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Aviation
More UK air services being targeted – but Europe remains elusive
Two new air services to Gibraltar since spring promise to boost passenger arrivals, but hopes of establishing a direct connection with a European financial hub airport remain a distant prospect - and EU plans may bring fresh headaches
Yet still more flights are being sought to help boost visitor numbers – and raise income to offset terminal running costs. Three years in planning, the terminal was to provide direct access and joint use by Spain, but by the time it opened in 2012 political relationships had deteriorated under a changed right-wing Spanish government.
In the same period, construction costs jumped from an originally estimated £24m to reach £84m, funded by Gibraltar government as a capital project!
The near-20,000m2 terminal is over five times larger than the twice-extended 56 year old one it replaced – and operates significantly below its 1m passenger capacity, it being able to handle six flight movements an hour!
This summer there are 37 weekly departures to 7 destina- tions – all but one in the UK - but in 2012, there were 36 weekly flights. Since 2008 there has been a succession of new service introduc- tions and withdrawals through lack of demand, including Iberia to Madrid, Andalus Lineas Aereas to Madrid and Barcelona and BMI
baby to East Midlands. The Chamber of Commerce 2014 report notes: “The Marrakech flight [in summer] clearly did not have the right credentials, be it pricing or tim- ing and ability for the operator to sustain a period long enough to develop its franchise. We hope the [new] Tangier route has more
success.”
More regional connections
easyJet anticipated adding 39,000 seats in the first year from southwest England - its third Rock route. GTB said: “In terms of scope for growth out of the UK, potential exists for additional regional connections, such as to Scotland.”
Yet Peter Montegriffo, a partner at the law firm, Hassans, observed: “There is no doubt that the new terminal is a far cry from the old one, but I constantly hear repeated the
problem of being virtually unable to do busi- ness here in a single day trip. Extending the timings of flights, rather than necessarily expanding the number of routes, is more important for many UK business people.”
BA with its London Heathrow service is the lone UK airline offering business class seats: at one time it flew morning and evening; now twice daily services are only at weekends - both in the afternoon. Efforts to encourage BA to extend its Gibraltar service are hampered by “slot constraints that exist at [Heathrow] airport”, GTB said.
Some 23% of people fly to Gibraltar on business, the others for leisure (35%) and visiting friends and relatives (42%). However, around 60% are ‘in transit’ to Spain.
Passenger tax to rise
Total aviation income for the government was £3.4m. Airport passenger departure tax in 2014/15 produced £1.35m, compared with £1.5m a year earlier, but it is expected to rise to £1.7m in 2015/16. Landing charges pro- duced £450,000 in the last financial year, 7% down on 2013/14, but for the current year, the government has budgeted £475,000m reflect- ing the impact of new airline services.
The income figure is boosted also by fees and rental of 13 retail outlets at the airport – three others currently are unoccupied – and which last year added a rather disappointing £1.6m, including 5% commission received on sales, compared with close on £2m in 2013/14; the forecast £2.1m for this year makes up ground.
Overall costs of running the terminal were £3.2m, including £2.8m payment to the British Ministry of Defence (MoD), which is responsible for everything other than the terminal, including air traffic control, the Defence Fire Service and repairs and maintenance of ‘RAF Gibraltar’ as the airport is officially known.
On the surface therefore, the govern- ment made an operating profit of around £200,000 in 2014/15, but for the coming year, it is expected to improve significantly to £880,000, around 7% more.
But this result excludes the cost of servicing capital for the £84m construction, a figure the government has not disclosed, (despite numerous requests over months from
Gibraltar International Airport is actually RAF Gibraltar
When easyJet launched in Spring three times a week services from Bristol to The Rock it opened up potential for tourist and business visitors who previously had to trek to any of three London airports, “or perhaps they never considered Gibraltar as a convenient destination”, Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce noted.
Royal Air Maroc at Easter launched its twice-weekly flights from The Rock to
Tangier - one of the shortest intercontinental flights in the world - and onwards to Casablanca, re-establishing a link from more than a decade ago and creating business potential at both ends.
The new year-round routes are in addition to those already operated to the UK from Gibraltar by British Airways, Heathrow, easyJet, Gatwick and Birmingham, and Monarch, Manchester and Luton; in total there are 37 weekly departures to seven desti- nations, with Sunday the busiest day having nine departures.
Together, the new routes are expected to help boost passenger numbers using the airport terminal, that tightly abuts the Spanish border, to reach 445,000 this year, some 7.5% more than in 2014, according to Gibraltar Tourist Board (GTB).
22 Gibraltar International
www.gibraltarinternational.com
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