Latest news with #Luton-based
The Herald Scotland
03-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Airline launches five new routes from Scottish airport
Luton-based easyJet delivered its tenth aircraft to Edinburgh, an Airbus 320, and celebrated with the launch of five new services to Olbia in Italy, Marrakech in Morocco, Zurich in Switzerland, Düsseldorf in Germany, and Enfidha in Tunisia, with the new flights taking off this week for the first time. Ali Gayward, easyJet's UK country manager, said that "not only does our fleet growth in Scotland support many skilled jobs and connectivity which play a crucial role in economic growth, it is a clear demonstration of our continued commitment to serving customers in Scotland as well as supporting inbound travel for tourism in the Scottish capital". Market in Morocco. (Image: Getty Images) She added: "Through our unrivalled short-haul network and unique easyJet holidays offering in Scotland, we continue to provide more choice and value for money, always aiming to make travel easy for the millions of customers we fly to and from Scotland every year." Jonny Macneal, Edinburgh Airport's head of aviation, said that "it's brilliant to see easyJet's tenth based aircraft making itself at home at Scotland's busiest airport and the airline continuing to grow its presence in the capital", adding: "This will provide even more choice for passengers, and it's exciting to see even more destinations added to easyJet's already impressive schedule." Jody Harrison reported: "The arrival of the new aircraft marks a continued trajectory of growth for easyJet in Scotland, where the airline will operate its biggest ever summer fuelled by UK demand for its flights and package holidays." However, the latest win for Edinburgh is a reminder that Glasgow Airport is also vying in the market. Last year around this time, the AGS Airports site hailed the arrival of its sixth easyJet Airbus. Of course it is competing for the blockbuster flights and its new owner recently unveiled plans for a "comprehensive transformation" of the main terminal building under a £350 million investment. AviAlliance, which acquired Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports owner AGS for an enterprise value of £1.53 billion, said its plans constituted the "single largest capital investment programme in AGS since it was formed in 2014". READ MORE: Other wins have been highlighted by business editor Ian McConnell in his column. "The momentum of Edinburgh Airport remains truly eye-catching, with a couple of very significant announcements in recent days," Ian writes. "These two announcements highlight the extent to which the ambitions of chief executive Gordon Dewar, which he set out when I interviewed him in February, are continuing to come to fruition. Edinburgh Airport announced on Sunday that Chinese airline Hainan's direct service to Beijing is increasing from seasonal to year-round. "And United Airlines is extending its service between Edinburgh and Washington DC to what the airport characterised as 'almost year-round'. Glasgow Airport is meanwhile continuing its efforts to win direct flights to the US, with its current lack of such services contrasting starkly with the situation in years gone by." He points out that Stuart Patrick, chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, has been among those to highlight direct flights to the US from Glasgow Airport as a key priority.
Telegraph
02-05-2025
- Automotive
- Telegraph
UK's rarest cars: 1981 Vauxhall Astra Mk1 EXP, one of a handful left
Some once-popular cars gradually vanish from our roads as if by stealth, and Adrian Day's 1982 Vauxhall Astra is one of the few remaining Mk1 models. It is also the exclusive EXP limited edition version – a car that at first glance seemed so luxurious it even had a sports steering wheel as standard. The Astra was a Vauxhall of two 'firsts' – the Luton-based firm's debut front-wheel drive product and its first model not to be sold outside the UK. By 1978 the parent company General Motors had decided that future Vauxhalls would be modified versions of Opel designs, meaning that the Astra was essentially a Kadett D (the Kadett C being the Vauxhall Chevette) designed in Germany, but with the British firm's griffin badge on the nose. Opel began work on the latest Kadett in 1976, using the original Volkswagen Golf as a benchmark for its interior accommodation. Vauxhall intended to launch the Astra in August 1979 but encountered problems from unions which feared the company planned to cease car manufacture in the UK, in favour of importing re-branded Opels from Germany. In fact, the first Astras were imported from Germany, but Vauxhall issued assurances that it would commence manufacture at Ellesmere Port on the Mersey by 1982. Meanwhile, negotiations between the company and the unions meant the launch took place at the Scottish Motor Show in November 1979. To further complicate matters, Opel planned to sell its almost identical Kadett D stablemate in the UK. According to one advertisement, the Astra was the car 'the roads have been waiting for', although this newspaper referred to it as a 'Local Opel'. What Car? magazine voted the Astra its 1980 Car of the Year, ahead of the VW Golf Mk1, the Citroën GSA and the Volvo 345. Motor thought it 'in some respects even better than the Opel Kadett from which it is derived' and Car found the Astra 'soundly designed' and 'developed to a high pitch'. By 1981 production transferred to Ellesmere Port and the Astra became the UK's ninth best-selling car. That year General Motors merged Vauxhall and