GIBRALTAR
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GIBRALTAR
Top quality reporting and excellent grammar as always (courtesy of Panorama). 
Chaotic situation as GB airways flight from Madrid to Gibraltar is diverted to Malaga for being late
A British airways flight from Madrid (operated by GB airways) on Monday night was diverted to Malaga for being late.
A reader, who said he was a passenger, said: The pilot told passengers that the flight controller at Gibraltar 'had gone home.'
The Gibraltar airport is open from 8am to 11pm. The airliner was scheduled to arrive at 9.30pm, but was delayed to about 11pm.
The station commander told PANORAMA that they had no more 'controller hours' available. Flight controllers are strictly regulated, so the decision was taken to divert to Malaga. He said he regretted any inconvenience.
'NO ONE KNEW'
Over in Malaga, the passengers arrived without knowing what was happening. "No passenger knew, or anyone informed us, that the Gibraltar control tower closes at 11pm and it is totally impossible to change this," said a passenger, Rosa Garcia.
It appears that controller hours are established worldwide and any variation requires notification six months in advance.
The delay was due to problems at Barajas, the passenger says she was told yesterday at Gibraltar airport.
The result was that at 10.40pm the pilot of the aircraft said in English, and only in English, that he had to land in Malaga, protested the passenger. There was no one in the crew who spoke Spanish, which resulted in a Gibraltarian having to tell the Spaniards "to pick up their luggage normally and those who wanted could make their own travel arrangements and others could catch the coach."
The Spanish passenger adds: Before alighting from the aircraft I asked if we would be given dinner, and the stewards told us that in the air terminal we would be informed. But there was no one there, either from the airport or from the company.
CHAOTIC SITUATION
There was no one there to tell us where the coach could be found, or to explain what was happening, or offer us a drink or food, there was no one there with a passenger list to carry out a check. That was the chaotic situation related by the passenger.
In the end some left by taxi, others called family members to pick them up and some found the coach. The flight was nearly full, but only some ten persons arrived at Gibraltar on the bus, including a girl of about 6 years.
We tried to claim but in Gibraltar there was nobody from British Airways. One had to telephone England or write a letter. We had no right, even to an explanation, she said.
A British airways flight from Madrid (operated by GB airways) on Monday night was diverted to Malaga for being late.
A reader, who said he was a passenger, said: The pilot told passengers that the flight controller at Gibraltar 'had gone home.'
The Gibraltar airport is open from 8am to 11pm. The airliner was scheduled to arrive at 9.30pm, but was delayed to about 11pm.
The station commander told PANORAMA that they had no more 'controller hours' available. Flight controllers are strictly regulated, so the decision was taken to divert to Malaga. He said he regretted any inconvenience.
'NO ONE KNEW'
Over in Malaga, the passengers arrived without knowing what was happening. "No passenger knew, or anyone informed us, that the Gibraltar control tower closes at 11pm and it is totally impossible to change this," said a passenger, Rosa Garcia.
It appears that controller hours are established worldwide and any variation requires notification six months in advance.
The delay was due to problems at Barajas, the passenger says she was told yesterday at Gibraltar airport.
The result was that at 10.40pm the pilot of the aircraft said in English, and only in English, that he had to land in Malaga, protested the passenger. There was no one in the crew who spoke Spanish, which resulted in a Gibraltarian having to tell the Spaniards "to pick up their luggage normally and those who wanted could make their own travel arrangements and others could catch the coach."
The Spanish passenger adds: Before alighting from the aircraft I asked if we would be given dinner, and the stewards told us that in the air terminal we would be informed. But there was no one there, either from the airport or from the company.
CHAOTIC SITUATION
There was no one there to tell us where the coach could be found, or to explain what was happening, or offer us a drink or food, there was no one there with a passenger list to carry out a check. That was the chaotic situation related by the passenger.
In the end some left by taxi, others called family members to pick them up and some found the coach. The flight was nearly full, but only some ten persons arrived at Gibraltar on the bus, including a girl of about 6 years.
We tried to claim but in Gibraltar there was nobody from British Airways. One had to telephone England or write a letter. We had no right, even to an explanation, she said.
