Latest News
In this section of our Liverpool Airport car parking site, we aim to bring you the latest developing news at Liverpool John Lennon Airport. We hope you find it interesting.
KLM is to add a fourth daily flight to its Liverpool John Lennon airport service.
The carrier launched three daily flights in March 2009 between the city and its main hub at Schiphol to serve the Amsterdam route, but also to link in with more than 800 other routes operated by KLM and its Skyteam network all over the world, including destinations like Shanghai, Johannesburg and Mexico.KLM said the new service, starting on May 10, will add 33% extra capacity to the link and, with improved timings for the original three daily flights, will increase connectivity with long-haul routes for passengers.
From May 10 the new flight schedule will offer departures from Liverpool JLA at 6.50am, 10.25am, 2pm and 5.20pm. The last flight back from Amsterdam to Liverpool will depart at 8.45pm.
Neil Pakey, deputy chief executive of JLA owner Peel Airports, said: "This gives the region’s business community more flexibility and the added convenience of starting long haul journeys to an even greater choice of worldwide destinations from their local airport.
"The airline’s entry into Liverpool has been a real boost for the business community as well as the airport and this extra daily flight will ensure that our city can develop further on an international stage and be seen as an attractive hub for global business."
Henri Hourcade, Air France KLM UK and Ireland general manager, added: "Our new summer schedule is great news for Liverpool and for KLM and is a tangible symbol of the strength of our operations out of Merseyside."
Mike Taylor, director of investment and enterprise at regeneration agency Liverpool Vision, said the route will enhance Liverpool’s connectivity, particularly at a time when Liverpool is about to participate as the only UK city in the six month-long Shanghai World Expo.
"This very welcome news will be warmly received by all our Expo sponsors and we very much hope that the business community throughout the north west recognises and supports this vital air route to world markets."
Liverpool John Lennon Airport is urging people to arrive earlier for flights after dozens of passengers missed their flights at the weekend.
Airport officials have said that although passengers can now check-in online, they are still recommending they turn up at least two hours before flights because of heightened security checks.Last month, the UK terror threat level was raised from “substantial” to “severe” by Home Secretary Alan Johnson.The new alert level means a terrorist attack is considered “highly likely”. It had stood at substantial since last July.Mark Smith was due to fly to Krakow in Poland with Easyjet but by the time he got through security, the flight had already left.“I was taking my wife for a Valentine’s treat for three days. We checked-in online and got to the airport for about 6am – our flight was leaving at 7.05am.“We got to security and the queue was horrendous. They just couldn’t cope with the volume of passengers going through.“Then they called our flight and we got brought to the front of the queue, but it was too late. They closed the gate. Then we had to reclaim our luggage and try to book another flight, but there weren’t any spaces on the next one.“There were about 15 people that missed our flight and I could hear other people complaining about missing their flights.”
Mr Smith, a compensation and benefits director from Chorley, said that when he went to enquire about being reimbursed he was just given some forms to fill in.“I’m £500 out of pocket – that’s not just the flights but the accommodation, too.“We expected to just to arrive, go straight through security and on to the plane.”
So, remember to get to Liverpool John Lennon Airport in plenty of time
Liverpool John Lennon Airport owner Peel Holdings (Airports) has reported widening losses but believes economic recovery will revive its fortunes.The company reported pre-tax losses of £13.1m for the year to March, 2009, compared with £10.1m a year earlier.Net debt increased from £86m to £105.4m during the year, mainly due to the to outlay on a new hotel and car park at JLA.During the period, JLA saw a 7.5% fall in passenger numbers to just over 5.1m. However, year-on-year passenger numbers for November and December, 2009, showed a reverse in the downward trend. The total for the 2009 calendar year was just under 5m, a drop of 8.1% on 2008.In March last year, KLM started offering flights from Liverpool to Amsterdam giving passengers the chance to connect to more than 650 destinations across the world.Budget carriers Easyjet and Ryanair, which have been mainstays of the airport over the past decade, have also added more routes to their schedules.
Work has started on a £12m expansion of the airport’s facilities which it is hoped will be completed by the autumn. The work will provide more room for state-of-the-art security equipment in a new area to be created in the roof space of an existing adjacent hangar.
The airline is the biggest by passenger numbers at Liverpool Airport, with 2.5m passengers a year.It already bases nine aircraft at JLA and in June will add a 10th, to service three new routes.
