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Address Beach Resort Dubai Flash Sale
Address hotels are high-end luxury hotels in the UAE with a modern feel. The Adress Beach Resort is in the heart of Dubai and has launched a flash sale. There are discounts of up to 35% off on room rates, with free breakfast, and 30% discount on spa and dining experiences. The booking window is from 25th September 2023 to 31st March 2024.
The rooms offer views of the Arabian Gulf, plus there are five dining destinations, including ZETA Seventy Seven, Liā Brasil, and The Beach Grill. The hotel has an infinity pool on Level 77, the Spa on the 75th floor as well as a state-of-the-art gym, and The Qix Kids Club.
Guests who stay for two nights or more will also have the opportunity to either enjoy an Afternoon Tea experience in The Lounge, or Happy Hour at Liā Brasil, a fusion restaurant with Brazilian and Lebanese vibes.
Booking Dates: From September 25th to September 27th
Stay Dates: From September 25th 2023 to March 31st 2024
Offer: Up to 35% off on Room Rates
Inclusions:
- Breakfast
- 30% Discount on Spa & Dining
- Stay 2 nights and above & get the choice between:
- Afternoon Tea in The Lounge OR Happy Hour at Liā Brasil
You can find the sale page here.
British Airways new cabin crew uniforms this week
There was quite an uproar when BA announced their new uniform designs by men’s tailor Oswald Boateng. Personally, I wasn’t a huge fan, but I’ll reserve my final judgement until I see them in the flesh. Though the dangly scarves while serving food seems a mistake to me. I will miss the old Julian McDonald uniforms, which I think have stood the test of time well.
This week sees the start of cabin crew’s new uniforms rolling out, with the first ones appearing on 28 September, and the rollout should be complete by 6 October.
Will you miss the old uniforms? Let us know in the comments below.
Gatwick launches flight curb due to ATC staffing
You may have seen a few stories in the press recently about the delays at Gatwick as a result of a lack of ATC staff. To put it in context, ATC towers at airports are managed by separate ATC companies who bid for the contract. This is unlike the two UK ATC centres that are run by NATS as a monopoly and subject to price regulations by the CAA. At airports, the airport owner decides how much they are willing to pay for ATC and accepts a bid based on price and performance.
The major airports are usually still controlled by NATS because they have a huge amount of expertise and employ the majority of air traffic controllers in the UK. It came as a huge shock to everyone in 2014 when Gatwick decided to remove NATS staff from the tower and award the 10 year contract to a subsidiary of the German ATC company, DFS. Gatwick is a very complex and tightly honed operation with highly skilled controllers who operate one of the busiest single runway operations in the world. Now I’m guessing it did not go too well as four years before the end of the contract period, they handed the contract back to NATS late last year. I have heard that one of their key issues was their ability to recruit, train and retain staff for the airport. So NATS were brought back in to sort out the mess.
As you may imagine, moving everything from one company to another, including the staff, is not a simple process, and NATS have only had the contract back for a short time.
NATS inherited the staff from the previous company, so they had no control over how many they would get. Controllers can choose to transfer to the new company or leave. Unfortunately, you can’t just transfer controllers from say Heathrow, as a) they still need extensive training to work at Gatwick and b) then it leaves Heathrow short. You also can’t train new controllers quickly as it takes around 18 months at a minimum, and only around 1% of those that apply make it through to be a live controller.
At airports, they are very susceptible to lack of staff due to sickness as they only have a small number of staff due to the number of positions in a tower plus contingency. No ATC provider can afford to have unlimited numbers of staff sitting around when they are competing on price. Once NATS have trained more controllers, then staff sickness will not cause such an issue. According to Gatwick airport, 30% of NATS tower staff are currently unavailable for a variety of medical reasons including covid.
So this leaves us in the situation today where Gatwick today implemented a temporary limit on daily flight movements to prevent delays and last-minute cancellations for passengers.
The decision was made alongside NATS, and means the airport will be limited to 800 flights a day. This means both departure and arrival flights. The restrictions start today and will remain in place until Sunday, 1 October.
Stewart Wingate, CEO of London Gatwick, said: āThis has been a difficult decision but the action we have taken today means our airlines can fly reliable flight programmes, which gives passengers more certainty that they will not face last minute cancellations.
āWe are working closely with NATS to build resilience in the control tower, and this decision means we can prevent as much disruptions as possible.
āLondon Gatwick would like to apologise to any passengers who have been impacted by these restrictions.ā
Before the limit was put in place the movements expected for this week were as follows:
Tuesday- 800 movements
Weds ā 829 movements
Thursday ā 840 movements
Friday ā865 movements
Saturday ā 800 movements
Sunday ā 830 movements
As it has only just been announced, I have not heard of specific cancellations, but if you have a booking this week from Gatwick I would be keeping a close eye on it.
14 comments
Thanks Michele. Have literally just been through this. Booked on HER to LGW last night (live in Warwickshire but wanted BA DTP). Should have departed at 2145 and we had boarded on time and closed the doors. We were then told that we we being held for an hour due to ATC staff levels in Gatwick and sure enough, finally pushed back at 22.50.
Itās a real shame about the uniform. Much like the Chatham Dockyard livery which arrived in 1997 it remains elegant and timeless. This new thing is just generic airā¦
On a side note Iām impressed BA think they can roll it out to all there staff within a week..
