of a new route from Leeds to Sofia, Bulgaria. Flights will be operated by Balkan Holidays, a British outfit specialising in trips to Eastern Europe.

The route is marketed at winter sports fans who might be planning a holiday for the 2010/11 skiing season. Balkan Holidays already claims two Bulgarian destinations from Leeds: Bourgas, on the west coast of the Black Sea, and the nearby resort of Varna. But the new route to Sofia will allow the firm to sell holidays at three extra resorts.

Pamporovo, in the far south of Bulgaria, and Bansko and Borovet in the east, are easily accessible from Sofia, despite their relatively bleak locations. The three resorts are open between December and April every year. Balkan Holidays is currently offering packages from £222, with the first plane departing on March 19th 2011.

Airport boss Tony Hallwood was keen to attract local people to the new route, claiming that for a non-Euro destination "Bulgaria is particularly attractive, offering excellent value for money". He added that "this is great news for skiers". Balkan Holidays also sells packages for resorts in Serbia, Slovenia and Romania.

In similar news, Leeds-based airline Jet2 helped save a number of prominent figures from delays caused by the recent British Airways strike. Racing driver Damon Hill, Prince William and everybody’s favourite pugilist, Mike Tyson, were helped to their destinations by Jet2 planes on loan to BA.

Plans to improve lighting in a tunnel beneath Leeds Bradford Airport could have troubling consequences for the village of Carlton, Leeds.

The project, which began on the 4th January, is an essential part of city caretaking, but local residents are concerned that a river of heavy traffic could be diverted through suburban areas of Leeds.

Carlton is located to the northwest of the airport, and experiences high volumes of traffic on a daily basis, despite being little more than a rural hamlet. Villagers have already voiced criticisms about the speed of vehicles passing through the Carlton crossroads.

Local councillors were apologetic – “We are confident that the measures we are putting in place will keep disruption to a minimum. The works will be carried out as safely and quickly as possible.”

The affected tunnel is 200m long, and forms part of Victoria Avenue, an extension of the busy A658 road, which serves Bradford in the southwest. The works will replace the existing safety lights with energy efficient bulbs, requiring less maintenance.

Planners have earmarked a full ten weeks for the completion of the project. Lanes will be closed at off-peak times, after the morning rush hour, then through the night until 4:30am. The airport itself will not be affected by the closures, but be wary of congestion in the local area.

Earlier this week, Leeds Bradford Airport was closed while ice and snow was cleared from the runway. Extra flights have been made available for customers affected by delays, but bosses request all customers check with their airline before departing.

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Residents of Yorkshire, wishing to fly to New York, may no longer have far to travel if bosses at Leeds Bradford Airport succeed in their new campaign. Project America has recently been launched and seeks to attract an American airline to the airport, with the aim of introducing a daily flight to New York by 2015.

This would of course not only benefit travellers in the region but would also create 400 new jobs and inject £10 million into the local economy. Half a million passengers per year have to travel from Yorkshire to other airports to fly across the Atlantic, and Leeds Bradford Commercial Director, Tony Hallwood, believes that it is crucial to “capture this market for both leisure and business travellers”.

According to preparatory research, America is the most popular long haul destination which is not currently served by services in the region. With flights to New York hopefully on the horizon, passengers would be able to connect with flights to other popular destinations, such as Florida, California, Canada and the Caribbean.

Mr Hallwood added that there are 750 American businesses in Yorkshire and that with a decent transatlantic service available on the doorstep further growth and investment in the region would follow. It would also raise Leeds’ status as a “core city” and the profile of Yorkshire as a whole.

Bosses at Leeds Bradford are also looking into the reinstatement of a public transport link from York to the airport. The head of York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce said that in order to attract more tourists and businesses to the region all the “building blocks of transport” had to be in place.

Flybe has announced its early-summer timetable from Leeds-Bradford Airport, allowing customers to book next year’s holiday months in advance.

Founded in 1979 as Jersey European Airways, Flybe claims to be the UK’s number one domestic airline, offering over 130 flights from Leeds-Bradford alone.

The carrier is keen to promote its Easter and Bank Holiday routes before larger airlines get their teeth into the public.

Routes to Italy, Germany, and France make up the continental half of Flybe’s 2010 roster, and UK tourists can also choose from a number of domestic destinations including Belfast and Aberdeen. Officials have reported ‘brisk interest’ from holidaymakers and business folk alike.

Flybe continues to carve out a niche as a budget business carrier, claiming many critical business customers on the route to London Gatwick.

Beginning in October, the airline will increase its commitment to the capital by offering an additional flight from Leeds-Bradford to Gatwick, as public interest in the route begins to soar.

Early birds can now depart at 0700 – two hours earlier than the previous Leeds-London flight.

“We recognise this route as being of crucial importance.” Mike Rutter, Officer at Flybe, explained. “We advise people to book early to take advantage of the lowest fares possible on this popular route.”

Flybe’s new flights cost between £23 and £26 for a one-way trip, all taxes included. The airline has promised to maintain the timetable until June 30th 2010.

A full list of the new destinations is available at the official website.

Budget carrier, Ryanair, has announced that it will be launching 14 new routes out of Leeds Bradford airport, following news that the airport is to have a £28 million makeover.

Plans were unveiled on 11 Aug for new routes to the French cities of Carcassonne, Montpellier, Limoges and Nantes, the Spanish cities of Malaga, Murcia and Palma, the Italian cities of Pisa and Venice plus Knock in Ireland, the island of Malta, Krakow in Poland, Faro in Portugal, and the Balearic island of Ibiza. This was greeted as good news, not only for holidaymakers in the north of England but also for job seekers in West Yorkshire who were promised the creation of around a thousand new jobs.

Not everyone is happy though, with the Irish airline being accused of muscling in on routes already being operated by Leeds based airline Jet2 and it seems a price war is bound to follow.

Michael O’Leary, head of Ryanair, said that he had chosen Leeds Bradford airport for his latest base because it does not currently have any low cost carriers operating out of it. He went on to say that there are a couple of carriers “masquerading as low cost.....but it is a fact to say that they charge high fares”. The carriers which he was thought to be referring to are Jet2 and flybe.

Philip Meeson of Jet2 responded by pointing out that Ryanair have so many hidden extras in their fares that it works out as an extremely expensive option, especially for families who need to check in luggage.

Tickets are already on sale for Ryanair’s new routes and the new base at Leeds Bradford will open in Mar 2010.

With this new competition on many routes it will be interesting to see just how low fares go.

Leeds City Council has given the thumbs up to an ambitious expansion plan for Leeds Bradford airport after a four and a half hour meeting last month. The plans had originally been turned down in April on the grounds that better transport links had to be established but, having listened to a report from the planners, the council was satisfied that a lot of work had been done to address environmental concerns and the scheme was approved.

It is estimated that the expansion will cost £28 million and will involve a doubling in size of the airport and create up to 2,000 new jobs. Under the plans the security zone will be extended, the immigration and retail areas improved, and a new departure lounge constructed.

The regional airport currently sees some 3,000 passengers per year but it is estimated that as a result of the improvements this will increase to 5,000 by 2013.

The Chief Executive of the airport, John Parkin, said he was delighted by the approval and that it was “really good news for the people of this region”. Residents in West Yorkshire will be pleased to know that by 2013 they will be less likely to have to travel to Manchester airport to take a long haul flight.

Not everyone, however, is pleased and concerns have been voiced by environmental campaigners who held a demonstration outside the Civic Hall, whilst the Council debated the issue. A spokesman said that he was very disappointed with the decision and that the expansion would lead to traffic congestion, noise for local residents and higher carbon emissions in the future.

As from the end of June Flybe will be operating three flights a day from Leeds-Bradford airport to London Gatwick. This March saw bmi scrap the service from Leeds-Bradford to London Heathrow so passengers and businesses alike will benefit from the introduction of the new service from rivals Flybe. It is expected that the new route will attract close to a hundred thousand passengers a year.

Around 130 new jobs will be created as a result, some with Flybe (both at Gatwick and Leeds-Bradford), some with the airport operator, Bridgepoint, and others within the travel-related industry.

The news has been welcomed by the commercial director of Leeds-Bradford airport although the chief executive of Bradford Chamber of Commerce has expressed reservations about Gatwick, saying that it may be less popular with the business traveller than Heathrow with its underground links straight into central London.

The new service starts on June 29th and tickets cost from as little as £24.99 (taxes and charges included) for a one way trip. Weekday flights will leave Gatwick at 07.25, 12.30 and 18.55 whilst those from Leeds depart at 09.00, 14.05 and 17.05. The service is reduced to twice a day at weekends but the times of the flights will appeal to anyone in Leeds who fancies a weekend in London, with a flight leaving Leeds-Bradford at 08.45 on the Saturday morning and flying back from Gatwick at 18.55. With a flight time of only an hour and ten minutes it will certainly beat driving.

Approximately 3000 new jobs are going to be made available in the West Yorkshire region after an expansion to Leeds Bradford Airport has been completed. The terminal building at the airport is set to be expanded in a scheme which is part of an overall plan costing around seventy million pounds. Leeds Council will be presented with the proposed master plan later this month and, if the planning application is accepted, work will begin early next year.

The airport officials hope that the expansion to the terminal building will see passenger numbers increase to five million per year by the end of 2013. John Parkin, the chief executive of the airport, has spoken about the other motivational factor behind the scheme. Leeds Bradford Airport wishes to attract passengers who usually choose to travel to Manchester. Parkin believes that “we need to get the facilities and services here in our back yard so that we address the transport requirements of the region in the region”.

The new terminal building will have a new passenger security screening zone, a brand new departure lounge, a better baggage reclaim hall, and improved facilities for immigration. The current building has often been criticised for becoming congested very easily and there is poor segregation between passengers arriving and passengers departing.

Furthermore, access to Leeds Bradford Airport will be made easier, with £450,000 expected to be invested in improving roads around the airport. Rail options are also being considered at the moment. The airport currently offers 76 routes but this number is set to increase rapidly over the coming years.

Leeds Bradford International Airport has revealed ambitious plans to increase passenger numbers from 3 to 5 million in the next five years, as well as increase the number of destinations served from 75 to 100.

New routes are planned for business destinations in Germany, as well as to the new EU states. In the wake of Pakistan International Airlines introducing its twice weekly service from Leeds Bradford to Islamabad, an airport spokesperson has said that plans are afoot over the next five years to introduce more medium and long haul flights to America and the Middle East, in order to meet the passenger targets.

First it is hoped that a new route to an as yet unnamed west coast US city will facilitate links to North and South American destinations. A new route planned for Leeds Bradford to Dubai would enable the Emirates city to be used as a hub for onward flights to Australia, Japan and China.

The owners of the airport, Bridgepoint Capital, a private equity firm, bought the airport last year for £145.5 million. The airport had previously been in public ownership since 1930 when it was opened as Yeadon Aerodrome. Although Bridgepoint Capital owns the airport from a financial point of view, the five councils who previously owned it still have a say in the operation of the airport.

Bridgepoint Capital has promised to spend a further £70 million to boost the region’s business and tourism prospects. A £3 million project is about to get underway to improve the airport’s parking facilities and drop-off and pick-up points.

We all know by now what’s going wrong with the pound in this country. It’s crunching by the day and by the time this is published we might be in the depths of a recession. The strength of the pound against the Euro resembles David and Goliath. This has resulted in a noticeable drop in the number of people going abroad on their holidays and also a noticeable number of people coming to the UK for their holidays to take advantage of the crazy exchange rate. What has this meant for the airports in the UK? It’s meant they’re overcrowded with incoming flights.

Jet2, which is a budget airline and flies into six UK airports, has seen an 8% percent rise in inbound traffic this year so far. It has meant that there is a shortage of hotel rooms and overcrowded tourist attractions but then UK based airlines are making quite a profit out of it.

The European airlines are in a much stronger position to offer new affordable deals for passengers. Their greatest asset is the fact that they are buying fuel in Euros but which is priced in dollars and so are getting a lot more for their money than anyone else in the world at the moment.

Across the Atlantic in the US, the dollar is in the doldrums too and so many Americans airlines are shelving their plans for new services and routes for the time being, whereas the European airlines such as Air France, Iberia and KLM are flying high with their business.

It has been announced this week that, as expected, Sir Graham Hall has stepped down from his post as chairman of Leeds Bradford International Airport [LBIA]. The announcement has come amidst reports that Hall did not see eye to eye with Bridgepoint executives, the private equity firm that bought the airport in 2008.

Hall became chairman of the airport just last year after Bridgepoint bought it in a £145 million ownership deal from the five local authorities which make up West Yorkshire. Before taking up the position, he worked as chief executive for Yorkshire Electricity and was on the board as chairman of the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.

Hall has not made an official comment as to the details of his relationship with airport executives, but it is believed that he encountered difficulties chairing a private equity business that he was not familiar with in his previous corporate positions. In Hall's own words, he was not used to the "focused" style of management employed by private equity firms.

The new chairman for LBIA is Alan Lewis, who has been promoted to the role from his previous position as deputy chairman. Lewis is an advisory partner of Bridgepoint and has previously served on the board for Birmingham airport. Speaking about his predecessor, Lewis acknowledged that “Graham has played an important role during a key transitionary phase in the development of LBIA.” He went on to say that the management team and airport investors thank Hall for his contribution and are now looking forward to the airport’s future development.

Following his departure, Hall maintained that he is proud to have been able to contribute to the airport’s development and to putting a sound growth strategy in place for LBIA.

It was announced that direct flights from Leeds Bradford to Islamabad were to be scrapped at the end of May due to an unexpected aircraft shortage. Introduced by Shaheen Air International, Pakistan’s second largest international carrier, the twice weekly non-stop service was launched from Leeds-Bradford in January this year with a 210 seater Airbus A310 carrying passengers between Yorkshire and Pakistan. With the launch of the new route, Shaheen chairman, Kahlid M Sehbai, said that he was confident there would be huge support for the new service, adding his hope that there would be more frequent flights from Leeds Bradford. After just four months, however, the airline admitted that it was unable to continue the popular service despite maintaining successful flights from Stansted, Heathrow, Birmingham and Manchester airports.

