Leeds Bradford Airport £11 million pound terminal investment officially opens

2012-12-17 — /travelprnews.com/ — The Rt. Hon William Hague MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs officially opened Leeds Bradford Airport’s (LBA) £11 million passenger terminal development today, (Friday 14th December, 2012).

The development, which was backed by the airport’s private equity owners Bridgepoint, delivers on its commitment to create ‘best in class’ facilities at Leeds Bradford, Yorkshire’s gateway airport.

Prior to the official ceremony Mr Hague toured the impressive new facilities with Leeds Bradford Airport’s Chief Executive, John Parkin and the airport’s Commercial Director, Tony Hallwood.

Construction work to improve the passenger experience commenced in December 2011. The completed terminal investment now provides for a 65% increase in airside space over two floors, creating a new larger departure lounge, a range of new food and beverage units, a major walk-through Tax and Duty Free store and additional retail brands.  This development has created an additional 2500m² of airside space of which 600m² is new construction. The security search zone has also been increased by approximately 250m², equivalent to a 40% increase in area.

The Yorkshire Premier Lounge, which has received passenger and industry acclaim for its stylish and contemporary ambience, has also been extended to provide both a business and leisure product.  Passengers may now choose two separate areas; an exclusive business zone and family friendly leisure lounge. Both have been designed to cater for the specific needs of these departing passengers with a 90% increase in floor space allowing 171 guests to start their journey in style. Both lounges offer similar facilities, including, complimentary refreshments, satellite TV and the latest magazines, newspapers and wi-fi.

Following passenger feedback, boarding gate zones have also been extended and a covered walkway constructed from the terminal to a number of aircraft stands now provides all weather cover.

The Rt. Hon William Hague MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commented: “Regional airports can make a vital contribution to local and regional economies and Leeds Bradford is an excellent example of that, providing over £100m of value [Gross Value Added] to the City Region, a figure set to grow by 10% with the introduction of the new British Airways services.

Regional airports also have an important role to play in strengthening the national economy by ensuring that the UK remains one of the best connected countries in the world, so that we can compete successfully for economic opportunities in established and emerging markets.

When I became Foreign Secretary I stressed that to ensure long-term prosperity at home we must intensify our engagement with the emerging economies of the world. That is why I made economic objectives a central aspect of British foreign policy and it is why I injected a new commercialism into the work of our Foreign Office. Leeds Bradford Airport has an important role to play in achieving those goals.

People in Yorkshire are also now able to travel to London Heathrow from Leeds Bradford with much greater ease, where they can take advantage of the huge global flight network to destinations such as New York, Beijing, Delhi, Dubai, and Rio de Janeiro”.

John Parkin, Leeds Bradford Airport’s Chief Executive, said: ‘I am delighted to welcome The Foreign Secretary, the Right Honourable William Hague, to celebrate this special day in the airport’s 80 year history for the opening of LBA’s £11 million terminal development.

This commitment by our shareholders to invest such a significant amount highlights our confidence in the optimism and strength of the Leeds City Region economy and the businesses which we serve. By investing in the airport we are also therefore investing in the region’s core infrastructure to support further growth.

As one of the UK’s fastest growing airports LBA generates substantial economic benefits to the region and the new terminal development will now allow us to grow to 4.4m passengers with a potential to deliver over £130m GVA and boost employment to over 3,000.

We are determined to support the region’s ambitions to deliver inward investment and boost inbound tourism by attracting even more airlines, routes and services to Yorkshire”.

Airline Growth

2012 has seen a number of significant business development announcements with the introduction of major new airlines and the expansion of LBA’s route network.

Leading leisure airline, Monarch, announced the launch of its sixth UK base in 2013 at Leeds Bradford Airport, introducing 13 routes from Yorkshire’s gateway airport. This announcement further strengthens the airline’s operations from the North of England and creates 200 jobs within the local area.  Monarch’s multi-million pound investment will see two A320 aircraft based at Leeds Bradford in Summer 2013.

Monarch will today, (Friday 14 December, 2012), celebrate its first departure to Munich. A second winter route to the ski destination of Grenoble, also twice weekly, has its inaugural flight on Saturday 15 December, 2012.

Earlier this week British Airways launched its four-times-a-day flights from Leeds Bradford Airport to Heathrow. Yorkshire business and leisure customers now have the opportunity to connect with British Airways’ extensive global network via Heathrow. It will provide regional businesses with the access they require to emerging and established global markets and enables those markets to fly into Yorkshire, delivering investment and inbound tourism direct into our region.

Jet2.com, LBA’s largest based airline, has continued to widen its network to serve over 40 destinations with new routes to Berlin and Las Palmas introduced. Their expansion will continue into 2013 with new services to Greece (Zakynthos) and Croatia (Pula and Split).

Ryanair introduced a third based aircraft at LBA in Summer 12, offering seven new routes to Greece, Italy and Spain, widening their destination choice to 27.

Thomson has also grown their presence at LBA for Summer 13 with the introduction of a 7 new routes and a based aircraft operation.

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