Mr Harrison of EasyJet said Easyjet takes a longer-term view than rival Ryanair and sees long term growth for JLA.He said: “Easyjet is going to carry on growing in Liverpool.“We have a much longer term philosophy. We don’t just move the planes around like butterflies.“We have a number of ideas for Liverpool and there will be some new routes coming out in the next couple of months.”
" Liverpool children who hoped to visit Mickey Mouse at Disneyland Paris were among the thousands stranded at Liverpool John Lennon Airport due to the bad weather.
Savina Rice, 11 and her 13-year-old cousin Jack should have flown out on Friday.
Mum Julie said: “They’re bitterly disappointed. They found out on Christmas Day they were going and couldn’t wait.“They both love Disney and were excited about staying in the hotel and eating breakfast with the Disney characters.“We were told there weren’t any other flights so we’ve had to cancel the holiday and stand to lose hundreds on our hotel accommodation at the resort.”The cancellations also left people stranded across Europe.
Caroline Johnson, 43 was due to return home from a New Year break in Lanzarote.She was told her first flight home will be on January 21.Her dad Bill, of Prescot, said: “Caroline is in a right state, she’s due to go back to work at the clinic in Alder Hey.“She turned up to find the airport in chaos and she can’t get on a flight back to Liverpool for another three weeks.
“If she wants to get back before then she has been told she has to pay £300 extra to fly into Birmingham. She’s run out of money so we’ve had to send her some.”
Easyet is Liverpool John Lennon airport’s biggest operator by passenger numbers, reported a 9.3% increase in passenger volumes for December.Last month it flew 3.39m customers compared with 3.11m in 2008.
The load factor – the number of seats sold compared with those available – rose by 3.1% to 85.4%.
Easyjet cancelled its flights out of Liverpool John Lennon Airport for the remainder of the day, Wednesday January 6.
The airline said it took the decision due to ongoing adverse weather conditions.
It added: "We regret this decision, but unfortunately ground services at the airport have not been in a position to safely de-ice our aircraft, due to the lack of supplies of de-icing fluid, and accumulation of ice around the aircraft preventing ground staff from working in a safe manner.
"We sincerely apologise to all affected passengers, and can confirm that passengers can change their flight free of charge for an alternative day via our website easyJet.com. Those who do not travel will be entitled to a full refund."
To find out more about flights to and from Liverpool John Lennon Airport, visit their website or our live weather blog.
A BOEING plane was forced to perform an emergency landing at Liverpool John Lennon Airport this afternoon after reports of a fire breaking out on board a flight.
The Ryanair aircraft made a U-turn around 30 minutes into its journey to Agadir, Morroco, and headed back to Merseyside.
Police, fire crews and ambulances descended on Speke as the aircraft performed an emergency landing on the runway.
The emergency chutes were deployed and 115 passengers and six crew members were helped to safety at around 4pm today.
Airport bosses closed the airport as a full emergency was declared, roads around the airport were closed and all flights were temporarily suspended.
Nobody is thought to have been hurt in the drama and the landing was declared a success by airport officials.
Checks of the plane have now been made by Ryan Air engineers who said there was no evidence of any fire and they blamed the alert on a faulty fire indicator light.
Robin Tudor, spokesman for John Lennon Airport, said: "The plane departed at 3.37pm from Liverpool and returned at 4.03pm, when we closed the airport.
"An emergency was declared after a report of a fire on board the plane. The emergency landing was performed safely, everyone was evacuated and we got passengers away from the aircraft as quickly as possible as a precaution.
"The plane will now be towed away and we will soon look to get the airport operational."
Heavy Fog Hits Liverpool Airport December 30 2009
Flights from Liverpool John Lennon Airport were restored to normal operation yesterday (Monday) after they were held back by heavy fog on Sunday (December 27th).
Visibility on the airport's runway was reported reduced to 300m by the weather, causing operations to grind to a halt periodically.
While seven incoming flights were diverted to Doncaster Sheffield and East Midlands airports due to the fog, a further ten outgoing services were also called off.
Airport spokesman Robin Tudor told the Liverpool Echo: "This is a busy time of year, with people either coming back from a Christmas break or going away for the New Year.
"Between 1,500 and 2,000 passengers would have been on the affected flights."
Mr Tudor added that the "sheer density" of the fog caused the bulk of the problems for aircraft and airport staff.
Fog Causes chaos at Liverpool Airport December 28 2009
TRAVELLERS saw their holiday plans thrown into chaos after fog brought services at Liverpool John Lennon airport (JLA) to a standstill today.
A total of 17 flights were either diverted to other airports or scrapped altogether, with passengers facing delays of up to several hours.