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Fly Gib Is Over
FROM THE GIBRALTAR CHRONIC
LE
Blow for Gib tourism industry
LACK OF INVESTMENT PUTS FLY GIBRALTAR ON HOLD
F Oliva reports
LACK OF INVESTMENT PUTS FLY GIBRALTAR ON HOLD
F Oliva reports
Fly Gibraltar, the commercial airline that was due to service air routes to several UK destinations, will not be operating as it has been unable to deposit the £10m insurance bond with the Civil Aviation Authority required to commence business. Fly Gibraltar is the aviation arm of OEM, the firm constructing the Nelson’s View ‘affordable housing’ project, and owned by Irish property tycoon Robert Noonan.
The company has kept the public guessing for months as to when the inaugural Gibraltar flight would take place, but insurmountable financial issues have meant that the project will be put on hold for an indefinite period.
During its highly publicised presentation last year, which was attended by the Minister for Tourism, the company had earmarked April 2007 for the launch of full-scale operations.
The original Fly Gibraltar plan was devised on the basis of one daily flight to UK but it subsequently grew significantly, to include numerous routes in England and the Republic of Ireland.
Aviation experts have attributed the company’s failure to an over-ambitious business plan that in its final incarnation incorporated two planes carrying out eight daily flights, but without the necessary financial back-up to support it.
It is understood Fly Gibraltar have also returned the name ‘Gibraltar’ in their commercial name to the local Government.
The company has kept the public guessing for months as to when the inaugural Gibraltar flight would take place, but insurmountable financial issues have meant that the project will be put on hold for an indefinite period.
During its highly publicised presentation last year, which was attended by the Minister for Tourism, the company had earmarked April 2007 for the launch of full-scale operations.
The original Fly Gibraltar plan was devised on the basis of one daily flight to UK but it subsequently grew significantly, to include numerous routes in England and the Republic of Ireland.
Aviation experts have attributed the company’s failure to an over-ambitious business plan that in its final incarnation incorporated two planes carrying out eight daily flights, but without the necessary financial back-up to support it.
It is understood Fly Gibraltar have also returned the name ‘Gibraltar’ in their commercial name to the local Government.
LE
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LXGB all down to gb airways loosing a load sheet at lemd! blands tried the usual trick of insisting the aircraft was on its way whilst gb ops at gatwick confirmed that if this was the case it was bringing the terminal, to which it was still attatched, with it!
gb ops put a delay in of 2055, which put its eta well past our last orders time of 2100 so we closed. next day good old blands denied the delay message was put in, only to have to retract this when given a copy! DOH!!!
gb ops put a delay in of 2055, which put its eta well past our last orders time of 2100 so we closed. next day good old blands denied the delay message was put in, only to have to retract this when given a copy! DOH!!!
Thread Starter
Interesting deal! do the Government of Gibraltar know how much it costs to run the airfield? 
Panorama: NEW AIRPORT ARRANGEMENT
Panorama: NEW AIRPORT ARRANGEMENT
The government and the MOD have agreed the terms of an agreement whereby the Gibraltar government will assume responsibility for commercial relations with civil users of the airport, and for the economic aspects of civilian use.
Accordingly, the government will assume the conduct of all commercial interface with airlines and other civilian users.
In return for control over the commercial aspects of ciilian use of the airfied, and the government retaining landing and parking fees (which previously have been paid to MOD), the government and MOD will share on a 50/50 basis the cost to the MOD of providing airfield services used by both civilian and military aircraft.
The government will pay the whole of any other costs caused exclusively by civilian aircraft useage, for example, extension of airfield opening hours.
The MOD retains ownership of and operational responsibility for the civilian aspects of the airfield and will continue to provide all the aerodome and air traffic control services that it now provides to commercial and other civilian aircraft.
Accordingly, the government will assume the conduct of all commercial interface with airlines and other civilian users.
In return for control over the commercial aspects of ciilian use of the airfied, and the government retaining landing and parking fees (which previously have been paid to MOD), the government and MOD will share on a 50/50 basis the cost to the MOD of providing airfield services used by both civilian and military aircraft.
The government will pay the whole of any other costs caused exclusively by civilian aircraft useage, for example, extension of airfield opening hours.
The MOD retains ownership of and operational responsibility for the civilian aspects of the airfield and will continue to provide all the aerodome and air traffic control services that it now provides to commercial and other civilian aircraft.
