Passengers at Luton Airport were treated to a touch of A-List style on Friday as J Lo jetted into London.

The 41-year-old singer arrived at Luton Airport by private jet for her performance at Capital FM’s Summertime Ball.

The American Idol judge and mother to Max and Emme stepped out in the latest trends, wearing a nude maxi dress and wedges.

And there wasn’t a bus or airport transfer service in sight as she strolled onto the tarmac clutching a brown bag.

Alongside her twins, Jennifer Lopez also brought her mother Guadalupe to watch her perform at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.

More than 75,000 people are reported to have attended the event, despite the drizzly weather.

Among other stars performing at the Capital FM event were Cee-Lo Green, Katy B, JLS, Nicole Scherzinger, Jessie J and Ne-Yo.

Ms Lopez has enjoyed a career revival in the past year with her latest singles On The Floor and I’m Into You rising up the charts.

And fans in Luton and beyond look set to enjoy her new album, which she has labelled her most introspective to date.

She said: “Absolutely everything I’ve been through in my life is right there because that’s what I’ve felt and suffered and celebrated. You have to sing what you know.”

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A new pay-as-you-go WiFi service has been launched at London Luton Airport. 

Luton Airport has signed a deal with Spectrum Interactive to provide the wireless internet access in its public areas.

Cardiff Airport will also offer the pay-as-you-go service in its public areas after signing a deal with the provider.

Business and leisure travellers alike will be able to take advantage of the seamless and always-on connectivity.

Passengers with iPass, Boingo and Skype Access accounts have added flexibility due to roaming agreements.

London Luton Airport is one of the largest airports in the UK and carried almost nine million passengers in 2010. A number of airlines fly to more than  90 destinations in Europe, Africa and Asia from the airport.

Jo Fyfe, London Luton Airport spokesperson said, “Reliability, speed, ease-of-use and good support were of utmost importance when specifying a new WiFi service and Spectrum has delivered. The service provides an excellent user experience across all mobile devices.”

Daniel Gray, director of Spectrum’s travel division, said: “We are very pleased to have London Luton and Cardiff Airport on board. Like our airport partners, we see WiFi as a major contributing factor to passenger satisfaction and therefore strive to offer a best-in-class solution which helps enhance the overall travel experience.”

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More than 105,000 passengers are expected to have travelled through Luton Airport over the Easter period as the hub reflects on its achievements over the past year.

The airport is likely to see a rise in the number of passengers heading to European cities such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Budapest, Milan, Paris and Prague over the holiday season as customers flock in their droves to take advantage of low fares to such destinations.

Sun-soaked destinations such as the Canary Islands are also proving popular with families looking to make the most of the Easter break. 

Simon Harley, the airport’s airline development manager, said: “With more than 90 destinations on offer, our passengers have a great deal of choice whether they are looking for sunshine or a cultural city break; perfect for that Easter getaway.”

The bulge in passenger numbers coincided with the publication of Luton’s 2010 Community Engagement Report, which sets out its successes over the last year and looks ahead to the future.

The airport helped raise money for a number of charity projects in 2010 – generating more than £42,000 for local charity Keech Hospice Care and raising £25,000 to aid flood victims in Pakistan.

The hub has also taken steps to become more eco-friendly by reducing its CO2 emissions by 7% from airport-controlled buildings between 2008 and 2010. In addition, It bolstered its environmental credentials further by recycling 22% of its total waste between 2009 and 2010.

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Romanian carrier Blue Air has celebrated the unveiling of its winter schedule from Luton Airport to Bucharest and Bacau by offering one-way flights for £17.79.

Blue Air offers cheap Romanian flights

The airline will run 10am flights from Luton to Bucharest on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Meanwhile, its Luton to Bacau flights will operate three times a week and will depart at 4.20pm.

The Bucharest flights will touch down at Baneasa Airport, which is the closest airport to the city centre. People travelling to Bacau might want to visit the Carpathian Mountains and the tourist region of Transylvania, which are situated nearby.