An airport spokesman said that early morning flights were able to leave on schedule, but that as heavy fog descended visibility on the runway was reduced to about 300m.
Among the routes to be hit were those between Liverpool and Geneva, Amsterdam, Nice, and Belfast.
JLA spokesman Robin Tudor said today: "The density of the fog impacted on arriving aircraft and led to seven incoming flights being diverted to other airports, mainly East Midlands and Doncaster.
"A total of 10 outgoing flights from Liverpool were cancelled, and other flights have been delayed.
"It was the sheer density of the fog which caused the problem. This is a busy time of year with people either coming back from a Christmas break, or going away for the New Year, and the flights would have been fairly full.
"I would estimate that between 1,500 and 2,000 passengers would have been on the affected flights.
"The good news is that we re-opened and were able to accept flights from 2.30pm onwards, but there will be a knock-on effect right across the rest of the day as airlines try to catch up."
Among the passengers hit by the disruption were Evan Scott and his wife Denise, who checked in for their easyjet flight from Nice to Liverpool at midday, and were still waiting in the departures lounge at 5.30pm.
Mr Scott, 63, said: "There have been no announcements made by easyjet. They disappear when there’s trouble.
"There are 150 of us waiting here and none of us know what’s going on. There are kids crying their eyes out and the mood is one of sheer exasperation."
Hundreds of passengers were stranded at the airport last week after a downpour of snow, leading to the cancellation of two flights and around 300 passengers having to change their Christmas getaway plans.
Elsewhere on Merseyside today, ferry services were cancelled because of the fog.
A fresh blast of snow is expected in many parts of the UK today, bringing with it another wave of travel headaches.
Forecasters have already warned that there will be freezing weather for the New Year.
Temperatures are expected to plunge to minus 3C in most of England and Wales on New Year’s Eve, while New Year’s Day will also be chilly.
Rember, under-cover parking is available at Liverpool Airport Car Parking.
Liverpool Airport misses worst of weather. December 22 2009
As forecaster predict more snow on its way, Merseyside seemed to have largely escaped the worst of the weekend’s weather disruption.
Liverpool John Lennon Airport closed the runway for half an hour following a particularly heavy snowfall yesterday, but otherwise flights were unaffected by local weather conditions.
Bumper Christmas expected at Liverpool Airport December 18 2009
Liverpool John Lennon Airport is gearing up for the big Christmas and New Year ‘Getaway’ as 200,000 passengers check-in for a festive break.
As the schools broke up this afternoon for the Christmas break, passengers flocked to the airport seeking winter sun, skiing, and trips to visit relatives overseas for Christmas and New Year.
This year will see passengers heading even further afield, with long haul connections from Liverpool now available with KLM via Amsterdam.
Direct flights are on offer to over 60 destinations, and over 650 worldwide destinations via Amsterdam with KLM and their partners. As usual, popular flights for passengers are expected to be Geneva and other winter ski destinations, The Canary Islands, southern Spain and the new Agadir service in North Africa for some warmer winter weather.
Popular Christmas city break destinations include eastern European hotspots, such as Prague and Bratislava. The increase in inbound visitors to the region via the Airport is also expected to continue over the festive period too.
However, JLA Management are once again keen to remind all passengers to allow plenty of time to pass through the Airport and that stringent security restrictions still apply. Passengers are urged to arrive at the Airport early ahead of their flights, as Management believe there will be particularly high volumes of passengers departing in the next few days getting away ahead of Christmas. Combined with the security restrictions that remain in place, passengers should allow extra time to check-in and pass through what will be a very busy terminal building.
With many airlines encouraging on-line check-in and hand luggage only, passengers are reminded that all items in hand luggage including wrapped Christmas presents are subject to search as part of the current aviation security measures that are in place at all UK Airports. To avoid disappointment at the security search point and to help keep security queues to a minimum, passengers are being asked to travel with their presents unwrapped if they are to be carried in hand luggage.
Liquids, gels and aerosols can be carried in individual 100ml containers which fit comfortably in a re-sealable clear bag no larger than 20cm x 20cm. However, passengers are advised to put liquids and unwrapped liquid presents such as perfumes, alcohol and toiletries within their hold luggage before checking-in.
Andy Gower, Airport Director at JLA said:
"We are expecting the Christmas and New year period to be one of the busiest for the Airport. In recent weeks passenger numbers have certainly picked up and reflects the increase in destinations available this Christmas, bringing passengers the biggest choice of affordable flights from Liverpool.
