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Holidaymakers who fly from Gatwick will be celebrating the recent news from Monarch Airlines regarding extra flights from the Sussex airport.

On July 18, a brand new route to Palma in Majorca started up, and soon services to Sharm el Sheikh are due to be increased as a result of customer demand. Monarch did not previously offer flights from Gatwick to Palma although 20 flights a week to Majorca were on offer from the airline from Birmingham, Manchester and Luton. The new Gatwick service will operate three times a week.

Thursday flights to Sharm el Sheikh, one of Egypt’s most popular Red Sea destinations, start on Sept 9 and will run for seven weeks, in addition to the five Gatwick flights a week which are already available from Monarch to the resort.

It is also good news for passengers flying out of Manchester. An extra service to Gibraltar is being offered every Sunday from Sept 12 to Oct 31 to supplement the 10 flights which already operate to the destination from Manchester and Luton.

A new terminal at Gibraltar airport is to open soon, which is more good news for passengers: the airport is used not only by visitors to the British overseas territory but also by travellers to southern Spain.

Bookings for all three destinations can be made online and prices start at just £42 for a one-way ticket (inclusive of all taxes) or £68 return.

Monarch operates both charter and scheduled flights to 50 destinations and carries over 6.5 million passengers each year.

Gatwick’s new monorail service has been launched, two months ahead of schedule. The airport’s owner, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) has called the shuttle’s launch, ‘the first major milestone’ in the airport’s £1bn renovation.

The original shuttle was decommissioned in September 2009 to allow for the replacement of two ancient trains, and replaced with a temporary bus service. Since then, every inch of the monorail’s track has been refurbished, and both terminal stations have been given a modern facelift.

James van Hoften, a former astronaut, was at the monorail’s launch party. Mr. Hoften clocked up more than 300 space hours in his seven-year NASA career, participating in missions with the Discovery and Challenger space shuttles in the early eighties.

The astronaut echoed GIP’s sentiments by saying – ‘the monorail is one small step in our plan to make Gatwick a great airport that passengers love to use.’

Gatwick's new trains, which were hauled into place earlier this year, are fitted with CCTV cameras and advanced ‘sensory technology,’ allowing the train to count the number of people that are waiting for its arrival.

The carriages also have more seats than their predecessors did, and provide greater accessibility to disabled travellers.

GIP wants to challenge Heathrow and Stansted for a greater share of London’s travellers. The firm has already rebranded the airport in its own image, stripping the British Airport Authority’s colours from its website in June, and dropping the word ‘London’ from its name.

The investment fund has also bought into London City Airport, and the waste management company, Biffa.

Gatwick Airport owner, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), has unveiled a £1bn plan to revamp the Crawley hub. The investment fund claims that almost every aspect of Gatwick’s operation will be redeveloped over the next two years, from branding to entrance forecourts and departure lounges.

A recent press release on Gatwick’s website suggests that the overhaul will begin with the unveiling of a new airport shuttle in July. The shuttle, which has been on ice since an older model was decommissioned in September, cost £45m to replace, and should decrease travel times between the airport’s terminals.

Self-service machines at security desks, a variety of new shops, and an expansion to the hub’s north terminal make up the majority of the changes, but the GIP has a number of tiny projects and ‘gestures’ planned for the future, such as a renewed commitment to customer service. The airport will also drop the word ‘London’ from its name.

Gatwick bosses have embraced a new initiative by the coalition government, which will see the airport focus on service rather than the size of its runways. The South East Airports Task Force will attempt to make the three London airports more efficient, reducing queuing times and improving the reliability of aircraft.

Stewart Wingate, chief at Gatwick airport, called the GIP’s investment a ‘milestone’, adding ‘the airport has long been recognised as a friendly and enjoyable place to travel. It’s by building on these qualities and investing in new facilities that the airport will go from strength to strength.’

Gatwick is also set to benefit from a new flight to Cancun, Mexico, courtesy of UK flag-carrier, British Airways. The route, which begins on the 3 November 2010, will operate twice a week, flying direct to the resort. EasyJet has also given Gatwick a boost, by unveiling a new flight to Gothenburg, Sweden.

The Environment Agency has begun the construction of a £15m flood defence system in an effort to protect Gatwick Airport from ‘major disruption’.

The Sussex airport was inundated with flood waters in 2000 when as the nearby River Mole burst its banks, forcing the closure of a road running beneath the hub’s south terminal.

Flooding is a relatively rare occurrence at UK airports, and bosses prefer to spend their cash on battling terrorists or extending runways into the surrounding countryside. Problems can arise very quickly, however, as torrential rain can cause localised flooding in areas without any rivers or streams.

Crawley was flooded in 1968 and 2000, but the Environment Agency didn’t take much notice until 2008, when a care home for the elderly had to be evacuated. 47people, including a 101-year-old woman, were displaced during the night.