Blue Air UK country manager Alina Danculea said: ”Our flights for summer 2011 are filling fast as UK based Romanian families book their flights home to visit friends and relatives, plus a growing number of independent tourists are now choosing our services for their holiday flights to Romania. 

“Our winter flying programme from London Luton Airport is now available for everyone to book and the cheapest fares are only there until they’ve all been sold.

“It’s exciting seeing the way that demand for our low cost services is growing and growing. We have a close relationship with London Luton Airport and its clear that our choice to use London Luton has been an important factor in this growth.”

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Luton Airport switched off lights for one hour from 8.30pm last Saturday in support of this year’s Earth Hour.

Even the airport’s illuminated logo on the front of the terminal building was turned off for the hour in support of action against climate change.

Earth Hour began four years ago in Sydney, Australia, as 2.2 million people and more than 2,000 businesses switched their lights off to highlight the impact of global warming and other such environmental issues. A year later, Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries taking part. 

Saturday’s event was the biggest yet with 128 countries involved in the mass stand against climate change. Global landmarks across the world took part in this year’s event, including Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House, Edinburgh Castle and Buckingham Palace, to name but a few.

Other airports like Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick could learn from Luton Airport’s example, while passengers could opt to take a bus to the airport to reduce their carbon footprint.

Luton Airport has taken a proactive approach towards managing energy use for years and has committed to an environmental policy that sets out to continuously review and improve its performance. 

The airport is committed to helping local people as well as the environment. It has announced that it will support the New Opportunities And Horizon (NOAH) Enterprise. The charity, which helps homeless people, will be the beneficiary of fundraising endeavours organised by the airport’s staff throughout the year.

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London Luton Airport has been boosted by rising passenger numbers in February, making it the second consecutive month of growth for 2011. 

The airport has managed to carry forward the rising traffic it enjoyed during a strong performance last year, when it processed almost nine million travellers. 

Glyn Jones, Luton’s managing director, said the airport is now looking to add a number of new flights and increase its capacity to meet the growing demand from the public.

He said: “We believe that continued growth in passenger numbers demonstrates our route network and excellent transport links remain attractive to leisure and business travellers alike.

“New routes on sale and extra capacity from our airlines ensure we are meeting extra demand.”

Several major carriers, including Flybe and Aer Arann, fly to more than 90 destinations in Europe, Asia and Africa. 

Tourists who do not live near Luton can still join the growing numbers of tourists flying from the increasingly popular airport by using transfer services to catch their flights.

Monarch Airlines has also recently announced that it will make more seats available this summer on flights leaving Luton for popular destinations such as Turkey, Spain, Cyprus and Portugal. 

And Wizz Air has revealed that it will start a new route to London-Luton from Skopje in FYR Macedonia, starting on June 20. These flights will be operated three times a week at first. 

József Váradi, chief executive officer of Wizz Air, said: “As the first low cost carrier in the country, Wizz Air is delighted to offer its services to the FYR Macedonian passengers, who can now enjoy our truly affordable fares coupled with great travel experience all along their journey. 

“Our market entry will boost the passenger traffic and will have an accelerator effect on the local businesses and employment as well. ” 

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More than three-quarters of overseas tourists who visited the UK in 2009 had been here before, according to research. 

The VisitBritain organisation revealed that 77% of holidaymakers in the UK had already visited here at least once in the previous decade. 

Republic of Ireland residents are among the most loyal with 95% of them making a return trip to Britain. With Luton airport regularly offering a gateway to and from the Emerald Isles, many of those passengers may have travelled in and out of the busy London airport.

Tourist officials are hopeful that these results could mean UK tourism will receive a massive long-term boost after staging the 2012 London Olympics. 

About 50,000 foreign visitors were questioned, and the results indicate that Luxembourg travellers are the most loyal to Britain, with 96% having been here in the last 10 years – closely followed by Ireland. 

