Airport fights to restore London and US routes

Jul 4 2007 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL John Lennon Airport has vowed to restore its flights to New York and London.

The US link, which is expected to re-start today after one plane spent nearly a week grounded in America due to a technical fault, will be scrapped in October, said operator Flyglobespan.

Sources at JLA said they had known for a week the link was likely to be suspended before receiving final confirmation yesterday.

The last flight will be on October 31. Passengers booked for journeys after that date have been notified.

The link, which has been in action for just six weeks, has been dogged with technical problems and long delays.

The Boeing aircraft used for the route has been grounded in JFK airport since it was struck by lightning last Thursday, leaving passengers stranded.

Despite the setback, last night both the airport and airline expressed their confidence that the link would re-start in 2008.

Flyglobespan spokesman, Crawford Brankin, said: “The company does believe the route is worth sustaining and plan to reintroduce it next summer.

“Our feeling is once it gets up and running and people get to know it, that helps the business.”

JLA spokesman Robin Tudor said: “We are confident that we are going to see the link restored.

“Obviously, we are disappointed, but clearly Flyglobespan have had some very unfortunate teething problems that occurred at exactly the wrong time.

“They are a good, reliable airline and these are just unfortunate circumstances.

“We are still committed to trying to run this service, as are Flyglobespan, who are determined for it to be re-established.”

A spokesman for the region’s tourism and investment body, The Mersey Partnership, said the suspension was “an enormous disappointment”.

Mark Bassnett, director of operations, said: “TMP and JLA carried out a great deal of research into the viability of this route before Flyglobespan introduced their service.

“The results were positive, and we know there is a demand between these two great cities.

“More than 50,000 US visitors a year already come to Liverpool City Region, so we know there is a valuable market.

“We are sure that if this route it re-introduced from next summer, and is operated reliably and competitively, it will become another success for them and JLA.”

The loss of the New York flight came just days after Belgian airline VLM’s Liverpool to London link was terminated.

But last night JLA said it hoped to reinstate a route to the capital after the service ended on Sunday.

Mr Tudor said: “We still believe there is a distinct market for London and we will continue to push for a London service.

“Feedback has shown it is something the business community wants.

“The key is which London airport and which airline we use. We are not giving up, that’s for sure.”

vickyanderson

Airline just washed its hands of us, say stranded travellers

A WOMAN from Merseyside was left stranded in New York for more than 50 hours after her FlyGlobespan flight was cancelled.

Pat Murphy, who lives in Crosby, had to pay £500 to fly back to Manchester with British Airways.

She said: “The company washed its hands of people over there. I was stranded for over 50 hours. I ended up paying £500 to get back on a BA flight that landed at Manchester on Monday.”

Ms Murphy, a fundraising director for charity Jospice, added: “I would advise people not to use FlyGlobespan – it’s a total shambles.”

David England, from Formby, said his flight on June 2 was delayed for eight hours.

He said: “Let’s be clear – num- bers fell on this service because word of mouth has got round and passengers have condemned it. A reliable service would have gained loyal passengers.”

Chris Cummings said after days of trying to contact Flyglobespan to change his flight he gave up and booked with another airline. “I felt such relief that I would be with an airline where you could actual-ly talk to a human being.”

Neil Mitchell is pursuing a refund after a flight was repeat-edly cancelled. He and his wife returned home via another carrier. He said: “If they are serious about their reputation as an “award winning airline” they need to start demonstra-ting customer care.”