The agency, which is run by the government, has since created the Upper Mole Flood Alleviation Scheme to reduce the threat of flooding in the West Sussex region. A dam on Tilgate Lake will have its capacity increased and three ‘flood reservoirs’ will be created in the Crawley area.

Contractors are bidding to have the scheme completed within the next three years. Ian Tomes, risk manager at the Environment Agency, called the scheme "vital", stating that flooding is "very destructive and could cause major disruption to the whole region", making it "vital we do everything we can to reduce the risk".

In related news, Global Infrastructure Partners’ (GIP) takeover of Gatwick appears to be finally complete after the firm redesigned the airport’s website. GIP has ditched the colours of former owner BAA and branded the site in its trademark blue and white, similar to the investment fund’s own homepage.

A series of new rules will allow aircraft to fly through double the volume of volcanic ash, equivalent to ‘two grains of sand in a bathtub.’ The safe maximum has been changed from 0.002 to 0.004 grams per cubic metre – still a tiny figure, but sufficient to prevent 94% of all ash-related delays.

The change was ‘encouraged’ by airline bosses, who have been vocal critics of the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) trigger-happy attitude to airspace closures since the eruption of Eyjafjoll began in mid-April. The problem was compounded last week, when the CAA closed UK airspace for an ash cloud that didn't exist.

British Airways boss, Willie Walsh, called the flight bans a ‘gross overreaction to a very minor risk,’ whilst Richard Branson was concerned that the number of flight cancellations had got ‘beyond a joke.’ Ryanair founder, Michael O’Leary also criticised the CAA’s ‘outdated, inappropriate, and imaginary’ ash tracking models.

Leeds-based airline, Flybe, became the first carrier to adopt the CAA’s new rules, which require all aeroplanes to have ash-tolerant engines, or at least, permission to fly from their engine manufacturer. Flybe bosses predict that just 21 flights would have been cancelled last month if the new rules had been implemented sooner, rather than 380.

Iceland’s Met Office released a statement on Monday claiming that Eyjafjoll was now venting steam rather than ash. The news looks promising for aviation bosses, but experts have warned that several other volcanoes near Eyjafjoll could be stirring.

Thor Thordarson, a volcanologist at Edinburgh University, predicts that up to four Icelandic volcanoes could erupt within the next few years – Grimsvotn, whose 1996 eruption destroyed Iceland’s main ring road, Hekla and Askja volcanoes, and Eyjafjoll’s larger neighbour, Katla.

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In 1990, Saddam Hussein stole ten planes from Kuwait as part of an on-going invasion of the oil-rich emirate. It might not seem like something that would affect the UK, but the dead dictator’s thieving ways precipitated the longest court case in British history, a legal battle that has yet to end even twenty years later.

Kuwait Airways, the erstwhile owner of the missing aeroplanes, has demanded compensation of £780m from the High Court, or a gift of ten airliners from the Iraqi government. The troubled republic is prepared to do ‘absolutely nothing’ to satisfy Kuwait’s demands, however, according to Chris Gooding, a London solicitor.

The nature of the case is long-winded and confusing, but associates of Kuwait Airways, namely British lawyers, are allowed to take steps to recoup the emirate’s losses on foreign soil. So, when Iraqi Airways announced a new route from Baghdad to Gatwick Airport, Kuwait’s lawyers descended on the Sussex hub, determined to capture any plane that landed there.

At the end of April, the first Baghdad-London flight in two decades met with disaster, after the chief executive of Iraqi Airways, Kifah Hassan, was detained on the Gatwick apron. Mr. Hassan will now remain in the UK until his airline produces an exhaustive list of its planes, including details of how they were acquired.

Iraq has tried to establish a permanent air link with British airports on many occasions, but with the exception of an Aer Olympic route from Birmingham, the country's efforts have been thwarted at every turn.

A spokesperson for Iraq’s Ministry of Transportation was disgusted with the developments, ‘Kuwait insists on harassing and embarrassing Iraqis whenever they attempt to open a window to the outside world.’

The fate of the Gatwick-Baghdad service is unknown. The plane that was carrying Mr. Hassan, an airliner on loan from a Swedish aviation firm, has been returned to its original owner.

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In the months leading up to March 2010, Gatwick Airport had its whole business model turned upside down by its new owners, Global Infrastructure Partners. A few redundancies later, and the Crawley hub appears born-anew, surviving the recent cabin-crew strike with few disruptions, and securing a bumper crop of new flights.

Budget airline, Flybe, and everybody’s favourite flag-carrier, British Airways (BA), have each added one new destination to their Gatwick schedules. Flybe will begin offering a brand new route to Nantes, France, on the 15th July, whereas BA is increasing its commitment to the Channel Island of Jersey from the 26th April.

