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BBC News
23-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Glasgow Airport fightback begins with £350m investment
The new owners of Glasgow Airport have announced plans to drive a huge increase in passenger aims to add more than a million passengers per year by 2030, by boosting the number of short-haul holiday flights and and increasing its transatlantic company completed a deal to buy AGS - the owners of Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports - in January for £ has now announced a £350m investment in the three sites - with the bulk of it going into Glasgow. 'Costing them money' AGS Airport CEO Kam Jandu hopes the investment will signal a new era for the terminal, which has lagged behind its east coast rival, Edinburgh Airport, since the sees budget airlines as a key to growth and wants to make it smoother for short-haul jets to land, turn around and take told BBC Scotland News: "For the low-cost airlines, it's key to them. If their airplane isn't in the air, it's costing them money."So they want to be able to touch down, disembark, then embark within the space of 35-40 minutes."That means re-arranging the stands at the terminal building so passengers can get on and off planes more goal is 5-6% growth in passenger numbers year-on-year, until Glasgow handles over 10 million passengers a year by well as European sunshine destinations, they want extra flights to America - and it seems Donald Trump's turbulent spell in the White House might enable that. Glasgow Airport struggled during was forced to shed thousands of staff when flights were grounded for months on then it has bounced back, but it still sits behind Edinburgh, which carried almost 16 million passengers last contrast, Glasgow airport expects 8.5 million passengers this there's catching up to new plans focus on improving the terminal building - more seats, shops, cafes and restaurants for waiting passengers in smarter is hoped that among them will be passengers from Glasgow postcodes who currently head east to Edinburgh to take a flight."Our goal is to regain share that we've lost to Edinburgh. We have the golden ingredient - demand, from the wider Glasgow catchment area," said Mr Jandu."We want to get back what we've lost, and also drive new markets to short-haul European destinations, which we haven't really recovered since Covid". The airport is eyeing up transatlantic flights too. They see Scottish passengers flying to America via Heathrow, and they want to offer a direct could Donald Trump's presidency put off Scottish passengers from travelling Stateside?"Yes it does concern me, but it lends itself to an opportunity," said the American airlines carrying fewer passengers to and from Canada, Mexico and Europe, aircraft are going these could potentially operate on routes to and from will tell how that works investment has been welcomed by the Scottish government. Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes joined AGS bosses at the presence alone suggested a change of tone for the SNP government since it parted company from the Greens in government. The Greens were, and remain, unenthusiastic about air travel, because of the greenhouse gas emissions that go with Ms Forbes insisted this investment was compatible with Scotland achieving net zero by 2045."This is hugely exciting for Scotland", she said. "Our priority is to attract inward investment and see infrastructure develop."To see the level of investment here is exactly what we're trying to achieve as a government," she added that the extra spending would hopefully increase the number of routes."That will hopefully increase the number of people travelling - because we're a small nation, an island nation and therefore having that international connectivity is critical for our prosperity. "
BBC News
20-04-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Calls to protect long Covid service after Manx Care mandate
There have been calls to protect the future operation of the Isle of Man's long Covid and chronic fatigue service, following the health department's mandate to Manx document recommends the health body continues without a "dedicated service", with patients "to be cared for in the ways Manx Care considers to be most effective".While the instruction appears in the mandate, it is not addressed in Manx Care's operating plan, both of which are due to be debated in Tynwald this Hendy, who has chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), called the service "hugely helpful". The Department of Health and Social Care said: "It has not been specified as its own commissioned service in the 2025-26 mandate as patients are being assessed and treated in line with clinical guidelines for the varying issues that they experience due to long added: "Manx Care needs flexibility to provide patient care in the clinics that best meet their individual needs."The service was set up two years ago after years of campaigning from ME sufferers, before it was accelerated as a result of the Covid pandemic. Lucy Hendy, from Ramsey, was originally diagnosed with Long Covid before later developing ME. She has been using the service and has been part of a group therapy programme since January."You can get a lot out of meeting other people who are in a similar situation and going through the same thing, sharing experiences and things that we've found helpful," she explained. 'Nothing is changing' Ms Hendy, who suffers with symptoms every day, including fatigue, throat and gland pain, brain fog and dizziness, said she had learned more about "living with the condition" through the it was no longer available, patients would "be at risk of feeling a lot more isolated", she said: "I think it's really important that it's a dedicated service.""When people are living with fatigue on a day to day basis and brain fog and things like that, having to advocate for yourself and try and find the right service pathway is even harder," she it began in 2023, the service has had more than 300 referrals and there is currently a seven-month waiting list to access it. As well as group therapy, the service also offers one-to-one support and virtual sessions for people not able to leave the house the mandate, Manx Care has reassured patients the service would remain. Long-term conditions therapy team lead Graihagh Betteridge said: "As far as we're concerned nothing is changing".This was echoed by head of therapies Kelly Gulland, who said: "As long as the service is needed, which it's going to be, it will not be changing." Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
BBC News
17-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Poorest children missing more school and further behind after Covid, study says
The poorest children are missing more school and falling further behind classmates, research shared with the BBC to new analysis by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) - which looked at pupil performance after the Covid-19 pandemic - children from the lowest income families are now up to 19 months behind peers by the time they are 16 years Secretary Bridget Phillipson told BBC Panorama Covid had led to a "serious and profound shift" in attitudes to attendance. She said lockdowns had cast "a long shadow" over the life chances of the youngest latest statistics for persistent absence show 15% of primary children in England have missed at least one in ten days of school this school year - up from about 8% before comes as the gap between the poorest students and other pupils had mainly narrowed before the pandemic, following years of effort by the report suggests it is getting worse. The gap - which is measured using GCSE results - would reduce from 19 months to 15 months of learning if school attendance was the same for all pupils, it says. Natalie Perera, from the EPI, said it is the first time "a very clear link" has been made between how much children from the lowest income families attend school, and how far behind other pupils they have team looked specifically at children who have received free school meals in the past six years, which means the family income is less than £7,400 a year after tax and not including Perera said more research was needed to understand why these children struggled to be in school, with possible factors including poor housing and mental is five years since the UK went into lockdown, when schools closed to most and nurseries also shut, with parents of babies and toddlers isolated from their extended family. There were other changes too, as health visitors were re-deployed or in contact with parents only online. Panorama has heard from families and teachers about the impact on these children, who are just starting or are still in primary say some have delayed speech and understanding of words, or have slower social or emotional development, or they lack basic skills normally picked up through Catherine Davies, from the University of Leeds, says some children missed out on "fundamental skills" they need to make sense of school and get on with wider groups. At Queen's Drive Primary School, in Preston, teaching assistant Sarah Barraclough has been trained in a national programme to help four and five-year-olds in England with speech and says the impact of Covid has been "huge" and if they don't learn to say and understand more words, children then become isolated. "You're lonely and not getting involved in the games in the playground," she now aged four, was born during the first UK lockdown and is one of the children receiving help through Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI).His parents, Ruby and Charles, really notice the difference between Emaan and his older brother. During the pandemic, Emaan barely went out and met other says there is a "stark difference" between their sons and that Emaan is a lot more NELI programme to train teaching assistants is funded until the end of this school year in England. But beyond then, funding has not yet been confirmed. The government has set a 2028 target for 75% of children - up from 68% - to reach a good level of development by the time they leave of the cultural shifts caused by the lockdowns and partial school closures could prove to be the hardest to education secretary told the BBC the pandemic had profoundly changed attitudes towards attendance. She said it was important the youngest pupils got the "support they need to thrive".
