Plans have been formed to expand passenger numbers at Luton Airport so that millions more travellers will be able to use the hub by 2022.

The operators of the Bedfordshire airport, London Luton Airport Operations Ltd (LLAOL), said it hopes to increase users by up to 15 and 16 million passengers a year as part of their 10-year strategy.

LLAOL said it wants to make Luton “London’s local airport” by developing better transport links to the city. It also promised to “avoid overbuilding capacity, and passing on unnecessary costs to airlines and passengers.”

The new blueprints by Spanish-owned LLAOL include building a new terminal, a larger taxiway, fresh aircraft stands and improving current ones.

These plans rival those put forward by airport-owners Luton Borough Council last month, who wanted to expand the airport from handling 10 million passengers a year to 18 million.

The council said to go ahead with their plans they would have to end LLAOL’s contract before its expiry in 2028.

Current airline operators that fly daily from Luton include Ryanair, easyJet, Monarch and Thomson

Airline travellers are being offered a new way to reach their destinations in Slovenia – and beyond.

The country’s national flag carrier, Adria Airways, has announced plans to start flights from Luton Airport in late March.

The airline, which became a full member of the Star Alliance grouping in January 2010, will offer four flights a week to capital city Ljubljana in a bid to help establish new trade and tourist routes.

The announcement by Adria was welcomed by Luton Airport’s managing director, Glyn Jones, who said that the “exciting” new service would also provide travellers with convenient onward connections to other destinations across Europe, including Pristina in Kosovo, Tirana in Albania and Skopje in the Republic of Macedonia.

The decision also means that the airport, which carried 9.5 million passengers in 2011, will be expanding the number of routes that it offers, which Mr Jones said shows it is growing “from strength to strength”.

Adria Airways will join a host of other airlines operating from Luton when it launches its services on March 25. Already flying from the airport are Wizz Air, Monarch, Thomson, Aer Arann, EL AL, Blue Air and Flybe

For those looking to travel further afield than Europe with one of the operators, flights from Luton can also take you to places in Africa and Asia.

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Budget airline easyJet will add an extra plane to its operation at Scottish airport and put on a new service to Athens, it has been revealed.

Industry chiefs and politicians have welcomed the move which will see a new Airbus A320 added to Edinburgh Airport, boosting its capacity by 300,000 seats a year and benefiting both business and leisure travellers in the process. The move is also expected to create an extra 60 jobs.

A new flight carrying travellers from Edinburgh to Athens will also be added to the airport’s schedules along with new services to Grenoble and Tenerife.

It was also disclosed that easyJet intends to bring in a 180-seat Airbus A320 plane to replace one of its four Glasgow aircraft. The new aircraft will carry an extra 40,000 passengers a year.

Edinburgh Airport managing director Kevin Brown said on Wednesday: “Today’s announcement is not only an investment in Edinburgh Airport, but in Edinburgh itself.

“It has consistently proven that it is a city in which people want to live, work and visit. We will continue to work with our airlines and the city to ensure that as many people as possible can do just that.”

First Minister Alex Salmond said: “The provision of a fifth plane for Edinburgh, a bigger aircraft in Glasgow and the opening up of these new routes will not only create 60 new jobs but will also contribute towards longer-term economic growth.”

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Belfast International has added Malta to its list of destinations, which already include London Stansted and Paris among others. 

easyJet adds new flights to Malta

The new flights, the airline’s 20th route, will leave twice a week, making it easier for passengers to hop across to the Mediterranean island.

Meanwhile for those flying into Stansted may need to arrange transport into central London to continue their trip or to catch connecting flights at Heathrow, Luton or Gatwick airports.

Paul Simmons, easyJet Regional general manager, said: “We’re delighted to be launching this new route to Malta, which is a popular destination for leisure and business travellers, and strengthens easyJet’s existing destinations from Northern Ireland.

“Malta has a rich history that is evident in its stunning architecture. For today’s visitors, there is also the obvious attraction of clear blue waters and dry, warm summers,” he added.

Once in Malta, it’s well worth catching the ferry over to the small neighbouring island of Gozo – well known for its rustic scenery and plethora of churches – 22 in total. The Xewkija church, featuring its famous dome which is larger than London’s St Paul’s Cathedral, can seat 3,000 people.

Gozo is also famous for its Ggantija temples – the oldest religious structures in the world.

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UK no-frills airline easyJet has announced a new route from Gatwick Airport to Zagreb, Croatia.

New route to Zagreb launched

Flights will go to the Central European country five times a week and prices for a seat on the plane start at £25.99 one-way, including taxes.

Zagreb, Croatia’s capital, is known as the country’s cultural and political hub, with the picturesque Medvednica Mountain in the background and the Sava River running through it.

The city history can be traced to the era of the Roman Empire and the city itself was once split in two. It is well known for its great geographical location as it straddles the Pannonian Basin, which leads to the Adriatic, Alpine, Dinaric and Pannonic regions.

The carrier now flies to 92 destinations from London Gatwick and will soon be taking the total to 100 when more European destinations are added.

General manager of the airline Paul Simmons said: “We’ve launched the new Zagreb route as it is a popular destination for both business and leisure passengers. With flights from £25.99 one-way and departing from London Gatwick fives times a week we’re making it accessible for everyone.

“easyJet is the largest airline to fly from London Gatwick and the new Zagreb route means we fly to 92 destinations. A further six new routes will be launching shortly to Amman, Aberdeen, Izmir, Verona, Seville and Bologna providing even more choice to travellers.”

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Budget airline easyJet has confirmed it has agreed a multimillion-pound deal to add 15 more aircraft to its ever growing fleet of planes.

easyJet confirms fleet expansion

The low-cost carrier confirmed it was buying 15 more Airbus A320 planes and switching a deal for the delivery of 20 A319 aircraft to larger A320 models to increase passenger capacity. It has also secured new options to purchase a further 33 A320s.

