Voted Best
ISSUE NO. 1759
21 - 27 March 2019
Newspaper in Spain 2017 & 2018
COSTA DE ALMERÍA YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
More flights please! By Cathy Elelman A SOCIAL media campaign group is pressing for increased flights between UK airports and Almeria. The Campaign for Almeria Airport Frequent Flights particularly wants more flights to the provincial airport from UK destinations currently not served or which lost flights after the collapse of Monarch. The Facebook action group was the brainchild of Daniel Northover. “I launched the campaign as a result of the ongoing inconvenience in getting to Almeria outside the summer months,” Daniel told the Euro Weekly News. Daniel relocated to Liverpool three years ago with his partner Orlando. He has been a regular visitor to Almeria to see family who live in the province, flying out of Manchester. “When I moved here, there were regular flights to Almeria throughout the year,” Daniel said. “However, with the collapse of Monarch, we lost a good chunk of services and had none over the winter. “We hoped that a new airline would take the routes as they always seemed well subscribed, but nothing seems to have happened and no information provided about their status,” Daniel continued. This has left Daniel and Orlando having to make al-
HASSLE: Daniel and Orlando are frustrated by the lack of flights between the UK and Almeria outside peak holiday times. ternative arrangements to get here, usually a flight to Alicante, often an overnight hotel stay, shuttle buses, lifts from friends or taxis, “which eat into our time and increase the cost of the travel.” Daniel realised he wasn’t the only one frustrated by the lack of UK-Almeria services. “A number of people I met wanted more flights and from additional destinations, so creating a campaign seemed to be the best way of furthering that aim and at least getting answers about what is happening and if anyone is just sitting on the routes.” He also believes that now
is a good time to have launched the initiative, especially after reading an article in the EWN that the province was looking to promote itself as a winter holiday destination to a number of countries in northern Europe, including the UK. “Obviously there’s some political will to increase flights, and now would be a good time to capitalise on that interest.” The action campaign highlights the shortage of UKAlmeria connections outside peak holiday times and to airports outside the southeast of England, but Daniel points out there is demand
Expat sex abuse arrest N AT I O N A L P O L I C E i n S p a i n h a v e arrested a suspected paedophile in Albox wanted in the UK in connection with 53 incidents of sexual abuse over a more than 40-year period. A police statement said the fugitive is believed to have sexually abused
family members aged between five and 16 between 1956 and 2000. Close collaboration between the Spanish police and the British National Crime Agency led to the location and arrest of the man near his Albox home.
for more flights across the board, commenting, “I think many of us would like to see improved services to all regions within the UK, and I think we, as a group, only reflect the tip of the iceberg.” It is still early days for the group, but it is attracting a steady influx of interested travellers and there are plans to contact politicians, public authorities, airport authorities and airlines.
WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM