Easyjet’s passenger numbers rise

Eayjet’s passenger traffic is up despite difficult market conditions

Easyjet has said that the number of passengers it flew in August this year rose 24% on the same month last year.

Europe’s second-largest budget airline said it transported some 4.6 million passengers in August 2008, compared to 3.7 million in August 2007.

Aer Lingus also saw an increase, flying 8.8% more passengers this August than in August 2007.

On a rolling 12-month basis to August 2008, Easyjet increased passenger numbers by 16.6%.

The number of seats filled also increased to 91.3% from 87.4% last August.

At Aer Lingus the load factor was 80.5% in August, a slight dip on 81.7% a year ago.

Easyjet shares were down 2% at 1005 BST, while Aer Lingus shares were down 0.9%.

Industry turbulence

The figures for Easyjet and Aer Lingus are relatively strong compared with those released on Friday by Scandinavian airline SAS.

SAS, which is partly owned by the governments of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, said traffic for August measured in revenue passenger kilometres, fell 0.7% and demand was weakening further.

Airlines worldwide have been effected by the economic deceleration and several airlines, including business airlines Silverjet, Maxjet and Eon and budget airline Zoom, have folded.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), global airlines will post losses in the region of $5.2bn (£2.96bn) this year and $4.1bn in 2009.

Blast demolishes landmark towers

Two iconic concrete cooling towers in South Yorkshire have been demolished in a controlled explosion.

Millions of drivers passed the 250ft (76m) towers by the Tinsley viaduct on the M1 at Sheffield over the decades.

At 0300 BST the blast to reduce the “salt and pepper pots” to rubble left part of the north tower still standing but it has since collapsed.

The Highways Agency said the motorway remains closed as planned while safety checks are carried out.

How is a cooling tower demolished?

The blast was watched by several thousand people and the M1 motorway had to be closed from midnight on Saturday, between junctions 32 and 35. It is thought the motorway may reopen on Sunday afternoon.

The towers stood only feet away from the twin-deck Tinsley viaduct, which carries the motorway on the top deck and the A631 on its lower deck.

A joint statement from tower owner E.ON and the Highways Agency said: “The demolition has now been successfully completed.

“The viaduct remains closed and the exclusion zone remains in place as planned to allow safety checks to continue.”

Only part of the north tower fell initially

After the dust settled, about a third of the north tower was still standing but a BBC reporter at the scene said the pile of rubble left after the explosion gradually fell in on itself and reduced significantly in height.

Paul Scriven, leader of Sheffield City Council, said the focus was now on getting traffic moving.

“We need to get the M1 opened as soon as possible,” he said. “We have a Bank Holiday where people will be moving around the country, coming back home, going to see relatives or going to see places.”

Despite campaigns to save the towers, which were the only remnants of the Blackburn Meadows power station, E.ON said it was destroying them as the 70-year-old structures had deteriorated.

Emily Highmore, from E.ON, said preserving the towers would have been very expensive.

“They would require a very, very significant investment and fundamentally speaking we are an energy company and our job is to keep people’s lights on.”

Nowhere else in the world has anyone sought to bring down similar structures that sit so close to a major highway viaduct Arthur Ashburner, Highways Agency

The firm has been given permission to build a £60m biomass power station at the site.

Arthur Ashburner, from the Highways Agency, said: “This demolition is a unique situation and as far as we are aware, nowhere else in the world has anyone sought to bring down similar structures that sit so close to a major highway viaduct.

“We will carry out a series of checks to ensure that there has been no damage to the viaduct, which in itself may take several hours.

“We will reopen the road only when we are entirely satisfied that it is safe to do so.”

Some locals had tried to save the cooling towers and have them turned into art.

Campaigner Tom Keeley said: “You see very few cooling towers that are in quite such a visible position, they’re 12 metres from the M1, and they kind of symbolise not only a gateway to Sheffield and Yorkshire but they also symbolise a gateway to the North.”

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