The new flights, which will be operated in addition to BA’s Heathrow to Las vegas service, will commence on 29 October 2012 and operate three times per week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays) to McCarran Airport.

Together with the Heathrow service British Airways will operate 10 flights a week to Las Vegas.

Colm Lacy, British Airways’ head of commercial Gatwick, said: “Las Vegas has proved to be an incredibly popular year-round destination from Heathrow so we are delighted to now be able to offer the route from Gatwick as well.

“This is the kind of destination our leisure customers at Gatwick are looking for and it will complement our existing USA and long-haul leisure network.”

The Big Tick has been awarded in recognition of its continued investment in local people and will be presented by Business in the Community, a charity led by HRH The Prince of Wales, at the 2012 Awards for Excellence on 27 June.

Around 90 per cent of those gaining employment or furthering their skills through the Heathrow Retail Academy are drawn from Heathrow‘s neighbouring boroughs.

Since 2004, the Retail Academy’s employability programme has helped more than 1000 people to access retail jobs – in 2011 a record 315 local people gained employment, while around 150 people per year gain Apprenticeships.

Working in partnership with the airport’s retailers, the Heathrow Retail Academy not only helps local school pupils understand more about careers within the airport’s retail operation but also gives unemployed residents from neighbouring communities the skills to access airport jobs and allows employees to acquire qualifications once in work.

The accredited qualifications on offer include Apprenticeships, Advanced Apprenticeships and a Foundation Degree in Retail Operations and People Management.

Budapest Liszt Ferenc Airport’s Terminal 1, which is located on the same airport campus, is due to close on 29 May 2012.

Wizz Air advises all passengers travelling on a Wizz Air flight to/from Budapest to ensure they are familiar with the location and access routes to Terminal 2.

Passengers travelling this weekend with Ryanair will need to make sure they check-in online before 16:00 on Friday 18 May.

A vintage De Havilland Hornet Moth G-ADND – the first ever aircraft to land at Manchester Airport – is set to return to the airport on Thursday, 17 May, to mark the airport’s unofficial 75th birthday.

The vintage single-engine bi-plane, is the actual aircraft, which made the first ever landing at the Ringway airstrip – as it was known then – on 17 May 1937.

Bizarrely, the Hornet Moth plane was not actually due to land at Ringway and was in fact bound for nearby Barton airfield in Salford, en route from White Waltham airfield in Berkshire.

However, due to heavy rain the plane was forced to divert to Ringway, which was still under construction at the time – and whilst the landing strip was complete, it had no other buildings and hadn’t even been officially designated as an aerodrome.

The airport officially opened on June 25, 1938, and it was only then that it was designated as an aerodrome.

The aircraft will return to Manchester, flown by its owner David Weston, who will be accompanied by Peter Menzies, the son of Duncan Menzies, who was the original pilot back in 1937.

Once the vintage aircraft lands, it will park outside the Runway Visitor Park for a couple of hours to allow plane-spotters to get a good view.

The aim is to recreate the original flight as closely as possible, with the exception of the bad weather. The aircraft will also be perfectly positioned when the A380 ‘superjumbo’ lands and taxies close by, for a great comparison of ‘old and new’, ‘ big and small’.

Figures released by HIAL, which operates 11 airports across Scotland, show that overall passenger numbers in April – which marks the start of the summer flying season – rose by 6.4% to 104,519, up from 98,262 in April 2011.

At Inverness, the busiest airport in the group, passenger numbers increased by 11% to 52,213, boosted by the continuing success of flybe’s daily Amsterdam service – which last month carried its 10,000th passenger – and strong growth in the domestic market, particularly on the Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol and London Gatwick routes.

Sumburgh recorded another strong performance, with passenger numbers up 15.3% to 15,185, due to increased oil sector traffic, and growing demand for scheduled flights. Passenger numbers were also up at Stornoway (+4.7%) due to offshore military training exercises, and at Wick (+9.1%) due to growing oil sector traffic. Traffic also grew at Islay (+7.1%) and at Barra (+15.7%).

