Air India to Launch UK’s Only Direct Amritsar Service
Air India is introducing a twice weekly non-stop service to Amritsar from Birmingham Airport with the inaugural flight launching on 20th February 2018. This will be the UK’s only direct service to Amritsar.
This new route complements the airline’s popular Delhi service which started in August 2013. The service has carried more than 600,000 passengers in the four years it has operated.
Amritsar will be a popular route allowing direct access to the major commercial and cultural centre in the heart of the Punjab and the home of the Golden Temple.
William Pearson, Aviation Director, Birmingham Airport, commented: “It is great news that we will have direct non-stop connections to two Indian cities from Birmingham Airport with Air India. With over 200,000 British-Indian people who travel to India each year to visit friends and relatives, and for tourism and business interests, this additional destination shows the large demand within the region for direct Amritsar services from the Midlands. Air India has been a successful partner for over four years and offers great connections to India with services operated by the new Boeing 787-8 ‘Dreamliner’ aircraft.”
This flight will operate on Tuesdays and Thursdays, departing Birmingham at 1845 hours, reaching Amritsar early the next morning at 0745 hours. From Amritsar the flight will depart at 1355 hours arriving into Birmingham at 1715 hours the same day.
The flight will be operated with a state of the art Boeing 787-8 series aircraft with 256 seats in a split cabin, comprising 18 lie flat business class seats and 238 economy seats.
To book your seat on board please visit www.airindia.com
Birmingham Airport Invests in Passenger Experience
Birmingham Airport has started a multi-million-pound programme of development works to improve the passenger journey through the airport terminal.
The works include redeveloping the security processing area to provide more boarding card gates, a dedicated security preparation area and a refreshed waiting area with new flooring and lighting.
Commenting on the investment, David Winstanley, COO for Birmingham Airport, said: “This investment follows record passenger growth and to ensure that we’re prepared for the coming summer period, when the airport will welcome new long-haul services to New York and Toronto, as well as many new popular short-haul destinations.
“The service we give our customers is an absolute priority for us so we’re investing a great deal to improve the airport journey.”
The Airport is also developing its retail and catering offer, with the recent opening of The Factory restaurant and the arrival of Kurt Geiger to its airside shopping experience.
Later this spring, a new Bottega prosecco bar will open as well as wrapchic – an Indian inspired burrito and sandwich outlet.
A covered walkway to the terminal is also under construction for those who choose to walk to the terminal from the free drop off car park, and a new 178-guestroom Hilton Garden Inn hotel will open in the summer.
New digital wayfinding and signage will be introduced before the summer season.
Additional staff are being recruited in key customer facing areas, including terminal operations, customer relations and security officers.
Additional flights to Hurghada for Midlands holidaymakers
TUI (formerly Thomson) the UK’s largest holiday brand, has announced it has added an additional weekly flight to the popular Egyptian destination of Hurghada for summer 2018 operating out of Birmingham Airport.
Holidaymakers from the Midlands will now have even more choice when it comes to booking a holiday to Hurghada with TUI adding a Friday flight to the summer flying programme. Flights start in May 2018 and will now operate twice a week on a Monday and Friday.
The decision to add more flights is part of the holiday company’s plans to offer as much choice as possible, ensuring customers across the UK can fly from their local airport and stay at the best hotels such as the 5T TUI Magic Life Kalawy.
As well as additional flights to Hurghada residents from in and around the Midlands now have a wide choice of destinations to choose from when booking their holidays this summer with the new route to Podgorica in Montenegro already on sale.
VLM Airlines will operate flights between Birmingham and Antwerp
VLM Airlines commenced flights between Birmingham and Antwerp from February operating a daily service with a Fokker 50 on weekdays.
Karl Rickard, CEO of VLM Airlines stated: “VLM Airlines is very happy to connect Antwerp with Birmingham again. Antwerp is one of the largest seaports in Europe, the diamond capital of the world, the second largest petrochemical centre in the world. This thriving city is also known for its bold and diverse arts, fashion and culinary scene. A short ride takes you to other popular Belgian cities including Bruges, Ghent and Brussels as well as to Dutch cities such as Rotterdam and Eindhoven.”
Seats can be booked via the online booking facility on www.flyvlm.com or with a travel agency with one-way fares starting from EUR 59 (all taxes included).
Birmingham Airport Celebrates Its Busiest Year in History
Birmingham Airport has recorded its busiest year in its 78-year history seeing almost 13 million passengers pass through its terminal in 2017.
In total, 12,983,436 passengers travelled through the airport over the course of the calendar year, over 1.3 million more people than in 2016 giving a healthy increase of 11.5% year on year.
The busiest month fell in August when almost 1.5 million passengers were recorded in a single month, giving a significant 16.2% increase when compared to the same month the year before.
Over the course of the year, there were seven months in which over a million passengers were recorded and over thirty months of consecutive record breaking growth.
Birmingham Airport to Trial RoomMate
Birmingham Airport has become the first airport on the UK mainland to fit the revolutionary RoomMate, an audio description unit for the visually impaired, in one of their disabled access toilets.
The RoomMate provides an audio description of the facility for blind and visually impaired users and gives them much greater independence and dignity when going to the toilet.
The RoomMate is the first of a series of devices that help visually impaired users interact with more confidence in unfamiliar environments specifically, disabled access toilets. Each RoomMate is programmed for its own room and needs nothing other than ‘a wave’ from the user to begin.
For more information about ADi Access and the RoomMate visit www.adiaccess.co.uk