Thread Starter
if the G.O.G are taking over the running of the airfield does that mean we're all going on to summer hours like the rest of the government workers
Thread Starter
Panorama:18-07-07
----------------------------
Have we been taken for a ride?
by JOE GARCIA
The FlyGibraltar website has disappeared from the face of the internet. The company they had planned to charter aircraft from say they know nothing about flying to Gibraltar.
It is not so much a postponement, but more a terminal ending. It is the sad story of an airline enthusing everyone that they would be flying to a myriad destinations, and then never took off.
The final nail is now on the coffin. And the question is being asked: Have we all been taken for a ride?
A year ago Irish millionaire Robert Noonan and his fly-away team sat behind a desk at the Department of Trade and Industry. I was one of those who sat on the other side of the desk to hear about a multi-million plan to put Gibraltar on the airline map.
The news relayed was as exciting as it seemed unbelievable: A new Gibraltar-based airline was to offer 28 scheduled flights weekly to six destinations in the UK and Eire.
Mr Noonan, the chairman of FlyGibraltar, extolled that the project had materialised "and we will provide passengers with reliable low cost travel with the highest standards of customer service."
The Irishman had amassed a fortune to start an airline operation in the Jimena area in the Spanish neighbourhood where he lives, and when this failed ostensibly on environmental grounds, he crossed the frontier into Gibraltar and hailed a taxi. He told the taximan that he was looking for someone who could get involved in his investment plans for Gibraltar. He was put in touch with Darren McComb who until recently had been in the Royal Gibraltar Regiment. It was the start of the OEM empire in Gibraltar.
At the time of the FlyGibraltar inauguration, the Gibraltar government rightly gave the new airline red carpet treatment. It had long been Government policy to have air services to regional airports in the British isles. Minister Joe Holliday had a warm welcome for FlyGibraltar which, he said, had an "ambitious schedule."
Too ambitious, perhaps?
Within weeks of the high profile presentation in the heights of Europort, airline industry sources in Britain were saying it was pie in the sky.
But given the enthusiasm engulfing the project, anyone in Gibraltar who would have dared to adopt a sceptic stance would have been, at best, labelled a spoil sport.
Talk about the plan continued in the middle of the long hot summer of 2006. The airline would have two Boeing 737-200 aircraft based at Gibraltar. Each morning they would fly out to different destinations - 11 flights weekly to London Stansted, five to Manchester, four to Bristol, another four to Birmingham, three to Dublin and one to Cork.
That was the plan that had been cooked, using leased aircraft from a company called Astraeus Airlines. They would be supplying the crews and maintenance. There would be 20 pilots and 30 cabin crew. Cashflow for the first year was put at £47 million, said a condidential business plan firmly clutched by Mr Holliday.
Astraeus would be providing the operating licence for the first year of operations. The pertinent licence applications were already, a year ago, "in the process of being filed wih the Civil Aviation Authority."
But that was to become an early obstacle in getting the airline to fly.
But such was the excitement that a year ago today, on 18 July, FlyGibraltar was saying it would be landing at the World TravelMarket a few months later to promote their plans.
The airline's Mark Carreras said that fares would be as low as from £29.99 one way.
"The initiative is typical of the investor confidence that exists in Gibraltar's current economic climate," the Gibraltar Government had said in a statement.
But the Government got a major shock several months ago when they were told that the multi-millions required to get things moving would not be forthcoming.
The money flow had suddenly dried up. Meanwhile, OEM has continued with its construction projects, but long delays have set in at Cumberland Terraces and Nelson's View.
Following the great interest and demand generated by FlyGibraltar, there are many who feel let down by the uncertainty that now engulfs the project and the lack of an official statement explaining what exactly is happening.
Yesterday we tried to contact Mr Noonan but were told that he is currenly travelling abroad an will not be available until next week.
A recent letter written by Mark Carreras said: "Although it is true to say that Mr Noonan is chairman and a director of FlyGibraltar, he has not been involved in the day to day running of the project, therefore making him unaware of various issues or details which were discussed with various other individuals and companies. It is I and Mike Lee (CEO for FlyGibraltar) who have been driving the project forward."
Certainly Gibraltar would welcome the airline taking of, but the general perception is that this is not the postponement of a project, but the demise of it.