Passenger demand fell at Kirkwall, down 7.9%, and at Dundee, down 14.7%. Benbecula, Campeltown and Tiree also recorded a small drop in traffic.

The slight drop in passenger traffic brings to an end 15 months of consecutive growth at the airport, however, the drop in numbers can be attributed to an early Easter this year and the lack of an additional bank holiday for last year’s the Royal wedding.

Overall, on a 12-month period (May 2011 – April 2012) passenger numbers have increased by 4.4% when compared to the previous 12-month period.

Nick Dunn, Gatwick Airport’s Chief Financial Officer said: “The year-on-year decrease in passenger traffic is largely accounted for by the timing of public holidays in April 2011, including the late Easter holiday weekend, the additional holiday to mark the royal wedding and the early May bank holiday. Despite this, planes were flying fuller with load factors up 1.2 percentage points.

“This month we were given a vote of confidence by Korean Air and Air China as they launched operations to Seoul and Beijing respectively. With room to accommodate more flights, we are in a strong position to help London remain one of the best connected cities in the world.”

Flights will operate three times per week from 30 October 2012.

The airline will also add two new routes to Edinburgh and Glasgow available for travel from September 10th through to March 30th, 2013.

New routes for travel from September 10th:

• East Midlands (EMA) – Edinburgh (EDI)Mon-Sat
  Dep EMA 0855 arr EDI 1005
  Dep EDI 0715 arr EMA 0830

  Daily (excluding Sat)
  Dep EMA 1625 arr EDI 1735
  Dep EMA 1955 arr EDI 2105

  Dep EDI 1445 arr EMA 1600
  Dep EDI 1815 arr EMA 1930

• East Midlands (EMA) – Glasgow (GLA)Mon-Sat
  Dep EMA 0845 arr GLA 0955
  Dep GLA 0705 arr EMA 0820

  Daily (excluding Sat)
  Dep EMA 1615 arr GLA 1725
  Dep EMA 1945 arr GLA 2055

  Dep GLA 1435 arr EMA 1550
  Dep GLA 1805 arr EMA 1920

New schedule: East Midlands (EMA) – Belfast City (BHD)

• Mon-Fri
  Dep EMA 0835 arr BHD 0940
  Dep EMA 1745 arr BHD 1850

  Dep BHD 0705 arr EMA 0810
  Dep BHD 1615 arr EMA 1720

• New – available for travel from June 11th
  Dep EMA 1110 arr BHD 1215
  Dep EMA 1940 arr BHD 2045

  Dep BHD 0940 arr EMA 1045
  Dep BHD 1810 arr EMA 1915

• Sats
  Dep EMA 0835 arr BHD 0940
  Dep EMA 1140 arr BHD 1245  – June 16-Sep 8

  Dep BHD 0705 arr EMA 0810
  Dep BHD 1010 arr EMA 1115  – June 16-Sep 8

• Sundays
  Dep EMA 1620 arr BHD 1725
  Dep EMA 1940 arr BHD 2045

  Dep BHD 1450 arr EMA 1555
  Dep BHD 1810 arr EMA 1915

Andrew Strong, Flybe UK MD, comments: “We have been working hard over the past few days to do everything possible within the confines of our already extensive summer schedule to ensure that those passengers wanting to travel from East Midlands Airport to these key destinations are not left completely stranded following bmibaby’s surprise announcement last week that it will cease flying these key routes in June.

“We know that many passengers rely on the airport for their regional travel and we’re pleased to start releasing some of the routes for sale to give them peace of mind on these three routes with the increased frequency on our Belfast City service and a choice of up to 36 flights a week to Edinburgh and Glasgow from September. We expect to be able to put more routes on sale in the coming days and continue to work with the relevant airports.”

The new services offer passengers the opportunity of connecting Aer Lingus transatlantic flights via Dublin to New York, Boston, Chicago and Orlando with the advantage of the unique US Customs and Immigrations pre-clearance facilities at Dublin Airport, allowing them to arrive in the USA as domestic passengers.

10 May was also the official opening of a new Aer Lingus Regional base at London Southend Airport. A total of fifteen Aer Lingus Regional staff – including pilots and cabin crew – are now permanently located at London Southend.