Airlines accused over JLA bus links

Oct 15 2007 by David Higgerson, Liverpool Daily Post

Airlines accused over JLA bus links

AIRLINES flying into Liverpool John Lennon Airport are making people think the airport does not have good public transport links, a watchdog warned last night.

Travelwatch North West said that while Liverpool John Lennon’s own website gave excellent information on travelling to and from the airport on public transport, travellers were left confused by information on airlines’ websites.

The airport’s largest carrier, Easyjet, only suggests hiring a car to get to and from JLA – despite the regular bus services to the terminal and the new Liverpool South Parkway station opened last year to serve airport passengers.

Rival Ryanair also fails to mention LSP rail services, and only offers details about transfers from JLA to Manchester city centre.

Travelwatch Northwest’s own survey of JLA passengers concluded that 42% of fliers were not aware of the public transport options. Only 22% had travelled to the airport by public transport, and 29% said nothing would convince them to travel by public transport to the airport.

A spokesman for Travelwatch said: “Passengers travelling to and from our airports are badly informed about public transport on airline operators’ web sites.

“Some of the web sites contain limited information while others do not contain any.

“As a result, passengers planning to travel to and from these areas have to seek alternative means of obtaining travel information.

“Details of public transport connections to flights is a low priority for operators when compared with providing information about parking and car hire.

“The airport website for Liverpool Airport is, by contrast, excellent for getting details on how to use public transport.”

Robin Tudor, spokesman for the airport, said: “We inform the airlines of all the public transport options available, and there are many from the airport.

“We are pleased that the Travelwatch North West report has concluded that it is easy to find information on public transport services to and from the airport.

“But we will keep working with the airlines to try and make sure that information is available in as many places as possible.

“In Europe, public transport is, for many people, the preferred mode of transport and it is important that with the number of visitors to Liverpool growing all the time, visitors know how to access our public transport.

“We will be going through the Travel Watch report to see what further improvements we can make while continuing to encourage airlines to make information available on their websites too.”

davidhiggerson@dailypost.co.uk