"With this in mind and to keep queuing times to a minimum we’re asking passengers to come prepared and to think about what they are carrying in their hand luggage. We are asking passengers to help us to help them and avoid some of the disappointment we have seen in previous years.
"We want all our passengers to enjoy the start of their journey particularly at this time of the year and with a bit of forward planning we hope passengers will get their Christmas holidays off to a great start."
Numbers increase as Liverpool Airport December 12 2009
PASSENGER numbers at Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) jumped by 30,000 last month, as the airport showed its first increase in more than a year in November.
The 8.2% increase, to 363,421 people, comes on the back of a relatively strong performance by the airport, which has maintained and grown its routes and capacity while other regional airports, including Manchester, have seen operators such as Easyjet substantially reduce its presence.
Neil Pakey, deputy chief executive of Peel Airports, attributed the rise to the all-round performance across its airlines. He said: “We have got new airlines who weren’t here last year – KLM and Eastern Airways, which both appeal to the business market – while Ryanair has kept its capacity and developed one or two new links, and Easyjet has a bigger flying programme.”
November’s improvement ends a run of 12 consecutive months of like-for-like declines, although the falls have been narrowing throughout 2009.
In the first quarter of 2009, passenger levels at JLA fell 20%, then down 9% in quarter two and 6% in quarter three.
With one month remaining in 2009, JLA has welcomed 4.57m passengers, down 9%, or about 500,000 people, on 2008.
The year-end total will finish well below the last two years, and may not quite reach the 4.96m achieved in 2006.
But Mr Pakey is pleased that the declines have stopped, with JLA’s position as a hub for both Ryanair and Easyjet helping it to achieve a solid performance.
“We are lucky that we have the two strongest operators in both Ryanair and Easyjet,” he said. “They are the most robust.
“The low-cost market is proving to be the most resilient of the airline markets, and we are the low-cost home in the North-West.
“Liverpool is also attracting more inbound traffic than it used to, which is helping.”
Longer-term developments are helping to improve the infrastructure at JLA.
In October, a 160-room Hampton by Hilton hotel was opened at the airport, part of a £37m development that also includes a multi-storey car park. The airport is spending a further £12m on extending its passenger and security facilities, with work due to be completed next autumn.
Mr Pakey said: “It’s very important that we are striving to be, in terms of passenger process, as simple as we can be.
“The hotel and the extension are part of that.”
Enterprising venture at Liverpool Airport November 9 2009
RYANAIR’S PLAN to increase the charge for printing boarding cards in the airport to €100 has proved a boon for an Irish internet company which is offering the same service for less than €1.
Surfbox, based in Kilkenny, says 100 Ryanair passengers a day are printing off their boarding cards at its kiosks in Dublin airport, which were installed three months ago. The company has now opened kiosks in Cork, Shannon and Liverpool airport.
Ryanair charges passengers €40 for printing boarding cards in the airport. The penalty is designed to discourage passengers from using the check-in desks and encourage them to print out the boarding cards at home before they arrive for their flight.
The vast majority of passengers print out their own cards, however, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has suggested that the charge could be more than doubled.
New Hotel at Liverpool Airport October 23 2009
Hilton Worlwide has announced the opening of a new hotel at Liverpool Airport
This will be Hampton Hotel’s second hotel in Britain to open with Peel Leisure, the UK’s franchise developing company.The 160-bedroom hotel, Hampton by Hilton Liverpool will be followed by two more Hilton properties in Liverpool. This first hotel will be located at the airport terminal, and Hilton’s brand management team has said it will leverage Hilton Worldwide’s resources and tools to offer a high level of design and comfort that will be “unparalleled for its segment”.Global Head at the Hilton Focused Service Brands & Hampton Brand Management, Phil Cordell has said the new hotel will transform Liverpool’s lodging needs, lead to more jobs and will bring a whole new standard of customer service for this segment.Peel Leisure’ s Peter de la Perelle has said the company is delighted to officially open the Hampton by Hilton Liverpool airport property, and that this will offer an excellent value-for-money product. She points out that this will be the first and only hotel at the Liverpool hotel, making it ideal for business and leisure travellers both.
UFO's around? October 21 2009
Here is a report of a suspected sighting, as reported by the Tivi Side Advertiser:
""My wife and myself were on holiday in the area and we also saw the orange light in the sky.
We were on holiday at the Quay West Caravan park in New Quay and noticed your article when we passed a newsagents.