Opel dealerships and in 1982 Vauxhall introduced the EXP special edition – the Astra that 'sets you apart'. This was such an exclusive car that Vauxhall urged buyers to 'Call your dealer now. He may have one left.' The EXP was available in three- or five-door guise, with a choice of 1.3- or 1.6-litre engines. Vauxhall based it on the lowly-specified L version, but installed equipment that 'identifies your own high values'. In other words, the owner could bask in the glory of its Hazelnut Metallic or Black paintwork with an Antique Gold side stripe. This gold theme continued with the wheels, while your new EXP even came with a 'high quality push button radio', a glass sunroof, front foglights, a tinted windscreen and Chevron Tweed upholstery. Not to mention other 'thoughtful detail features'; a remote-control driver's door mirror, a cigar lighter and a rear wiper and washer. At £5,162.73, Vauxhall priced the EXP 1.3-litre five-door to compete with the Ford Escort Mk3 1.3 GL at £5,137 or the Talbot Horizon 1.5 GL for £4,981. If you did not require a hatchback, your nearest British Leyland dealer would probably discount the Austin Allegro 1.5 HLS's £5,095 list price as production would end that year. But no rival could hope to offer the sheer style that was the Astra with an Antique Gold stripe. EXP sales amounted to approximately 2,800 and survivors are now believed to be in single figures – even as low as three. (The difficulty in obtaining the precise number of survivors is because many could have been registered without the EXP nomenclature.) As for the standard Astra, when the Mk2 replaced it in October 1984 after 196,347 units, the Mk1 was the country's seventh best-selling car. However, the motoring historian Keith Adams observes in 'Rust was a killer, as were 'toffee' camshafts [in the overhead cam models], gearboxes and driveshafts. By the late 1990s, numbers were thinning alarmingly.' Day's Astra was registered in August 1982 in Devon and is certainly an eye-catching vehicle, although the EXP exterior trim appears strangely dated for 1982, with a gold theme redolent of mid-1970s executive aspirations. The result is one of the few Astra Mk1 five-doors that could be fairly described as 'flamboyant'. Or, as Vauxhall preferred to describe the EXP, 'so much luxury and distinction'.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Improved cameras for peregrine falcon live stream
A cathedral has turned on new higher quality cameras to live stream a pair of peregrine falcons living in its roof. The birds of prey have nested on the roof at St Albans Cathedral since 2022. Last year more than half a million people watched the falcons, which are one of five breeding pairs in Hertfordshire, via a webcam available on the cathedral's website. A spokesperson said the "enhanced" cameras were bought by the cathedral after sponsorship from Luton-based company Opticron. The shingle nesting tray replicates the bird's natural clifftop nesting habitat. As peregrine falcons remain loyal to their nest site, the cathedral is now an established breeding ground. For four years viewers of the online video feed have witnessed the birds lay and hatch peregrine chicks. Lea Ellis, engagement manager at Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust said: "The webcam give us all an opportunity to marvel at the wonder of nature first-hand and enjoy the wellbeing benefits that come with that. "I'm hopeful that we'll see more chicks successfully hatching this year." St Albans Cathedral dates back 1700 years and is the oldest site of continuous Christian worship in Britain. Canon Will Gibbs added: "This is wonderful news and yet another expression of our core commitment to the environment and all creation and to the cathedral and its grounds being a place of welcome for humans and animals alike." Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Three falcon chicks hatch in cathedral nest Falcons return to cathedral for third year in a row Live stream of cathedral's falcon pair launched St Albans Cathedral Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust
BBC News
24-03-2025
- General
- BBC News
New cameras for St Albans Cathedral's peregrine falcon live stream
A cathedral has turned on new higher quality cameras to live stream a pair of peregrine falcons living in its birds of prey have nested on the roof at St Albans Cathedral since year more than half a million people watched the falcons, which are one of five breeding pairs in Hertfordshire, via a webcam available on the cathedral's website.A spokesperson said the "enhanced" cameras were bought by the cathedral after sponsorship from Luton-based company Opticron. The shingle nesting tray replicates the bird's natural clifftop nesting peregrine falcons remain loyal to their nest site, the cathedral is now an established breeding four years viewers of the online video feed have witnessed the birds lay and hatch peregrine chicks. Lea Ellis, engagement manager at Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust said: "The webcam give us all an opportunity to marvel at the wonder of nature first-hand and enjoy the wellbeing benefits that come with that. "I'm hopeful that we'll see more chicks successfully hatching this year." St Albans Cathedral dates back 1700 years and is the oldest site of continuous Christian worship in Will Gibbs added: "This is wonderful news and yet another expression of our core commitment to the environment and all creation and to the cathedral and its grounds being a place of welcome for humans and animals alike." Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
