Jetting off… to Rome !

UK airline Jet2 is set to become the only carrier to offer direct flights to Rome’s largest airport from Glasgow.

From March next year, Jet2 will offer a three-day-per-week service (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays) to Rome Fiumicino Airport direct from Glasgow Airport.

Rome’s largest airport, Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino is 35km (22 miles) from the city centre.

Ryanair currently offers a service from Glasgow Prestwick  to the smaller Ciampino Airport, located just 12km (8 miles) south of the city while easyJet will soon be based solely at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport.

Jet2’s new route came after passengers on Jet2 voted  the city as the destination they would most like to visit from Glasgow in 2012.

Steve Heapy, chief commercial officer of Jet2.com, said: “Rome is one of the top tourist destinations in the world, and it’s great to be able to offer the people of Scotland the opportunity to travel to Rome’s leading airport at low flight prices with Jet2.”

The airline started flying from Glasgow four months ago and now flies to 14 destinations including New York, Malaga, Barcelona and Ibiza.

Glasgow Airport recently reported an increase in passenger numbers for July, seeing 800,000 people through the gates.

Amanda McMillan, Managing Director of Glasgow Airport, said: “July is traditionally one of our busiest months and this year was no different.

“Our charter airlines all reported a growth in passenger numbers and demand for long haul flights, particularly to the U.S, was very strong.”

The airport was recently treated to a surprise performance by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) after the 40-strong group turned up in the airport’s check-in hall.

The RSNO were pretending to check-in for a flight to Madrid when they burst into action, taking customers and staff by surprise.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 18th, 2011 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.