A specialist aviation online site gives the status of FlyGibraltar as 'out of business.'
If you check the address in Casemates of OEM, it is 'Vault 13."
How unlucky can they get?
-------------------------
----------------------------
Have we been taken for a ride?
by JOE GARCIA
The FlyGibraltar website has disappeared from the face of the internet. The company they had planned to charter aircraft from say they know nothing about flying to Gibraltar.
It is not so much a postponement, but more a terminal ending. It is the sad story of an airline enthusing everyone that they would be flying to a myriad destinations, and then never took off.
The final nail is now on the coffin. And the question is being asked: Have we all been taken for a ride?
A year ago Irish millionaire Robert Noonan and his fly-away team sat behind a desk at the Department of Trade and Industry. I was one of those who sat on the other side of the desk to hear about a multi-million plan to put Gibraltar on the airline map.
The news relayed was as exciting as it seemed unbelievable: A new Gibraltar-based airline was to offer 28 scheduled flights weekly to six destinations in the UK and Eire.
Mr Noonan, the chairman of FlyGibraltar, extolled that the project had materialised "and we will provide passengers with reliable low cost travel with the highest standards of customer service."
The Irishman had amassed a fortune to start an airline operation in the Jimena area in the Spanish neighbourhood where he lives, and when this failed ostensibly on environmental grounds, he crossed the frontier into Gibraltar and hailed a taxi. He told the taximan that he was looking for someone who could get involved in his investment plans for Gibraltar. He was put in touch with Darren McComb who until recently had been in the Royal Gibraltar Regiment. It was the start of the OEM empire in Gibraltar.
At the time of the FlyGibraltar inauguration, the Gibraltar government rightly gave the new airline red carpet treatment. It had long been Government policy to have air services to regional airports in the British isles. Minister Joe Holliday had a warm welcome for FlyGibraltar which, he said, had an "ambitious schedule."
Too ambitious, perhaps?
Within weeks of the high profile presentation in the heights of Europort, airline industry sources in Britain were saying it was pie in the sky.
But given the enthusiasm engulfing the project, anyone in Gibraltar who would have dared to adopt a sceptic stance would have been, at best, labelled a spoil sport.
Talk about the plan continued in the middle of the long hot summer of 2006. The airline would have two Boeing 737-200 aircraft based at Gibraltar. Each morning they would fly out to different destinations - 11 flights weekly to London Stansted, five to Manchester, four to Bristol, another four to Birmingham, three to Dublin and one to Cork.
That was the plan that had been cooked, using leased aircraft from a company called Astraeus Airlines. They would be supplying the crews and maintenance. There would be 20 pilots and 30 cabin crew. Cashflow for the first year was put at £47 million, said a condidential business plan firmly clutched by Mr Holliday.
Astraeus would be providing the operating licence for the first year of operations. The pertinent licence applications were already, a year ago, "in the process of being filed wih the Civil Aviation Authority."
But that was to become an early obstacle in getting the airline to fly.
But such was the excitement that a year ago today, on 18 July, FlyGibraltar was saying it would be landing at the World TravelMarket a few months later to promote their plans.
The airline's Mark Carreras said that fares would be as low as from £29.99 one way.
"The initiative is typical of the investor confidence that exists in Gibraltar's current economic climate," the Gibraltar Government had said in a statement.
But the Government got a major shock several months ago when they were told that the multi-millions required to get things moving would not be forthcoming.
The money flow had suddenly dried up. Meanwhile, OEM has continued with its construction projects, but long delays have set in at Cumberland Terraces and Nelson's View.
Following the great interest and demand generated by FlyGibraltar, there are many who feel let down by the uncertainty that now engulfs the project and the lack of an official statement explaining what exactly is happening.
Yesterday we tried to contact Mr Noonan but were told that he is currenly travelling abroad an will not be available until next week.
A recent letter written by Mark Carreras said: "Although it is true to say that Mr Noonan is chairman and a director of FlyGibraltar, he has not been involved in the day to day running of the project, therefore making him unaware of various issues or details which were discussed with various other individuals and companies. It is I and Mike Lee (CEO for FlyGibraltar) who have been driving the project forward."
Certainly Gibraltar would welcome the airline taking of, but the general perception is that this is not the postponement of a project, but the demise of it.
