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Time changes! Especially Royal Jordanian  

Royal Jordanian has called on its passengers who hold the airline’s tickets for travel between 26 October 2012 and 30 March 2013 to add one hour to the departure time mentioned on their tickets for travel from the Jordanian airports or the arrival time to the Jordanian airports, according to Jordan local time. UK time changes too Saturday night.

The company’s call came after the countries Cabinet decided to revoke switching to wintertime, which was scheduled to take effect on Friday October 26, 2012, whereby clocks were supposed to be set back by 60 minutes at 1 o’clock after Thursday midnight.
 
Readers should note that the clocks in Europe (and in many other countries) go back overnight on Saturday and that airline timetables on some routes are adjusted.

The airline said that there will be no change in arrival times to the final destinations or to the departure time from the destinations outside of Jordan on any of the Royal Jordanian routes.
 
The company also pointed out that the tickets issued after 5 pm on Thursday Oct. 25, 2012 (3 pm Greenwich Mean time) will not be affected, whereby passengers must adhere to the flight timing mentioned on their tickets. www.rj.com

 

easyJet wins Moscow
Another boost for Gatwick

Yesterday evening Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that easyJet had won the hotly contested competition to replace bmi on the London – Moscow air route.  British Airways, who for many years has served the Russian capital, was confirmed as the other UK operator.  Virgin Atlantic loses out.  Aeroflot and Transaero supply bilateral services, as with BA, operating out of Heathrow.  This is another boost for Gatwick and also frees up slots at Heathrow.#####

Iain Osborne, CAA Director of Regulatory Policy, and Chair of the scarce capacity decision panel, said: “On balance, allocating scarce capacity to BA and easyJet is likely to deliver the greatest benefit to consumers.  easyJet’s proposal will introduce an innovative product into the market and has the potential to deliver the greatest dynamic fare benefits for consumers”.

“We concluded that easyJet’s proposal would introduce a distinctly different product into the market and would stimulate innovation on the route as a whole, as well as satisfying and stimulating consumer demand that is currently underserved, in particular: people who prefer or are content to use Gatwick”.

With a flight time of just over four hours it will not be easyJet’s longest route.  That honour belongs to Tel Aviv and Amman. http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/213/20121024MoscowFinal1.pdf

London City – New York changes

BA has been forced to revise its LCY-JFK service due to the US Customs and Border Protection agency restricting its Shannon operation.  The flight is operated by a specially modified Airbus A318 which cannot take off from the dockland airport with enough fuel to reach America.  The twice daily service has to stop en-route at Shannon the US authorities providing immigration and security facilities at the Irish airport.  Passengers deplane, with their hand baggage, identify their luggage, and return to their original seats.#####

Effective from Monday (29 October) BA have discontinued the 13:00 departure, which now leaves at 09:50.  Passengers will be allowed to stay in their seats at Shannon whilst fuel is added saving about 30 minutes.  The flight deck crew change but not the cabin staff.  Total travel time is about 9½ hours, 90 minutes more than LHR – JFK.

The popular 16:00 departure remains arriving 20:30. 

There are slight timetable variations with the eastbound flights during the winter with the early service leaving around 19:00 (arrive 07:15) and the later flight 22:00 (arrive 10:00).  Scheduled time is 7hrs 30mins, about the same as the Heathrow service .  One advantage for London City Airport is that the aircraft are not on the ground so long freeing up critical apron space. www.ba.com

Aviation Minister astonishes conference

The surprise keynote speaker at the Airport Operators Association (AOA) annual conference in London yesterday, came up with a surprise himself.  Most participants expected Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin, for what would have been his first airline industry appearance since his appointment.  What they got was his deputy Simon Burns, responsible for aviation and a surprise statement. #####

Mr Burns said they were an experienced team.  “Together we have clocked up more than 25 years of service as MPs, Ministers, and Whips in Government and Opposition – including for Patrick a three-year stint as Minister for Aviation in Margaret Thatcher’s last Government”.  He gave the usual platitudes about the Government’s commitment to the industry and highlighted Heathrow’s unique position.  “London has more flights to more destinations than any other city in Europe”.

When pressed by BBC journalist Andrew Neil as to whether the Government would accept the Davies Commission’s report on airport expansion Burns surprised everyone by saying “yes”, adding that he hoped all parties would support the enquiry's findings.  By delaying its  publication until after the election the idea is that it will not become a political football. 

The Government later appeared to row back from Burns' comments, with sources saying it was "committed to the process" and hoped the commission would provide solutions. www.aoa.org.uk

 

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