Yeah I agree that not everything is rosy, But It’s not all been bad under Bridgepoint, and Would LBA have had the following routes and services without Tony Hallwood’s expertise.
Ryanair = 17 new routes & 2 based aircraft
Easyjet = New Geneva Route
PIA = Islamabad service
Jet2 = Continued growth (But not at the rate it use to be)
Flybe replaced bmi on the London route. Yes it’s to Gatwick and not to Heathrow but it was better than nothing at all which would have been the case.
LBA has had its best growth in passenger figures wise in the last 9 months than that it ever had under the previous council owners. It looks like it should be hitting the 3 million pax mark this year for the first time ever due to the fact that LBA is still seeing growth by airlines and operators this winter season. Where as other airports in the area DSA & MME to name but a few are still seeing declines in theirs.
The Public Car parks have been made a lot larger and access to them is a lot better than they use to be, Q8 have just built a new fuel farm. The local transport network has been improved recently with money been invested in new buses and increased frequencies while a new pick up and drop off area has been created.
Dont forget they now have planning permission for that new terminal building expansion which will hopefully commence sometime earlier next year by all accounts. This is not just a little add on like the previous owners use to do this is a complete redesign of the existing layout and additional new build that been required for a very long time.
God some people are never happy and have short memories. I remember the days of when LBA was struggling to do 1 million pax a year back in the Mid 90’s, before the opening hours restrictions were lifted in 1996.
All we had was British Midland Saab’s to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Paris and the Fokker 100’s to London Heathrow, Night Air’s Bandrante’s to Southampton, Isle of Man & Aberdeen, Air Uk, Fokker 50’s to Amsterdam, Sabena’s RJ85’s to Brussels, Jersey European’s Fokker 27’s to Belfast City and the very few limited winter charters we had at that time.
At one point LBA only had 1 winter ski route and that was to Chambery operated on Saturday by British World. How far the place has come in 15 years is amazing.
Last edited by LBIA; 10th Nov 2010 at 14:13.