Visitors from the United Arab Emirates were third with 92%, while people from Chile and Taiwan are the least likely to return, with only 33% of them visiting the UK on return trips.

Most of the tourists heading into the UK are from France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Holland and Spain, with 59% of French visitors and 56% of Germans being “repeaters”. 

VisitBritain’s strategy and communications director Patricia Yates said: “These figures are very encouraging considering the number of worldwide destinations available to overseas travellers, and the fierce competition for overseas visitors.

“It is an important sign that Britain is to generate a sustained uplift in tourism after the Olympics.”

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El Al Israel Airlines has announced it will start offering flights this autumn from Luton Airport to Ben Gurion Airport  in Israel.

Passengers will pay ₤275 for a return flight, called Star Choice, but only if they pay for their tickets before October 31 and use the flight between November 1 and December 15.

Uri Danon, El Al managing director for the UK, Ireland and northern Europe, said: “Due to the sheer popularity of our flights from London to Tel Aviv, we are delighted to offer customers this new ticket price.

“We hope Star Choice will enable passengers to spontaneously visit family and friends or just escape the UK this winter for the cultural climes of Israel.”

Luton Airport is 32 miles north-west of London city centre and is open 24 hours a day, so airport transfers should be simple to arrange. It is the fifth largest airport in the UK and a total of 9.2 million passengers arrived or departed from the site last year.

Of this total, 95% of passengers used scheduled flights and 5% went on chartered planes. Around nine in every 10 passengers (87%) were on international flights, while the rest travelled on domestic routes.

For people arriving from abroad, Luton Airport’s Onward Travel Centre provides a one-stop shop for any necessary further travel requirements.

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A committee has called for a decision on scrapping the passenger number cap at Belfast City Airport to be put on hold.

The Stormont scrutiny committee urged environment minister Edwin Poots to delay the decision until a public inquiry on the airport’s controversial runway extension is completed.

If the two million passengers annual limit is scrapped it could lead to more flights to Belfast from Luton Airport.

The call came after the committee heard evidence from residents campaigning against the scrapping of the cap.

Members were also briefed by airport chief executive Brian Ambrose at the meeting in Parliament Buildings.

Mr Poots revealed he was considering ditching the cap back in the summer, when he launched a public consultation on the proposal. 

The move would equate to four million seats for sale – leading to a possible rise in airport transfers to Luton Airport for people flying to Belfast.  

Residents fear that removing the cap will lead to bigger and noisier planes being rolled out on more routes by many flight operators. 

However, the restriction preventing the annual number of flights from exceeding 48,000 will be upheld.

Campaigners have highlighted a link between the passenger cap and the runway plan. This is because planes with heavier loads will be able to use the airport under the plans for the 600 metres (1,968ft) runway extension. 

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Luton Airport is offering more flights to popular skiing destination Turin this winter

Keen skiers and those looking for a cheap winter break will be able to take advantage of more flights from London Luton Airport to Turin this winter.

Low-cost airline easyJet is adding more flights to its schedule from London Luton Airport to the Northern Italian city between November and March 2011.

The city, which played host to the Winter Olympics in 2006, is home to some of the best ski slopes in Europe. Winter sports fans will find a variety of opportunities to indulge in their passion.

The area is also popular with second-home owners who may want to take advantage of the additional flights from London Luton to take a well earned break away from the UK, do some Christmas shopping, or just to take in the sights, architecture and culture of the continental city.

However, those with a passion for winter sports can also take advantage of flights from London Luton Airport to other destinations such as France and Spain.

With so much choice, travellers may find it hard to choose from the spectacular destinations on offer from Luton.

Simon Harley, business development manager at London Luton Airport, said: “There are a number of ski destinations available between November and March from London Luton Airport, providing passengers with an extensive choice of winter sports holiday options at convenient flight times.”

Copyright Press Association 2010