Regional Gateway’s Kimberley Young summarises the latest happenings across airports serving business, regional and low-fare routes.
Airports in the UK are gearing up for the busy bank holiday weekend, expected to be the busiest weekend of the year for many airports, as Brits make the most of a last long weekend before the end of the summer and the return of school in September.
Liverpool John Lennon Airport expects to see almost 70,000 passengers pass through its halls between Friday and Monday. It anticipates it will likely be one of the busiest August bank holidays in recent years, with the airport’s head of PR, Robin Tudor, suggesting “poor UK summer weather” this year may lead many of the region’s passengers to consider a summer escape, “making the August Bank Holiday a very busy period for the airport once again.”
Manchester Airport too is gearing up for the weekend, as it expects Friday 23 August to be the busiest day in its 81-year history with more than 115,000 passengers expected to arrive and depart. In total, around 430,000 passengers are expected to travel during the bank holiday weekend at the airport.
Also anticipating a record year, Bristol Airport is expecting to see more than 125,000 passengers use the airport between the Friday and Monday, an increase of 4% in passenger growth compared to the same period last year.
Outside of the bank holiday buzz, low-cost airline FlyArystan has revealed its plans to open a base in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, while both Guernsey Airport in the Channel Islands, and Dunedin Airport in New Zealand are introducing new security screening equipment – with the former planning to invest more than £1.5 million in the technology to resolve delays in security.
Meanwhile, plans have been submitted to develop a sustainable fuels plant in the UK, turning household and commercial solid waste into sustainable jet fuels.
Altalto Immingham, a subsidiary of Velocys and a collaboration with British Airways and Shell, has submitted a planning application for the plant which would take over half a million tonnes each year of non-recyclable everyday waste and convert it to sustainable fuels.
Improving access to sustainable aviation fuels is crucial to counteracting the impact of aviation on the environment, meeting our carbon neutral goals and ensuring the sustainable growth of the industry.
Currently, the costs and availability of sustainable jet fuels can present a barrier to its uptake, but as more stakeholders invest in the process, we could see those barriers lower.
So, as airports in the UK prepare for the busy weekend ahead, it’s encouraging to think that we could be seeing greener flights in our blue skies in the future.
Image: Manchester Airport
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