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Thomas Cook has renewed its commitment to Aberdeen Airport. The airline will add a minimum of six new routes to its summer schedule, flying to destinations in Turkey and Spain from summer 2010.

Aberdeen was rocked by the collapse of Flyglobespan over the festive season – dozens of flights were dissolved overnight, and stranded customers were forced to purchase rescue fares from profiteering airlines, just so that they could get home for Christmas.

Bosses spent the last few days of 2009 hiding under the covers, waiting for a brave airline to rescue the airport from uncertainty.

Despite vehement criticism by Which? magazine, alluding to its archaic methods and belligerent staff, Thomas Cook is a popular airline, and the oldest package holiday company in the UK.

The firm will offer flights to Dalaman and Antalya in Turkey, as well as three routes to Spain – Ibiza, Reus and Palma. Aberdeen is still trying to find a carrier for five dead routes, including Dubrovnik in Croatia, and the ever-popular Benidorm, Spain.

“We are confident that some of the bigger routes – the most popular ones like Tenerife – will find new operators.” Aberdeen remains optimistic about the future, applauding the recent efforts of Thomas Cook to support the airport.

Aberdeen fell foul of the weather in December, recording a 3.5% drop in passenger numbers over the same period last year.

However, the British Airports Authority (BAA) remains confident that the airport will continue to recover from both the global recession, and the loss of Scotland’s first budget airline, Flyglobespan.

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Tourists Stranded as Flyglobespan Goes Bust

Aberdeen Launches New Routes

As expansion fever grips Birmingham, Bristol, and London City Airports, Aberdeen unveils its latest development – a smart new parking deck.

Located close to the airport’s main terminal buildings, the £5m car park was completed in just 14 weeks, having been commissioned in late May 2009.

Kevin Brown, managing director at Aberdeen, was quick to point out that a wealth of time and energy had been earmarked for the planning process, helping contractors complete the build “in record time.”

Mr. Brown went on to boast about the affordability of the two-storey deck, claiming to provide the cheapest airport parking in Scotland. However, with a minimum stay of two days, the facility is unlikely to reduce quick ‘kiss and fly’ drop-offs.

In March a £7.2m refurbishment of the airport’s main runway began in earnest – a goliath task designed to extend the life of the asphalt by as much as 15 years. State-of-the-art lighting was also installed on the runway. Both projects are now nearing completion.

Airport staff have been equally enthusiastic about a new Eastern Airways service to the city of Bergen, Norway. The new route, which is expected to operate six days a week, enters the travel guides in October 2009.

Over the past year, BAA (the British Aviation Authority) has reasserted its commitment to Aberdeen Airport by investing more money in infrastructure improvements than ever before.

Booking for Aberdeen’s new parking deck is available at the BAA airport parking website. Spaces are subject to a minimum stay period (six days for long stay, two days for short stay), and cannot be booked on the day of departure.

Earlier this week a blow was dealt to business travellers and holidaymakers alike in the north east of Scotland, with the announcement that two major airlines were planning to scrap some of the services currently offered. This followed news that for the ninth month in a row passenger numbers for the airport had dropped.

Ryanair has announced that as from July it will be reducing flights from Aberdeen to Dublin. At present the low-cost airline operates on four days a week between the two cities, but moves are afoot to reduce this by at least one day following criticism of the charges levied at Aberdeen.

BMI has also indicated that it will be axing its Aberdeen-to-Jersey route this month, a consequence of the cancellation of its Heathrow-to-Jersey service. Since the Aberdeen service was never direct it has become an unwitting casualty of the changes in the Heathrow schedule.

Business leaders for the north east have described the cuts as a huge setback and have expressed concerns that this may be the tip of the iceberg, with other airlines reviewing their schedules as a result of the current economic crisis facing the country.

On a more positive note, Loganair, in conjunction with Flybe, announced earlier this year that as from April a new service from Aberdeen to Cardiff would be introduced. This followed an earlier announcement that Eastern Airways would be expanding their Scandinavian service with a new route from Aberdeen to Oslo supplementing their existing Aberdeen to Stavanger service.

On March 3, numerous flights at Aberdeen Airport were affected due to a group of protestors who broke into the airport and started to play golf on the taxiway while dressed to look like Donald Trump. The protest was designed to express opposition to the proposed expansion of the airport, and focused on Trump because he is opening a luxury golf course nearby and has supported the expansion.

The group of nine protestors from the protest group, Plane Stupid, broke through the perimeter fence shortly after 2am. Seven stayed on the taxiway and two went onto the roof, unfolding a banner reading ‘Nae Trump Games with Climate Change’.

As a result, all of the flights during the early morning were delayed by at least three hours and some incoming flights were cancelled until the resumption of scheduled flights at about 9am.