We had our curtains open at the caravan because we were looking at the full moon during the evening and noticed this orange light moving across the sky. It must have been I guess between 8.30 and 9 pm, as we had Countryfile on the television. It did not appear to be like any aircraft as we see a lot of planes in our area flying in and out of
Liverpool Airport. I did however film it with my camcorder but only a blurred orange light can be seen unfortunately.
All we can say is that this was definitely flying in the sky at that time and it did not look normal because our attention was drawn to it. Someone must have seen this on radar surely!! John Boyle Supply Chain Logistics Department Airbus Broughton"
easyJet prospers at Liverpool Airport October 13 2009
NO-FRILLS carrier easyJet has set a new record for passenger traffic at Liverpool John Lennon airport.
In August it carried more than 132,000 on departing flights, its best performance since starting operations at Liverpool in 1997.
Although easyJet operates 23 routes from JLA compared with rival Ryanair’s 45, it carries more passengers, making it the airport’s biggest operator.
In May easyJet carried 100,623 passengers at JLA compared with Ryanair’s 96,272 and from November it will increase numbers further by basing a ninth jet at the airport to serve new routes to Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.
Samantha Day, easyJet spokeswoman, said: “Its great to be back on top and clearly we are still the region’s favourite airline.”
Passenger numbers boost at Liverpool Airport September 30 2009
LIVERPOOL John Lennon Airport (JLA) has continued its recovery from last winter’s passenger slump with relatively healthy passenger numbers for the summer.
More than 1m people used the airport in July and August, with the months showing 6% and 7% falls respectively.
However this is a much stronger performance than the first three months of 2009, when it saw a 20% drop in flyers.
Nearly 3.2m people used the airport from January to August.
Ryanair Liverpool Airport Services to Granada under threat September 24 2009
Not content with having bust-ups with British Airports, Ryanair is in dispute with the operators of Granda Airport in Spain, and is threatening to pull out of the airport.
At present, Ryanair flies from Liverpool Airport, London Stansted Airport, and East Midlands Airport.
Liverpool Echo thanks Yoko Ono September 17 2009
JOHN Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, is a colourful character whose artistic activities haven’t always gone down well in this city.
While many have defended her art as being thought-provoking, others have denounced it as being, at best, frivolous.
But surely few people would try to claim that Yoko has failed to retain a rich and healthy interest in her late husband’s home city.
She has visited Liverpool on many occasions – including for the official opening of Liverpool John Lennon Airport and also the unveiling of John’s childhood home as a National Trust property – and she has always spoken well of it.
And now Yoko has again shown her commitment to Liverpool by handing over £260,000 to enable students brought up in care to thrive at a city university.
The money will fund a new John Lennon Imagine Awards scheme for Liverpool John Moores students who have been in care or become estranged from their families – and this is notable not least because John was, of course, brought up from the age of five until his late teens by his Aunt Mimi.
It’s a much-appreciated gift and one which, we feel, would have been warmly-endorsed by her husband. Thanks, Yoko!
Hooligans chased near Liverpool Airport September 14 2009
Police are appealing for witnesses after youths were spotted shining laser pens at passenger jets preparing to land at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
Despite warnings that they could cause a major air disaster, the youths were shining the powerful lights from the Saltworks area of Frodsham at about 8.45pm on Sunday, August 30.Police Inspector Phil Hodgson condemned the culprits and called for witnesses to come forward.He said: “We received reports of youths on the Saltworks site in Frodsham shining laser pens again at aeroplanes landing at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
“We dispatched officers and several youths made off. I would ask that if anyone knows these youths to please offer them in the strictest confidence to your local officer.
“The lasers are fairly common in teaching, but in these circumstances the potentially serious consequences are too bad to contemplate.”
Pilots flying packed passenger jets over the region made complaints to police after several incidents in July.
The British Airline Pilots Association has warned the culprits could expect custodial sentences if caught.
Anyone with any information should call police on 0845 458 0000 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
THE captain of a holiday jet bound for Liverpool Airport issued a Mayday call after incorrect warning messages came on in the cockpit.
When a message requiring the shutting down of the left engine appeared that the captain of the easyJet flight from Barcelona concluded the messages “were probably spurious”.
He declared a Mayday and requested a direct routing to Stansted airport as there was fog at Liverpool Airport.
Eventually, the plane, flown manually, landed safely on February 6, 2007.
The AAIB said the cause was likely “an intermittent fault” on the display.
Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) last night unveiled ambitious £12m expansion plans.