Tony Hallwood, commercial and aviation development director at Leeds Bradford Airport, confirmed his disappointment at the airline’s withdrawal of the service. As predicted there had been high demand for the route from Pakistanis living in the Yorkshire area and over a few short months the service had been a huge economic benefit to the airport. Airport operators are now on the look-out for another airline to offer direct flights to Pakistan and are hoping to launch a new service in the near future.

For those in the north-east wishing to salve their consciences with regards to flying off on their summer holidays, news that Leeds Bradford airport has recently been granted an eco certification may make them feel better.

The ISO 14001 is internationally recognised as the gold standard for environmental management and was awarded following a recent audit of the airport.

Measures taken by Leeds Bradford to ensure that environmental responsibility is top of the agenda include:

• Noise Awareness – Noise Preferential Routes mean that departing flights travel over the less populated areas of the city. Furthermore, Target Noise Levels are set, especially for night-time flights, and the Quota Count ensures that only the quietest of planes are allowed to operate at night.

• Emissions and Discharges – the nitrogen dioxide levels are monitored at six points around the perimeter of the airport

• Access and Transport – a number of public transport initiatives has meant that passengers are able to leave their cars at home when flying out of Leeds Bradford

• Waste Management – several recycling initiatives aimed at passengers and airport employees have led to an increase in recycling, with a target rate of 20% by 2010

• Energy Management – low-energy light bulbs and incentives for on-site businesses are saving money as well as improving the state of the environment

• Water Management – automatic flow controls in toilets and sinks, combined with speedy detection of leaks, keeps water wastage to a minimum

An airport spokesman has expressed his delight at receiving the award which demonstrates the airport’s hard work and commitment to making Leeds Bradford an environmentally sound departure point for their customers.

A recent report has proposed that a rail link could feasibly be introduced to Leeds-Bradford Airport to connect the airport with key locations across West Yorkshire. The report estimates that, if the plans are approved, the project will cost between £17 and £25 million, introducing the airport to five different routes across the Leeds and Bradford region.

It has been suggested that the state-of-the art rail link would use tram-trains to transport passengers to and from the airport as quickly as possible with the line spanning the following routes:

• Leeds – Harrogate - York
• Horsforth – Leeds - Bradford Airport - Guisely
• Bradford Forster Square - Guisely
• Leeds - Lower Aire Valley - Five Towns – Wakefield

The proposed links would make travelling to the airport considerably easier for a large number of airport passengers and make using the airport a lot more attractive for people living in West Yorkshire.

The proposals are being managed by international business consultants Arup, who have written the report detailing the potential route of the line, along with estimated project costs. The report was presented to the Metro’s Rail Working Group on May 15 and highlighted the link between the airport and the Harrogate line which would provide a direct connection with Leeds City Centre. The report also said that, if tram-trains were used to link the airport to the Bradford Forster Square – Guisely route, extra costs would be used for the necessary doubling of the single track between Shipley and Estholt East.

June saw more than a quarter of a million passengers pass through the airport's gates for the first time ever.
The passenger numbers for June showed a massive 16% increase over numbers during the same month last year. The increase in numbers is due to more airlines, and more destinations serving the ever-growing airport.
The airport is currently on target to achieve 2.7 million passengers this year.

Leeds-Bradford saw the opening of a new Superdrug store, along with a refurbished lounge bar.
The new Superdrug store is the first airport-based branch of this popular high street company, and is part of a plan to open a number of Superdrug stores in airports.

Thomas Cook Airlines has based a new aircraft at Leeds Bradford Airport, with the specific aim of serving summer holidaymakers from around the Yorkshire region. Thomas Cook has taken the decision due to high demand from customers, believing that it will prove economically beneficial to increase its services at the popular regional airport. In response to the decision, Tony Hallwood, Leeds Bradford’s Commercial and Aviation Development Director, said that the airport had recognised the need for passengers to be able to fly from their local airport rather than having to travel to Manchester or London. He added that he is ‘delighted’ that Thomas Cook has also seen that need and increased the choice of holiday destinations for Yorkshire travellers.

The airline’s new craft is an 180-seater Airbus A320, which this month began serving seventeen popular holiday destinations around the world including Turkey, Malta, Portugal, Cyprus, Greece and the Canary Islands. The flights will increase the number of services flying from the airport during the summer season by seventeen percent, which it is hoped will bring significant economic benefits to the surrounding area.

The new flights follow the full incorporation of ‘My Travel Airways’ into Thomas Cook airlines, which took place at the end of March, enabling it to add forty two new Airbus and Boeing aircrafts to its national summer schedule. As well as Leeds Bradford, Thomas Cook has a strong presence at other regional airports such as Bristol and East Midlands and also operates from a number of the UK’s largest airports including London Stansted, Birmingham and Belfast International.