The group behind the protest claimed that it was to raise awareness of the dangers being faced by climate change and to express their displeasure at the expansion of airports across the country. All nine were arrested.

Plane Stupid has hit the headlines before with its protest at Stansted Airport in December 2008, and we can be sure to expect more from the group in the future.

The day after the protest, the nine protestors all appeared in court charged with vandalism and breach of the peace. They were all released on bail.

However, it has since emerged that amongst those delayed were a cancer patient who was travelling for treatment in Aberdeen, and a helicopter which was flying to Inverness to help a sick child, revealing just how serious such actions can be even if they raise important issues.

You may not think of Aberdeen as having the biggest and busiest airport in Scotland but that might all be about to change soon as they have just been boosted by a huge pot of money to spend and are about to go all out with their cheque book.

£10 million of investment will see Aberdeen moving their base in the very north-east of the country into the 21st Century and towards a much more international market. They have plans set up for a much larger arrivals terminal and walkway for passengers, as well as a lot of work to be done on the parking bays for the aircraft, which have been specially designed to house the latest models of eco-friendly aircraft. The walkway will be one of the big projects and will be a heated two-lane system that aims to reduce the congestion upon arrival and for passengers leaving the airport.

There will be work done on the drop-off areas and taxi points and some additional security measures to protect the front of the terminal. As well as the security aspects, the other topical issue being addressed at Aberdeen is that of the environment and they will be fitting new low-energy light bulbs throughout the site.

The project is being split up into three phases with the first of these being the walkway, which is aimed to be completed by the end of 2009.

There have been two pieces of bad publicity for Aberdeen in the last week: first a drunken stewardess who delayed a flight and now news that thirty five illegal immigrants have been let in through the airport.

A 24 year old bmi cabin crew attendant held up a flight from Aberdeen to Faro last week for six hours, after colleagues became concerned that she may have had too much to drink prior to coming to work. The flight, which had been due to take off at 9am, was delayed until 3.30pm whilst the woman was breathalised and arrested and a replacement steward was arranged. An airport spokesman expressed regret that the 140 passengers had been subjected to such a delay, whilst a bmi spokesman said that the airline were co-operating fully with the enquiry being conducted by Grampian police.

The day before, in an apparently deliberate act, Aberdeen airport was flooded with immigrants from Bolivia travelling via Amsterdam. Forty two arrived on the same flight, five of whom were turned away immediately. The remaining thirty seven were told by officials to return the following day to have their papers processed. There was insufficient room to detain them as forty people were already being held from another flight. Needless to say only two of the thirty seven re-appeared the next day and Tory MSP, Alex Johnstone, has called for an enquiry to ensure that Aberdeen is not seen as a “soft touch”. He called the actions of the immigration officials naive, although the UK Border Agency has sought to down play the incident, assuring the public that names had been checked against a “watch-list”.

If you are flying out of Aberdeen airport over the next few months, you will be likely to face disruption caused by work on a new £2 million project, with the worst affected areas being the car park and drop off area on the inner forecourt. BAA, the owners of Aberdeen airport, are, however, planning to create a much improved experience in the long run for customers using the airport.

As far as access is concerned, there will be a dedicated taxi and bus lane plus a separate area for passengers being dropped off by friends or family. Security is on the agenda too and the temporary measures introduced last year after the abortive terror attack on Glasgow airport will be replaced by permanent bollards.

Like many other airports in the UK, Aberdeen is committed to reducing its CO2 emissions and, to this end, low energy lighting will be used in the new forecourt.

The work is estimated to last 18 weeks but Will Dougherty, customer services director at the airport, has reassured passengers that disruption, whilst inevitable, will be kept to a minimum.

Earlier this year Aberdeen was recognised as the Most Improved Airport by the Airports Council International, based on satisfaction levels of international passengers. It beat the likes of Singapore, Houston and Hong Kong airports to win the prestigious award which was presented in Shanghai in April.

It is a popular airport both for business travellers and holiday makers in the North East of Scotland, who have the choice of scheduled, charter and low cost flights, with helicopter services also a growth area.

March also saw the addition of a service to Tenerife to the growing list of destinations from served by Aberdeen.

The new flights, expected to be hugely popular with holiday-makers, will depart from Aberdeen airport on various dates during Summer.

More information about forthcoming events can be found on Aberdeen airport's news pages.

March saw a removal of operating restrictions at Aberdeen Airport.

This change will allow aircraft to fly out of the airport at any time of day or night, meaning more flights, and greater flexibility and convenience for those wishing to travel via Aberdeen Airport.

The removal of operating restrictions came as welcome news for BAA, as it will allow the airport to expand to accommodate the ever increasing demand for flights.