Details of the development were released as it emerged low-cost carrier Easyjet may bring more routes to Merseyside.JLA owner Peel Airports wants to build bigger and better security facilities and almost double JLA’s retail space.The project will see new stair and escalator access for check-in passengers at the eastern end of the terminal leading to an improved security suite built on the third-floor in existing hangar space.
Hangar One is currently occupied by engineers employed on behalf of Easyjet. But as the space will soon be surplus to requirements a new floor will be built into the hangar roof space housing the security facilities.
Easyjet has confirmed it will consider new routes for JLA after announcing it was slashing services at two other UK airports.The budget airline announced last week it was closing its East Midlands Airport base and cutting 20% of its capacity at home base Luton.
The company is citing a number of factors in its decision including “stagnant conditions” at East Midlands, steep rises in landing charges at Luton and the government’s air passenger duty (APD) tax.Despite APD being an issue for all UK airports Easyjet said moving routes to JLA to add to the current 23 was a possibility.A spokeswoman told the Daily Post: “That (moving routes to Liverpool) is something that would be considered.
“There is a consultation process now going on and if we move aircraft then we will need to decide where we move them to.“Liverpool is a very different story to East Midlands and has seen significant growth.”JLA spokesman Robin Tudor welcomed the possibility of extra routes in and out of Liverpool and said the proposed security improvements were essential to eliminate passenger bottlenecks at peak times in the day.He said: “There are pinch points in the early morning as jets try to get away – so we need more space.”
Ground staff at John Lennon Airport, are back at work after a deal was made with Servisair during Monday’s Bank Holiday.
In the agreement Servisair with withdraw all mandated redundancies and make them, instead, a volunteer option. They have also agreed to refrain from making any changes to employee contracts for any staff already employed by the company.
The strike first began on August 20th after 150 employees voted to take industrial action. Acas had been brought in to mediate the negotiations and once an accord had been reached all staff were instructed to return to work on Tuesday at 4:00.
The strike came to a head last week when the GMB fire service branch employees threatened to strike as well in support of their colleagues. If the fire service had gone ahead with a strike, the airport would have been forced to close down.
Airport officials said that the outcome is favourable for both parties and that all things should return to order on Tuesday. Servisair also announced that the strike had never caused any passengers to be at a safety risk while the strike was ongoing.
During the strike Servisair brought in extra support and staff from other Servisair business in order to prevent the airport from closing. During the strike, workers picketed a main route into the airport, however they stress that passenger disruption was not their goal.
Liverpool Airport owners said there was minimal disruption. There was no reported disruption to Liverpool Airport Car Parking facilities, we are pleased to say.
A strike by workers at Liverpool John Lennon Airport is under way after last-ditch talks failed to resolve a row over jobs. Up to 150 members of the GMB Union have launched an indefinite walkout
Workers preparing to strike at John Lennon Airport will discuss an employer offer today amid hopes that the action can be avoided. The GMB union said proposals tabled during negotiations yesterday would be put to staff at the Liverpool Airport at a meeting.
Around 150 workers, including baggage handlers employed by ServisAir, are due to walk out from Thursday in protest at plans to cut 23 jobs.
GMB official Terry Mellor said: "While we do not yet have an agreement, progress has been made and we may be in a position to make a more positive statement regarding averting the stoppage."
Baggage handlers at Liverpool John Lennon Airport have voted to go on strike.
Member of the GMB trade union voted overwhelmingly to take action in response to the threat of compulsory redundancies by ServisAir, the provider of ground services at the airport.Terry Mellor of the GMB said, ‘GMB members are angry and have voted overwhelmingly to take action to get these compulsory redundancies withdrawn. All out continuous strike action is planned to go ahead from 4am on Thursday 20th August. It will involve all GMB members employed as baggage handlers and other apron staff at the airport.I have been in contact with the employer ServisAir today and I have asked them to withdraw the threat of compulsory redundancies and to enter into meaningful talks to avert this action.
GMB and our members at the airport want to avoid disrupting the travel plans of the public. We urge the airport owner, Peel, to intervene and put pressure on ServisAir withdraw the threat of compulsory redundancies and for them to enter into meaningful talks with GMB to avert this action.’
Baggage handlers at Liverpool John Lennon Airport have voted to go on strike.
The GMB union says around 150 workers employed by ServisAir will stage the action from Thursday 20th August. The dispute's been sparked by a row over compulsory redundancies and will affect flights by Ryanair, KLM, Wizzair, Flybe and Thomson.
"TODAY we reveal how baggage handlers at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport are up in arms over proposed changes to their working condition that could see compulsory redundancies. And we don’t blame them one little bit for making their anger known.
