Gatwick Passengers Held On Planes and 23 Flights Delayed Last Night After New Access Door System Failed: ITN

[ITN] Flights into Gatwick Airport were delayed overnight, after software problems were experienced on a new access control system operating and controlling gate room doors.

Staff had to open doors inside the airport manually.  Photo Wikipedia

Staff had to open doors inside the airport manually after the software connected to a new swipe card access system failed. Passengers had to wait on board planes until the doors were released.

23 flights were affected at the airport which is owned by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).

A spokesperson for the airport said the problem was fixed by 6am Sunday morning.

GIP recently won the race to buy Edinburgh Airport from BAA for a cash consideration of GBP807.2 million, with the sale approved by the UK Competition Commission.

Read the original ITN story here……

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LONDON NEWS IN BRIEF
MON 7 MAY 2012

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Edinburgh Airport sale set to land city more international flights: Scotsman.com

[Scotsman.com] DIRECT flights to long-haul destinations such as the Middle East may be on the cards for passengers using Edinburgh Airport under its new owners.

Flights to long-haul destinations such as the Middle East may be on the cards: Picture Ian Georgeson

The city airport is to be bought by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), an independent infrastructure fund manager which runs Gatwick and London City airports.

GIP will pay £807.2 million to take over Edinburgh from current operator BAA, which was forced to sell off the airport by the Competition Commission. GIP said it hoped to complete the deal by the end of May.

It is understood that GIP will aim to offer a greater range of international flights from and to Edinburgh in the long term.

Among the improvements made at Gatwick Airport since GIP took it took over in 2009 is an average security queue waiting time of less than two minutes and a reduction in complaints by 15 per cent.

Laurie Price, director of aviation strategy at consultancy Mott MacDonald, said: “In the longer term, if you look at what has happened where GIP have taken over two other airports in the UK there has been quite a change and a significant level of investment and some significant improvement in the facilities offered. From that point of view, then people might notice some changes.”….

Read the full story at The Scotsman….

 

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Published on Tuesday 24 April 2012
The Scotsman

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Edinburgh Airport sold to Global Infrastructure Partnership for £807m: BBC

[BBC News] A deal has been struck to sell Edinburgh Airport to the owner of Gatwick and London City airports for £807m.

BAA was ordered to sell either Glasgow or Edinburgh by on competition grounds

Global Infrastructure Partnership (GIP) has beaten off competition from a consortium led by another infrastructure investor, JP Morgan Asset Management.

The operator BAA was ordered to sell either Edinburgh or Glasgow airports.

The sale price is payable in full at closing of the deal, expected in May.

Edinburgh Airport was put on the market by its owner BAA last October, after the Competition Commission ruled that it had to sell either Edinburgh or Glasgow.

The winning price, expected to be paid at the end of May, is considerably more than had been expected.

It is thought that GIP intends to improve the speed at which passengers move through the airport at check-in, security and baggage handling, and to link the Scottish capital with new routes.

Its investment pattern is to sell the asset on after about seven years…..

Read the full story at BBC News….

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23 April 2012
BBC News

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Gatwick sets sights on fresh markets

Gatwick is seeking to become the UK’s main gateway to emerging markets, and is well placed to do so because it does not suffer from the same capacity crunch as Heathrow, according to the airport’s chief executive.

Stewart Wingate, CEO Gatwick Airport

But Stewart Wingate acknowledged in a Financial Times interview that the airport’s business model could impose limitations on the number of connections it could support to long-haul destinations.

These might be overcome if Gatwick, the UK’s second largest airport, aped Heathrow and transformed itself into a hub, and Mr Wingate expects to consider the case for such a move if his airport seeks to build a second runway.

“We do want to be the main gateway to the emerging markets, and with us having the [capacity] headroom, then we think we’re in a good position,” said Mr Wingate.

Gatwick is a so-called point to point airport, mainly focused on the holiday market and where the largest airline is EasyJet, the low-cost carrier that flies to short-haul destinations….

Read this full story at The FT.com

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By Andrew Parker
April 18, 2012

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Telegraph: Stray hot air balloon in fog causes flight delays at Gatwick

Flights were temporarily disrupted this morning after a hot air balloon flew over Gatwick Airport in fog.

