From 11 April 2012, the Gatwick Worth hotel will become the Holiday Inn London Gatwick Worth.
Gatwick Worth to become a Holiday Inn
February 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Gatwick BA cabin crew in walk of hope
February 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
A team of ten British Airways cabin crew from Gatwick will walk with the fastest man in the world later this month for a cause that is close to all their hearts.
The crew of BA2263 will operate the flight from Gatwick to Kingston, Jamaica on February 17, then join world champion and current Olympic champion sprinter Usain Bolt for the 5.6km Sigma Walkathon in aid of the Chain of Hope charity.
British Airways has a long-standing partnership with Chain of Hope, a charity set up by the eminent heart surgeon Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub, who plans to establish a brand new cardiac centre at the Bustamante Hospital for Children in Kingston.
The 10 cabin crew champions Kayti Roberts, Suzi Ball, Christina Smith, Kerryanne Meehan, Camilla Broglia, Michelle Oakes, Emma Oliver, Sarah Hill, Robert Brock and Louise Speakman, also plan to visit the hospital during their three-day stay in Kingston.
Some of them have visited previously and have sat in on cardiac surgery procedures on children with life-threatening heart diseases.
The UK charity sends out medical teams to treat children in their own country, setting up training programmes for local surgeons and medical staff. But the number of operations that can be performed is limited by the number of Intensive Care Unit beds available. The new cardiac centre will house 10 new beds, an operating theatre and a catheter laboratory and allow doctors to help many more children in need of life saving surgery.
Kayti Roberts from Haywards Heath is one of the crew members making a return visit to the hospital. She said: “I was fortunate enough to sit in on open heart surgery on a young child and it was a life changing experience.
“Chain of Hope is such a fantastic charity, Magdi Yacoub is an amazing man and everyone is so passionate about what they do and the difference they make to these children’s lives. It is fantastic that British Airways supports the charity and that we are all getting the chance to help by taking part in the walkathon.”
Up to 500 children are born with congenital heart disease in Jamaica every year. Of these, half require medical or surgical intervention or face a premature death. The current waiting list for cardiac surgery at the Bustamante Hospital is at least 150 children, with 100 new patients added to the list annually.
Ideas for Eco Parking at Gatwick Airport?
February 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
While airports are constantly trying to encourage passengers to travel to and from the airport using public transport, many of us are loathe to give up our cars, and often, driving to the airport is just too convenient to consider any other mode of transport. Perhaps airports need to accept that they aren’t going to convert everyone and just look at ways to make airport parking as environmentally friendly as possible.
Here’s a look at some ideas for eco-parking and utilising the sun’s energy in car parks:
A fascinating collection of state-of-the-art eco parking has been developed by a myriad of leading, new and pioneering designers from around the Globe.
From a car park where cars are parked underneath a literal ‘forest’ of solar trees, cars parked standing up on their front ends in limited spaces, to a parking island off-shore which generates its own power, the ideas and possibilities are endless – all that limits these designs, in their conceptual stages, is the mind! With these kinds of futuristic car parks, electric cars could be charged by solar power, as would the electric power supplies to operate the car park itself, some of these car parks even feeding unused power back into the main power supply.
Today’s talent of environmental specialist designers and architects bring the idea of eco parking of the future that little bit closer to today.
Whilst many of the above mentioned eco car parks are currently designer blue prints, many designers have created their visions, and eco parking is up and running in the UK and the United States.
Take for example the PowerPark eco car parking that’s been created by Romag. Based in Consett, County Durham, the company has created a parking canopy that can generate around 1,100kWh of emissions free power over a year to charge up hybrid plug-in and electric vehicles that park up underneath them. What’s more, the canopy can produce that amount of power even in areas of the UK are more so bathed in cloud than sun. And excess power is far from wasted; the PowerPark canopy is linked to the National Grid for any overspill of unused energy.
Romag’s PowerPark canopy in County Durham
Computer giant, Dell, has installed CleanCharge solar parking stations in its headquarters in Texas. Green energy is powering up electric vehicles with excess energy lighting up the car park compound from dusk.
Dell’s CleanCharge solar panels in their headquarters, Texas
The car park in the town of Isla Vista, in Santa Barbara, is powered by its 98 solar panels – solar energy that is collected is used to light the car park and operate the pay parking meters on the site. Isla Vista is hoping to increase its panels by another 11 in the near future.
Isla Vista’s car park, Santa Barbara
Perhaps some day we will see these types of eco parking at Gatwick.
New Management at Gatwick Airport station
February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Southern has taken over the day-to-day management of the railway station at Gatwick Airport.
The transfer of management from Network Rail to Southern took place on Sunday 29 January.
Southern Director, David Scorey said: “We already manage 156 stations and it’s that station management experience, which includes provision of excellent levels of customer service and train dispatch, which is at the core of our business. It was the obvious thing to do, especially as the station is set for major redevelopment, and I know that airline passengers and commuters alike will benefit tremendously from this move.”
Spectrum Interactive deploys Wi-Fi service to Virgin lounge at Gatwick
January 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Spectrum Interactive has teamed up with Virgin Atlantic to deliver guest Wi-Fi provision at the airline’s flagship Clubhouse lounge at Gatwick’s South Terminal.