The orders come despite opposition from founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who has previously criticised plans to expand the fleet.

Sir Stelios, who recently resolved a long-running dispute with the firm, gave a cautious welcome to the announcement, but said he wanted greater clarity on where the planes will be deployed.

He said: “As the licensor of the easyJet brand, any move that increases easyJet’s turnover should lead to higher royalties, so today’s announcement sounds like good news at least in the short term from this perspective.”

He added: “We shall see if these 15 incremental aircraft will find deployment on profitable new routes and earn the appropriate return on capital employed.”

“I am still hoping to get greater transparency on which routes these and any other new aircraft are to be deployed.”

The airline, which is based at Luton Airport, and operates out of a host of other British airports, including Gatwick and Stansted, currently has 193 planes.

It aims to increase this to 220 by the end of September 2013, while the 15 new aircraft will be delivered between 2012 and 2014.

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Passengers looking for cheap flights to the Middle East might be pleased to discover that easyJet has put tickets on sale for its new service to the Jordanian capital of Amman – which begins in late March.

easyJet has put tickets on sale for its new service to Jordan

David Symes, director of the Jordan Tourist Board in the UK, said: “We have been discussing direct flight options to Jordan with easyJet for a number of years and we are delighted at the launch of this new service.”

“With hugely competitive lead-in fares from only £106 return per person, travel to Jordan becomes more affordable to all, and particularly to families who have previously been subjected to the more rigid pricing structures of scheduled airlines.”

Mr Symes revealed that outward fares start from around £100, with returns from around £32. Many visitors in the early summer can expect to pay less than £150 for a basic return flight.

The new service, which takes five hours from Gatwick Airport, could boost the number of British tourists to Jordan by around 12,000 from its current level of 65,000 a year. It follows the launch of the easyJet service to Luxor, in Egypt, last month.

By choosing the right booking and travel periods, Mr Symes insists a family of four can travel to Amman for little more than the cost of a “single ticket on a scheduled carrier”.

He believes the new service will boost demand from independent travellers – who already account for more than 50% of UK visitors to Jordan – as well as others on packages.

Independent travellers find Jordan particularly attractive because it has a wide range of accommodation – from five-star hotels to small, family-run properties and guesthouses. Also it is regarded as very safe and child friendly with plenty for families to do.

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The fallout from the Icelandic volcano and the ensuing disruption to air travel failed to prevent budget airline easyJet from beating annual profit forecasts.             

easyJet beats profits forecasts

The low-cost airline also cheered investors by announcing it will  pay a dividend to shareholders for the first time.

Following the Icelandic volcanic eruption in March and the resulting ash cloud over Europe, easyJet had to cancel 7,314 flights, causing disruption to 960,000 passengers.

The plan to pay a dividend next year should appease founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, whose family controls around 38% of the shares and has long called for the easyJet board to start payments to shareholders.

The airline has recruited more staff and introduced additional breaks in its schedule, in what the company has described as a long-term fix.

easyJet, which flies from UK airports including London-based Luton, Gatwick and Stansted, also announced it will buy another 24 planes, expanding its fleet to a total of 220 aircraft by September 2013, representing a 7% increase in seats per year.

The firm announced it has launched a new flexible fare targeted at business travellers that will give passengers flexibility to change their flight up to two hours before the scheduled departure time.

Its other aim is to increase ancillary revenues after it started easyJet Holidays, allowing passengers to book accommodation at the same time as booking a flight.

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British Airways (BA) has announced plans to resume flights from Gatwick to the Moroccan city of Marrakech.

The service is scheduled to run three times a week from March 27 next year.

BA has previously flown to Marrakech as GB Airways but the service ended in March 2008 when low-fare carrier easyJet took over GB Airways.

BA’s UK and Ireland sales and marketing head, Richard Tams, said: “BA offers a real alternative to discerning travellers to Morocco.”

The new route was announced at the opening of the World Travel Market in London. The flag carrier airline also announced a sale of Gatwick fares to European destinations including Amsterdam, Geneva, Rome, Turin and Venice.

Marrakech is known as the “Red City” and is situated in the south-west of the country near the foothills of the snow-capped Atlas Mountains. It is the third largest city in Morocco after Casablanca and Rabat. It was once an imperial city and has more than a million inhabitants.

The city is divided into two parts – the Medina, the historical city, and the new European modern district called Gueliz or Ville Nouvelle. It is served by Menara International Airport and a rail link to Casablanca and the north.

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easyJet plans to introduce flights from Israel to Switzerland to add to its existing Tel Aviv to Luton Airport flights, it has been revealed.

easyJet to operate Israel flights

The move, which will see the budget airline offer routes from Tel Aviv to Basle and Tel Aviv to Geneva, comes as Israel’s ministry of transport reported that there will be 13% more flights this winter to and from the country compared with last winter. 

In an attempt to bolster the number of flights to and from the country during the winter season, which started last week, the Israel Airport Authority has approved routes to and from Israel by 53 foreign air carriers.

Other companies flying to and from Israel for the first time are Germanwings, which will operate flights between Tel Aviv and Cologne, Spanair, which will fly passengers to and from Tel Aviv and Barcelona, Air Ukraine, which will operate Tel Aviv to Kiev flights, Cimber Sterling, which will schedule Tel Aviv to Copenhagen and Armavia which will operate flights from Tel Aviv to Yerevan.

Minister of Transport Israel Katz said that El Al Israel Airlines Ltd will have 7% more flights this winter compared with last winter. He added that Arkia Airlines Ltd would have 12 weekly flights overseas and Israir seven weekly flights.

Copyright Press Association 2010