Flights were temporarily disrupted after a hot air balloon flew over Gatwick Airport Photo: PA/Reuters

A spokesman for Gatwick Airport in West Sussex said all departures were temporarily suspended just after 9am for safety reasons when the hot air balloon was spotted, although she did not know where it had been located.

Only five departing flights were disrupted for ten minutes during the delay while the air balloon moved away, the spokeswoman added.

She said the planes were lining up on the runway and waiting to take off by 9.20am.

“The airport is not closed and arrival flights are still landing, but departing flights were suspended for safety reasons.”

Officers at Sussex Police are trying to spot the balloon in the sky but have been unable to locate it in fog. The force helicopter at Shoreham Airport has been grounded by the weather.

“We are aware and are trying to assist in locating the balloon,” a force spokesman said. “We’ve not been able to do anything about it because it’s really foggy. We’ve had officers looking into the sky and they can’t see anything.”

Read the full story at the Daily Telegraph here….

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By Matthew Holehouse
13th April 2012

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Reuters: GIP-JP Morgan ready final Edinburgh Airport bids – ‘sources’

(Reuters) – Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), the owner of London’s Gatwick and City airports, and a JP Morgan-led consortium are to fight each other for control of Edinburgh Airport and are set to submit final bids next week, sources close to the process said.

GIP & JP Morgan prepare for final Edninburgh bid round

GIP is an investment fund founded by Credit Suisse and General Electric. JP Morgan recently added the Korean airport authority Incheon International Airport Corp and U.S. teachers pension fund TIAA-Cref to its consortium.

Consortia led by Carlyle Group and 3i were knocked out of the bidding last month, the sources said.

“GIP, with its experience running UK airports, maybe has the edge … JP Morgan has also seemingly added Incheon to its bid recently and TIAA-Cref not that long ago, so GIP looks a lot more settled in terms of what it wants to do,” one source close to the sale process told Reuters.

“GIP is seen as steady, maybe because it is bidding alone, and as a safe pair of hands.”

Full artile for Reuters here…

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By Rhys Jones and Sophie Sassard
LONDON, April 2 | Mon Apr 2, 2012

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Stewart Wingate, Gatwick CEO: Gatwick would rival Heathrow with second runway

Is the second Gatwick runway now in planning ! Photo: PA

A second runway at Gatwick would hit fewer people than expanding Heathrow, the Sussex airport’s boss has said.

Stewart Wingate, chief executive of Gatwick, also dismissed the prospect of a third runway at Heathrow as “unlikely” as he vowed to march onto the west London airport’s “turf” by opening up new routes to the Far East and other emerging economies.

Under an agreement with the local community, a second runway could not be built before 2019.

In an interview with The Standard, he was very sceptical about the idea of a Heath-Wick “virtual hub” airport, by joining up Gatwick and Heathrow with a fast rail link, stressing that it would be expected to cost billions.

The proposals for a “Boris island” airport in the Thames Estuary faced economic, safety and access challenges, he added.

Mr Wingate, a former managing director at Stansted, emphasised that Gatwick could expand until the mid-2020s with the use of the existing runway and currently has plans for 45 million passengers a year.

Under an agreement with the local community, a second runway could not be built before 2019……

Full article at The Evening Standard here……

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Nicholas Cecil
Evening Standard
28 March 2012

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Carlyle Group & 3i drop out of Edinburgh Airport contest

[Financial Times] The ranks of bidders for Edinburgh Airport have halved this week, with two groups of investors dropping out of the contest for an asset expected to raise £400m-£600m for its owner, BAA.

The sale of Scotland’s biggest airport attracted four indicative offers last month. But a consortium led by UK-listed 3i has withdrawn from the process, following close behind a group led by Carlyle, the US group …..

More on this story at the FT…..

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Financial Times
24th March, 2012

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Related articles

• GIP to buy Edinburgh airport (independent.co.uk)
• Edinburgh airport to be sold (itv.com)
• Edinburgh airport bids deadline tomorrow (independent.co.uk)
• Gatwick owner launches bid for Edinburgh airport (guardian.co.uk)
• Edinburgh Airport sold to Global Infrastructure Partnership for £807m: BBC (airportinformer.wordpress.com)