A specialist aviation online site gives the status of FlyGibraltar as 'out of business.'
If you check the address in Casemates of OEM, it is 'Vault 13."
How unlucky can they get?
-------------------------
Thread Starter
It gets better!
Panorama: 20-07-07
---------------------------------------------
FlyGibraltar now deny their own statement!
After having said that the delays in getting off the ground have been due to 'detrimental effects' flowing from the airport agreement, FlyGibraltar have now denied what they themselves said. This raises the question if this set-up can be taken seriously.
Yesterday they issued the following: "After various articles which have come out in the local media in the last few weeks reference the delays in the launching of Fly Gibraltar, the Fly Gibraltar Management team would like to publicly stress that the delays encountered have nothing to do with the effects of the Cordoba Agreement or the Tripartite Talks which are currently being undertaken between Spain, Gibraltar and the United Kingdom.
"The delays encountered are totally operational and internal to the company and have no political connection whatsoever."
The question that arises is why didn't they say this in the first instance? Instead, they said the opposite!
What they initially said was in a written statement, so there could have been no question of a misprint or anything of the kind.
This is what FlyGibraltar said initially and in writing:
"The Fly Gibraltar Team, over the last few months has been trying to solve the many outstanding issues to keep its promise to provide Low Cost Flights between Gibraltar, the UK and Ireland.
"The signing of the accord between Spain, United Kingdom and Gibraltar on the joint use of Gibraltar Airport last September, the levels of financial investment required, plus the recent plans for the building of a new Air Terminal at Gibraltar Airport has bought up many questions and issues which Fly Gibraltar needs to investigate further before committing itself and its investors financial resources to this venture.
"It has become clear that these continuing issues have had a detrimental effect on our proposed start date of April 2007 and also to our revised start date of June 2007.
"For this reason Fly Gibraltar has decided to continue advancing with this project but delay the start of its operations. The interest and support that this project has generated gives us heart and comfort to carry on moving forward and achieving our aim of starting operations in the not too distant future."
Oh dear, what can the matter be?
----------------------------------------------
Sounds promising
Panorama: 20-07-07
---------------------------------------------
FlyGibraltar now deny their own statement!
After having said that the delays in getting off the ground have been due to 'detrimental effects' flowing from the airport agreement, FlyGibraltar have now denied what they themselves said. This raises the question if this set-up can be taken seriously.
Yesterday they issued the following: "After various articles which have come out in the local media in the last few weeks reference the delays in the launching of Fly Gibraltar, the Fly Gibraltar Management team would like to publicly stress that the delays encountered have nothing to do with the effects of the Cordoba Agreement or the Tripartite Talks which are currently being undertaken between Spain, Gibraltar and the United Kingdom.
"The delays encountered are totally operational and internal to the company and have no political connection whatsoever."
The question that arises is why didn't they say this in the first instance? Instead, they said the opposite!
What they initially said was in a written statement, so there could have been no question of a misprint or anything of the kind.
This is what FlyGibraltar said initially and in writing:
"The Fly Gibraltar Team, over the last few months has been trying to solve the many outstanding issues to keep its promise to provide Low Cost Flights between Gibraltar, the UK and Ireland.
"The signing of the accord between Spain, United Kingdom and Gibraltar on the joint use of Gibraltar Airport last September, the levels of financial investment required, plus the recent plans for the building of a new Air Terminal at Gibraltar Airport has bought up many questions and issues which Fly Gibraltar needs to investigate further before committing itself and its investors financial resources to this venture.
"It has become clear that these continuing issues have had a detrimental effect on our proposed start date of April 2007 and also to our revised start date of June 2007.
"For this reason Fly Gibraltar has decided to continue advancing with this project but delay the start of its operations. The interest and support that this project has generated gives us heart and comfort to carry on moving forward and achieving our aim of starting operations in the not too distant future."
Oh dear, what can the matter be?
----------------------------------------------
Sounds promising
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From todays Beano:
Flights to Madrid suspended due to "operating restrictions"
SURPRISE announcement by GB airways yesterday afternoon it was suspending its winter schedule to the spanish capital as from 1 OCT
presuming that this means the early flight to gatwick is going too, bet they're going to start work on that tunnel and new terminal real soon to deal with all those extra movements.....................