Flybe is one of the largest providers of Anglo-French routes in Europe, currently offering 370 flights to and from the French mainland. The airline’s new Nantes route will operate six times a week from Gatwick, and help to bolster Flybe’s ‘enviable reputation for serving France,’ to quote the airline’s commercial officer, Mike Rutter.

British Airways is well known for its transatlantic routes, but not often associated with island airports and tiny coastal resorts. The carrier now boasts an impressive 41 weekly flights to Jersey, however, departing every morning except Sunday. BA will be eager to reclaim some of the passengers it lost during last month’s spat with workers' union, Unite.

A one-way ticket to Jersey costs between £50 and £70 with British Airways, depending on the date of departure. Flybe’s route to Nantes is slightly less expensive, at £40 each way. Both routes can be booked online at the two airlines' respective websites.

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As many of us have discovered to our cost, volcanic ash, such as that spewed from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajoekull volcano, makes conditions too dangerous for flying. But what exactly are the dangers and have there been problems in the past which justify the blanket ban on air traffic?

The main risk is that an accumulation of volcanic ash particles in a jet engine can cause the engine to become clogged with molten glass resulting in an eventual shut down of the engines. The characteristics of the dust mean that when it reaches a very high temperature it will melt. Modern jet engines operate at a higher temperature (2000 degrees C) than the melting point of the dust, meaning that the system required to keep the engine cool enough to operate would melt as, in turn, would the engine.

The Finnish Air Force flew several fighter jets over Northern Finland last Thurs prior to air space being closed and reported substantial damage to engines resulting from the ingestion of volcanic ash.

In 1982, after the eruption of an Indonesian volcano, a BA plane got into trouble near Java. The pilot Eric Moody explained that all engines were lost for around 15 mins and the plane plummeted from 37,000 feet to 12,000 feet. Eventually his repeated attempts to restart the engines worked for one engine and he was able to avoid ditching the 747. A Singapore Airlines plane had a similar experience as a result of the same volcano and in 1989 a KLM plane flew into problems in Alaska following a volcanic eruption.

As a direct result of Mr Moody’s experience in 1982 the emergency protocols were changed for pilots.

40-year old Lithuanian man was prevented from crossing the border at Gatwick Airport earlier this month after a hi-tech security scanner identified him as a convicted drug smuggler. The device, which is called eBorders, is capable of checking the passport of a traveller against a criminal and terrorist ‘watch list’, helping security officials capture crooks before they enter the country.

The man, who had just arrived from the city of Vilnius in south-eastern Lithuania, held a previous conviction for a cocaine trafficking offence in 1998. He was eventually deported from the UK four years later. The government made sweeping changes to airport security over the next eight years, and in 2009 his details were transferred to the National Border Targeting Centre (NBTC).

Despite its relatively young age, the NBTC is an integral part of eBorders, checking more than 250 million passenger movements per year. The information collected by eBorders is quickly sent to the NBTC to be filtered. Innocent citizens are allowed to pass through security freely, but villains are immediately apprehended by border officials.

The eBorders system has helped police catch 5,400 dangerous criminals since it was introduced.

Gatwick boss Nick Crouch was impressed with eBorders. He said the fact that they could identify a convicted drug smuggler before he could enter the country "clearly demonstrates the value of eBorders". He added that it would help them to "capture known criminals, while gathering evidence against smugglers and people traffickers". The eBorders device also incorporates facial recognition software.

The Home Office does not expect eBorders to become a cornerstone of airport security until 2014.

The new owner of Gatwick Airport has certainly made an impression in the few months since it took over.

Since its arrival in October 2009, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) has sold a 12% stake in the airport to a Korean pension fund, promised a billion pounds for upgrades and redevelopments, and now, just five months later, has told 120 staff members to get ready for the dole queue.

GIP, which also owns 75% of London City Airport, has moved to distance itself from the management style used by BAA (British Airports Authority), which means that a period of ‘hiring and firing’ is inevitable. The firm has already welcomed a new managing director, a planning officer and an operating boss into the fray – all at the expense of the existing BAA staff.

Whilst GIP hopes to keep the number of redundancies to a minimum, the investment fund has told everybody in Gatwick’s planning and commercial divisions to reapply for their jobs or risk losing them altogether. Bosses have somehow managed to blame BAA for the cull, citing ‘years of underinvestment’ by the aviation giant, forcing a complete overhaul of most Gatwick operations.

Airport chief Stewart Wingate tried to put a pleasant spin on the job cuts, claiming that the restructuring was announced "to give us the opportunity to bring in new and fresh people".

GIP wants to speed up security checks at the Sussex airport, whilst expanding the North Terminal to handle an extra 4 million travellers a year. Gatwick will also unveil a £45 million refit of its monorail service during the summer holiday season, where two hi-tech trains will be introduced.