The crew have been receiving their new uniforms over the past few months. A date is set within a window for all crew to start wearing them on their next working day. Hence the roll out week.
Will miss the new uniform terribly. Timeless, elegant and most importantly recognisable. Iāve had the pleasure of wearing it from the day it was rolled out in 2004. The tiny hint of glamour that eludes a āstewardessā is well and truly lost in this new uniform.
The cost should have been applied to things that donāt work like the terrible IT, and as for On Business !!!
Agree on the scarf as it is a potential danger to the wearer and see it having to be tucked in the shirt. If it āaināt broke donāt fix it.
The first I heard of the ATC debacle was on the 13th September on the JTR LGW evening departure whilst waiting in the passenger lounge (there are no airline of other lounges at Santorini airport) and our Captain walked over and addressed the throng. āDue to ATC shortages at LGW, we have been given a three and a half hour slotā¦ā My jaw dropped! As you know Michele, my background is airlines- BA, AA and tour operators and as such, weāre very well travelled. NEVER, anywhere in the world have I had a delay due to a āshortage of ATCāsā. HOW CAN THIS POSSIBLY HAPPEN? Now I know that ATC is very close to your heart Michele but what a National embarrassment this is. As it was, we had a 90 minute delay so it wasnāt a problem. I have flights down to AGP on Saturday to use 2 BA AMEX straggling vouchers on the final day, 30 September so fingers crossed itās not cancelled. @Andrew, until last year I lived in Warwickshire too and the schlep to LHR LGW for DTP is a pain. I moved to the South Coast last year and hoped that LGW would be better than dreadful BHX but Iām starting the think theyāre all too wedded to the bottom line to give more than a cursory thought to the PAX experience.
We await with anticipation if our flight from ANU on Thursday evening will be affected. The B777 does a shuttle run to Aruba and back first.
Might witness the new uniforms !!
Agree with previous comments regarding existing uniform- the new one seems to be a conglomeration of elements of budget airlines uniforms and I cannot envisage it standing the test of time
Iām sorry Doc but you canāt be that well travelled if youāve never experienced a delay because of a shortage of ATCās anywhere else in the world.
Moving onto your āhow can this possibly happen?ā question the answer is contained within Michelleās article.
Gatwick saw fit to replace NATS as ATC provider with a UK formed subsidiary of the German government outfit DFS. They proved to be inept at recruiting, training and validating controllers over an extended period, leading to them losing the contract early because of the shambles they created. NATS, having taken over the contract once again, are still grappling with the situation but it takes months to recruit and train to the required standard.
https://www.airportwatch.org.uk/2014/07/germanys-dfs-air-traffic-service-beats-nats-to-control-gatwick-flights-below-4000-feet/
Thank you. Heathrow I love as its 90 mins door to door but Gatwick is too far (especially the noisy road surface on the M25 near Reigate). The road was also shut between J8 and 9 as well. I also feel your pain around the lounges in Greece. HER lounge wasnt great with no toilets. You are right about BHX as well. Awful airport (and Im 20 mins away from it).
I used to work near LGW but commuted from Central London on the Gatwick Express, occasionally driving to work and back up to Warwickshire- horrible journey and a noisy M25 I agree. We were 20 mins from BHX- Fillongley for 25 years- swapped the countryside for the coast but stuck with another below par airport- at least we have a huge choose of destinations though. All the best Andrew.
Iām āsorryā Andy H, as I said, I have never had an ATC shortage delay and itās rude to contradict a genuine comment- who on Earth are you? How condescending. 35 years mainly as an MD or Board Director in the Travel Industry, I travelled weekly short haul, monthly to the US, and every 2 months to Oz and Asia. I think that counts as well travelledā¦as if I need to justify. I have never KNOWINGLY had an ATC delay due to a shortage of ATCās. Got it now? SMH
Not knowingly having been affected by an ATC staffing delay is different to your original assertion that ā NEVER, anywhere in the world have I had a delay due to a āshortage of ATCāsāā.
That statement is 100% guaranteed to be incorrect. There has been a global shortage of ATCOās for a long time. The FAA has struggled endlessly to train and retain, with your extensive flying there you will have been subject to a staffing delay somewhere. Most European ANSPās have also struggled especially post covid as staff retired with no new staff coming through behind due to pauses in training. You will have been subject to a delay over Europe too. I suspect itās the magnitude of the delay that has highlighted their existence to you. Normally youād be talking a few minutes, a few hours is extremely rare and consequently the captain let you know.
You can get all upset about being corrected but you are wrong sir and your original assertion was badly worded hence Andyās factual reply.
Sorry but itās not rude to contradict an incorrect assertion that youāve ānever had an ATC shortage delayā, albeit made through ignorance. As of the current Gatwick debacle, yes it is a national embarrassment that we selected a German supplier whose graduates from their College in Langen have, though no fault of their own, prove to be inadequate.
Who am I – a controller of more than thirty years experience and who, in retirement, continues to fly extensively. Over fifty flights and 160K miles flown so far this year with another 38.5K miles scheduled in the next six weeks and, guess what, the percentage of flights affected by ATC shortages so far is way above zero.
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