But no matter how much the baggage handlers and their unions may justify it to themselves, there’s no excuse for taking their frustrations out on the public.
Travellers caught between the baggage handlers and their employers aren’t going to write politely to the companies involved and ask them to treat their employees a bit better when the going gets tough.
No, they’ll just grit their teeth, curse all things Liverpudlian and take their business somewhere else when next they decide to fly off on holiday.
Liverpool’s loss will be the gain of Manchester, Leeds/Bradford, Birmingham or any other provincial airport with good communications and decent parking.
This game of brinkmanship between unions and employers at JLA is hardly likely to benefit anyone. In truth, both sides know deep down how much damage is likely to be caused to Liverpool airport’s hard-won good name and reputation if the strike is allowed to go ahead. No-one, of course, wants to be seen as the one that blinked first.
But nothing is set in stone. In any dispute there is always the chance to negotiate right up to the eleventh hour. If necessary everyone can agree to differ, but at the same time agree that whatever happens, the planes will be allowed to get away.
That time has now come. We cannot believe that anyone really wants to cripple JLA’s operations at the height of the holiday season.
So start talking again. Now."
That's certainly telling them.
"I always knew the only good thing about Easyjet was their cheap prices. I've never expected great service, good food and short queues. However, I have always expected to actually get on a flight I booked...until last week.
Flying back from Liverpool Airport to Berlin, I arrived at the airport around half an hour before the final check-in time. Massive queues. Standard.
I went to the Easyjet service desk and asked what was the best thing to do as this queue was going to take more than half an hour to receed. "Start queuing up and all Berlin passengers will be called forward." I was told. A Thai woman in the adjacent queue was asking the same question and we spoke briefly about how worrying it was the the queue was so long.
I made my way to the back of the queue but noticed this woman was a bit further ahead of me standing with her son. Never one to miss an opportunity to push past people (Germany has taught me this -the Germans hate queuing), I moved up ten or fifteen places to stand with this woman.
It turned out she used to live in Berlin and I chatted with her and her son just to take my mind off the queuing. It transpired that she was not travelling but had just brought her son to the airport. I soon realised all was not right with her sixteen-year-old son. Not in an obvious way as he was a pleasant and cheerful young man but I suspected he may of had learning difficulties and his manner was more of a ten-year-old than a person on the verge of adulthood.....saying that, he was bi-lingual so I could be totally wrong!
He lived in Dresden with his father and had been visiting his mother and her new family in Southport. His father would be picking him at the airport in Berlin.
As the time approached for last check-in time, I began to get nervous but a group not too far in front of us (also travelling to Berlin) went to the desk and were told not to worry as the flight had been delayed slightly.
The mother drew me to one side and asked me if I would keep and eye on her son and make sure he got the flight as she had to leave to go to work. She said he would be OK but just in case etc. I agreed thinking nothing could go wrong and to be honest I was enjoying chatting and joking with him...him laughing at my lack of German vocab despite living in Germany for three years.
We were eventually called out of the queue to check-in and after doing so we sprinted/jogged to the security area.
Again massive queues. Determined not to miss the flight, I pushed my way through the crowds with my new friend in tow. We reached the front and explained to the security guy our situation i.e. the flight would be leaving soon and we needed to get through as soon as possible. The bloke was having none of it explaining that letting us through would cause fights. He said if it was urgent then he would have been told and there would have been an announcement. He asked his supervisor who said they could not let us through. We went back and pushed in fairly close to the front and waited.
Ten minutes later we were through security and once again sprinted heading to the boarding gate.
The plane had gone.
Not to worry, I thought. We did nothing wrong. We were in the airport in good time. We ran every chance we got. They have messed up and will need to find a way to get us to Berlin....maybe late but they will get us to Berlin today!
But then the lies started from the girl at Easyjet obviously determined to cover up the fact they had made a total fuck up of thing.
"We made two annoucements" LIE
"We sent a person to bring people through security" LIE
"75 people checked-in after you and managed to board the flight" LIE.
These lies meant Easyjet were blaming us for missing the flight.
These lies meant Easyjet were not taking any responsibility for making us miss the flight.
These lies meant they would not pay a train fare or taxi fare to Gatwick were there was a flight leaving in five hours time.
These lies meant Easyjet would charge me £38 if I wanted to travel the next day or if I wanted to fly from Gatwick that day.
I wasn't sure what to do and my newly acquired travelling companion did not have his mother's number to tell her what had happened and his father who was picking him up at Berlin Airport was non-contactable.
After much thinking and working out connecting flights, trains etc, I realised there was no way to get to Berlin before 2am and not without a lot of expense.
My idea of asking Easyjet to contact Easyjet at Berlin Airport to explain to the father the situation once he realised his son was not on the flight and perhaps had gone to the Berlin Easyjet desk was thwarted when told they were not allowed to do this.
To cut a long story short, Easyjet tracked down my new friend's step-father who came to the airport to pick him up but not before I had to pay £38 to get on the following day's flight.
Obviously, Easyjet make it as difficult as possible to complain by email and charge premium rate to complain by phone. I'd almost given up until I used Twitter to voice my anger.
I quickly received a message to email a customer service guy and within a couple of hours they agreed to repay my money.
A very messy day and incident caused by incompetence by Easyjet staff at Liverpool and though it's easy to blame individuals the blame lies squarely at Easyjet's penny pinching management who did not provide enough staff or adequate training for their staff. They admitted this in their email to me.
Still, they should have organised for me to get to Berlin that day. I wonder what David Dimberley would have done.
I was concerned to read about the problems you experienced at Liverpool airport and would like to apologise for the inconvenience and the frustration that this will have caused you.There are procedures in place to ensure that regular and correct information is forwarded to our passengers as soon as we receive it ourselves. It seems from your comments that you did not receive this level of service and for this I sincerely apologise.We are aware of the fact that at certain airports level of service is not the one we would like to see. We have already taken certain steps in order to change this. We are gathering feedback that we receive from our customers and our Executives have already visited some selected airports and retrained the staff.Your feedback also confirms that we still need to improve a lot in terms of the customer experience we offer at the airports. Having checked your reservation I decided to refund the rescue fee that was charged at the airport (£38). It will be returned back to the card used for making your easyJet booking within 5-10 working days.Once again I would like to thank you for taking time to pass your comments to Paul and please accept my apologies for the inconvenience you experienced at Liverpool airport. This feedback will definitely help us to improve the level of service delivered to our customers. I do hope this will not stop you from flying with easyJet again."
New £20 million Liverpool player Alberto Aquilani arrived on Merseyside late on Thursday after a flight to Heathrow and a private jet to Liverpool John Lennon airport.
YOBS shining dangerous lasers into the eyes of pilots approaching Liverpool Airport could cause a major disaster, police warned today.Invasive green lights were shone into the cockpits of several planes landing at Liverpool John Lennon Airport in recent weeks.
Today, police and aviation experts said the laser lights could cause blindness and prompt a serious airline tragedy.
Officers are hunting offenders who are stationing themselves along the Liverpool flight path armed with the potentially lethal contraptions.
Just after midnight on Friday, a pilot was distracted by a green light shone into the cockpit at 2,500ft from the Chester or Broughton area.
A day earlier, a green light flashed into the cockpit of a plane from Ibiza, descending at 3,000ft, as it performed a turn near Runcorn marshes.
Another incident occurred a week last Monday, at 11.20pm, when an inbound plane from Milan at 2,000ft had a green light directed towards it from the Frodsham area.
In all three cases, the planes landed safely and Cheshire Police are certain the same group is responsible for each of the incidents.
Inspector Phil Hodgson told the ECHO it was likely the offenders were wreaking their havoc on elevated ground, away from wooded areas.
Thanks to the Liverpool Echo
A HI-TECH “tram-train” could link Liverpool John Lennon Airport with Merseyside’s rail network, the Daily Post has learned.
Merseytravel, the region’s transport executive, said if the hybrid trains are rolled out in the UK, the JLA link would be its preferred location.
It has also named a new tram-train route between Edge Hill and King’s Dock as also being on its wish list.
The technology, which has been pioneered in the German town of Karlsruhe, uses “light” trams that have the same gauge as “heavy” trains.
That means they can run on the existing heavy lines but any new track that needs to be laid is not highly invasive.
Transport chiefs hope the arrival of tram-trains in the UK will allow disused Victorian tracks to come back into use.
Using this smart technology, a tram-train would be able to run all the way from Southport, along the Northern Line, or from Lime Street Station, along the City Line, to the airport. At Liverpool South Parkway, it would leave the existing railway line and seemlessly transfer to a new tramway.
At the moment, passengers going to the airport have to take a train to South Parkway and then catch the 501 shuttle bus to the airport. The new 501 service was only launched last month.
Cllr Peter Millea, Liverpool’s executive member for assets and development, has long championed sending a tram through South Liverpool and connecting the airport u