Based in London, Alan is Europe & Middle East correspondent at Air Transport World.
A daily newspaper journalist in the UK and Middle East for 15 years, he then joined the UK's most successful corporate publishing company before setting up his own company in 2004. He has worked with ATW since 2014.
London Stansted Airport is seeking financial aid from the UK government to improve its much-criticised rail link from London. Stansted lies approximately 30 miles northeast of the capital but the current Stansted Express rail service, although frequent and re-equipped just a year ago with modern rolling stock, takes between 45 minutes and an hour to traverse what is essentially a branch line. Journey times have actually increased in recent years due to ageing infrastructure, such as signalling equipment, which is becoming unreliable.
Virgin Atlantic Airways won its bid to take all 12 pairs of London Heathrow remedy slots demanded by the European Commission following the takeover by International Airlines Group of British Midland. The giving up of slots was a condition of the takeover deal; IAG also owns British Airways.