Spectrum focused on improving the passenger user-experience, and providing local dedicated technical, engineering and account management support, along with full customisation to reflect the Virgin Atlantic experience.
Graham Lampen, IT service manager at Virgin Atlantic said: “The timescale for getting our new Wi-Fi system up and running was very challenging, but Spectrum was able to design and install the service with minimum disruption and with zero downtime.” He added: “The feedback on the Spectrum service from visitors, staff and management has been very positive.”
“We are delighted to have been selected as Virgin Atlantic’s Wi-Fi provider;” said Daniel Gray, commercial director at Spectrum Interactive. “This agreement with such a prestigious and iconic travel brand further reinforces Spectrum’s position in the market and increases our footprint in airline lounges which has seen significant growth during the last two years, including installations into Virgin Holidays’ Vroom lounges.”
Gatwick applies for permission to park Airbus A380s
January 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Could we soon be seeing an airline operate an Airbus A380 out of Gatwick?
Well, according to the Crawley News, Gatwick Airport has submitted a planning application with Crawley Borough Council to reconfigure an aircraft stand and parking area to accommodate the Airbus A380s.
The paper reports that the plans show the new stand would be at the North Terminal.
In 2010, Gatwick secured planning permission from the council to take the double-decker Airbus A380.
Gatwick Parking Company ADP Parking takes 15 hours to return car
January 23, 2012 By 1 Comment
Just days after being fined almost £4000 for running an unlicensed car park for Airport Direct, Millie Stojanovic is back running another parking company from the same location.
ADP Parking, which according to 118.com is based at Little Orchard, Church Lane, Burstow – the same location as Airport Direct – has generated plenty of complaints to Tandridge Council and the Police over the Christmas period, including a complaint from one couple who waited 14½ hours for the return of their car just after Christmas 2011.
The couple, who were travelling with their two children, followed the instruction from ADP Parking and called the company when their plane landed at 9.30pm. They were told their car would be ready, however, when they exited the terminal their car was not at the pre-arranged collection point. After a 15-minute wait and another call, they were told the driver was at the compound. After another half an hour their car still hadn’t been returned.
1¼ hours after their first phone call, the representative of APD asked if they could take a taxi home – this was not an option, plus they still had to collect their car. After two hours, 11.30 at night, the car had still not been returned, and with two tired children, the couple’s only option was to book a family room in an airport hotel at a cost of £265.
At 12.30am, that same night, APD Parking called to inform them that their car was 10 minutes away. At 1.30am the car still hadn’t arrived. The couple continually tried to contact the company but their calls were not always answered, and when they were, the couple alleges they were subjected to verbal abuse. Tired, concerned for their young children and worried that their car may have been stolen, they asked ADP for the location of their car so they could collect it themselves – the company refused.
At 8am they managed to contact the company and were told to ‘just be patient, we’ve got your vehicle’ ‘we’ll call back in ½ an hour.’
Eventually, at midday, 14½ hours after their plane landed, the couple’s car was returned to Gatwick Airport.
As it stands today, 23 January 2012, the couple has only received a brief apology from ADP Parking. They have yet to receive any offer of compensation for the delay and any out-of-pocket expenses incurred during their overnight stay, neither have they received an explanation of why the car’s return took so long.
Gatwick passenger numbers rise in 2011
January 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
2011 was a good year for passenger traffic at Gatwick Airport.
The airport saw 12 consecutive months of increased passenger numbers in 2011 with more than 33 million passenger passing through the airport last year – an increase of 7.3% when compared to 2010.
Contributing to the increase was a massive 19.8% rise in passenger numbers in December, although this was mainly due to the snow disruptions of 2010 which saw passenger numbers fall in December 2010.
Throughout 2011, Gatwick saw increased passenger numbers to a number of destinations including a 15.7% increase in European scheduled traffic, a 7% increase in domestic and Channel Island passengers and a 5.8% rise in passengers to Ireland.
GATCOM meets 26 January 2012
January 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The next meeting of GATCOM will take place at 2pm on Thursday 26 January 2012 at the Sofitel Hotel, North Terminal, Gatwick Airport.
Flybe awards Gatwick ground handling contract to Menzies Aviation
January 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Flybe has today announced the awarding of the contract for its Gatwick full ground handling services to Menzies Aviation, the aviation services division of John Menzies plc.
The three-year contract will commence on 31 March 2012 and follows on from an already successful relationship between Flybe and Menzies Aviation, who already provide similar services for the airline at Edinburgh, Glasgow, East Midlands and Luton airports.
Andrew Strong, Flybe UK’s Director of Managing Director comments: “Flybe is delighted to extend its successful relationship with Menzies Aviation. The company has served us well to date and we look forward to continuing to work with them in the future at two of our busiest bases. As well as providing a high quality service that supports Flybe’s fast turnaround provision, the deal generates significant savings for Flybe as we look to proactively manage our cost base.”
Flybe is now its third largest slot holder at Gatwick airport, is the largest domestic carrier by some distance, operating 10 routes and is the airport’s most punctual carrier.
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