John Culatto
FLIGHTS to two new locations in England will be on offer from Gibraltar in time for the summer.
Eastern Airways will become the fourth airline to operate flights to the Rock with flights to Southampton and Birmingham as from May 24 and 28 respectively.
Passengers will be able to get tickets from £74.99 each way on Fridays and Mondays, perfect for weekend breaks.
This will be the first time Gibraltar has an air connection with Southampton.
Flights to Birmingham will restart after four years when they were run by the now bankrupt Monarch Airlines.
“This marks a major development in the network Eastern Airways offers as our first regular scheduled service to the Mediterranean peninsula adjoining Spain,” said Roger Hage, Eastern Airways General Manager.
“The new services see both our return to Birmingham Airport as an operator while extending the growing number of destinations served from our Southampton hub.”
Both these routes will be flown by the Embraer 190 e-jet, made in Brazil, which can carry about 100 passengers.
“The links with both Birmingham and Southampton will open up new catchment areas for Gibraltar,” Vijay Daryanani, Minister for Tourism and Transport said today.
“Work by this Government to ensure that the tourism sector recovers and flourishes after this pandemic does not stop.
“The news will no doubt be welcomed by the local business community and the tourism, retail and hospitality industries.
“This Government is delivering air services to Gibraltar in an unprecedented manner and is committed to adding further routes and more carriers in due course.”
Expansion
Operations director at Southampton Airport Steve Szalay called the new connection to Gibraltar ‘tremendous news’ as Eastern Airlines continues to grow from the southern English city.
“This is a new destination for the airport and a positive step forward given the challenging conditions our entire industry continues to face.
“We look forward to working with Eastern to develop this service further and welcoming the first passengers later this year.”
This will be one of a number of expansions this year for Eastern Airways, adding to a dozen or so destinations in the UK and Ireland.
Tom Screen, Aviation Director for Birmingham Airport added: “It is great news that Eastern Airways are back at Birmingham offering customers the chance to fly direct to Gibraltar again.
“Gibraltar is a popular destination to our leisure customers, for a sunny getaway, but also an important business route providing access to this British territory.
“We believe this route will be a sign of things to come as they develop their network further.
“Both Birmingham Airport and Eastern Airways have a fully enhanced cleaning structure in place and can reassure customers that their safety is of paramount importance.”
The deep cleaning methods have allowed planes to be return to the skies despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