Flights to Madrid suspended due to "operating restrictions"
SURPRISE announcement by GB airways yesterday afternoon it was suspending its winter schedule to the spanish capital as from 1 OCT
presuming that this means the early flight to gatwick is going too, bet they're going to start work on that tunnel and new terminal real soon to deal with all those extra movements.....................
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That's the real of benefit that has been lost with this announcement, it's not the MAD flights but the early morning departure to LGW.
That 0830 flight got you to gatwick before 11am, giving you plenty of time and opportunity to complete your onward travel or valuable time on your day of arrival.
However there was a major flipside - the loss of the evening return to LGW (because the aircraft was overnighting in GIB after the MAD run) - was hitting many of the business day trippers (who lets rememebr are usually paying a decent ticket price).
Regarding the GIB-MAD-GIB service, its easy to see why it caused GT so many problems, unlike IB who are operating it as a short run from their hub this was a continuation leg.
Apparently the way GT are currently running it two crews overnight on the rock at a time? (The crew doing the GIB-MAD-GIB run would not fly it back to LGW in the morning, another crew would do that, they'd wait for 0730 LGW departure to arrive at 11+ and then fly that back?)
As such, due to their late night slots at MAD, when there was a delay or problem pushing them past Gib close time or a weather divert all crews were in the wrong place, not just the passengers.
So if you want to fly from GIB your earliest depature will be after 11 again....
----
There is also talk of IB involving their franchise partner Air Nostrum in their GIB services. Possibly to restore the twice a day service following GTs decision to suspend.
That 0830 flight got you to gatwick before 11am, giving you plenty of time and opportunity to complete your onward travel or valuable time on your day of arrival.
However there was a major flipside - the loss of the evening return to LGW (because the aircraft was overnighting in GIB after the MAD run) - was hitting many of the business day trippers (who lets rememebr are usually paying a decent ticket price).
Regarding the GIB-MAD-GIB service, its easy to see why it caused GT so many problems, unlike IB who are operating it as a short run from their hub this was a continuation leg.
Apparently the way GT are currently running it two crews overnight on the rock at a time? (The crew doing the GIB-MAD-GIB run would not fly it back to LGW in the morning, another crew would do that, they'd wait for 0730 LGW departure to arrive at 11+ and then fly that back?)
As such, due to their late night slots at MAD, when there was a delay or problem pushing them past Gib close time or a weather divert all crews were in the wrong place, not just the passengers.
So if you want to fly from GIB your earliest depature will be after 11 again....
----
There is also talk of IB involving their franchise partner Air Nostrum in their GIB services. Possibly to restore the twice a day service following GTs decision to suspend.
Iberia and Gibraltar
Iberia have announced that they will be reducing the daily sector between MAD and GIB down to only a weekend service. Announcement follows GB Airways expected reduction on the route as well. That was short lived! Landing fees (always an issue with Gibraltar) have been citied as the reason although it is known that pax figures have been fairly low on the Airbus service with IB. Pity though, it did offer fairly reasonable onward connections.
Nivsy
Nivsy
Thread Starter
Red times? From Blands? Over the telephone? No thankyou.
I always used to request a departure message from the ADEP, much more reliable!
Joking aside, it is reassuring to hear that things are still running as smoothly as when I left 8 years ago. Dirty washing in public eh?
TTFN
I always used to request a departure message from the ADEP, much more reliable!
Joking aside, it is reassuring to hear that things are still running as smoothly as when I left 8 years ago. Dirty washing in public eh?
TTFN
It appears that the contract between MoD and NATS for ATC cover was not very good in the first place regarding late opening etc etc. Although up to 50 flights a year after "normal" closure is written in there! Therefore one way or the other, NATS are supposed to find that cover as applicable within the terms and conditions of contract.
Nivsy
Nivsy
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult
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Gib ATCO's, just interested, landed on the BA6902 today (early) & noticed shortly after the road barriers were closed twice. Traffic in the town very heavy - do you close them to prevent queues across the runway, just in case?
Its standard practice that the road section that the runway crosses (between both sets of barriers) are kept clear during the periods of heavy traffic.....in other words it is a daily occurrence. The barriers are not always closed..police control. However should the MT section or others be crossing the runway with a vehicle...then the barriers are sometimes put down to allow for the easy crossing.
Nivsy
Nivsy