The low-cost carrier said it was committed to maintaining GB Airways’ schedule to Gatwick, at least until after the 2008 summer season.

“We will carry on flying to Gibraltar with exactly the same programme as GB Airways after March,” said Andy Harrison, easyJet’s Chief Executive, in comments to the press at the time.

By the end of the summer the airline will have a better idea of the route’s performance and how it will fit into the broader easyJet network.

It is possible, for example, that easyJet will step in to fill the gap left by Iberia and GB Airways on routes to Madrid, where the low-cost carrier is expanding its operations base.

Even as the announcement was made, the airline was already talking of “joining the dots” in its network and developing new routes “predominantly [in the] southern Med and north Africa”.

For its part, British Airways announced last month that it will start a daily flight between Gibraltar and Gatwick as from March 30th. The service will likely be operated with a Boeing 737 300, with up to 30 Club Class seats and room for 89 Economy passengers.

Alongside Monarch’s services to Luton, the GB Airways’ acquisition could - in theory at least – result in three carriers serving Gibraltar as from April next year. Time will tell.

One thing that is clear however, is that any reduction to Gibraltar’s prohibitive airport costs will go a long way to encouraging such links. Landing fees at Gibraltar airport are far higher than at other airfields in the area.
In the immediate wake of the announcement by easyJet and GB Airways, the Gibraltar Government recognised this and signalled its intention to slice fees at the airport.

“The Government expects to announce a new reduced airport charges tariff structure before the end of the year,” it said in a statement at the time.

The Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce welcomed the prospect of increased flights to Gibraltar and said such air links were “fundamental” to the continued growth of the finance sector, shipping and other key areas of economic activity.

“As Gibraltar’s economy continues to grow and become even more international, it is critical that our air links and associated infrastructure develop in tandem,” said Nicholas Russo, the Chamber’s president.

“We welcome all responsible operators providing services to and from Gibraltar and believe that these announcements highlight the increased level of confidence being shown in Gibraltar’s future economic development.”

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Peter Caruana led the Gibraltar Social Democrats to their fourth consecutive win at last October’s general election, but with the narrowest margin since the party first came to power in 1996.

Mr Caruana defeated long-time rival Joe Bossano, leader of the GSLP/Liberal alliance, by just 4%, though all ten GSD candidates were elected to the 17-seat Parliament.
In a speech on election night, Mr Caruana acknowledged the close vote when he said the electorate had been divided “more or less down the middle”.
And he said the GSD “would do what we can to see if we can, in this small community, develop a slightly more consensual form of government as we go forward.”
The government bench includes three new faces: Local barrister Daniel Feetham, who has moved from his work at leading law firm Hassans to the newly-created post of Justice Minister, and former Union Chiefs Louis Montiel and Edwin Reyes.
On the Opposition bench, the Liberal Party led by Joseph Garcia gained an extra seat in Parliament. The GSLP/Liberal split is now four/three respectively, though in practice this is unlikely to have any impact on policy decisions.
New faces on the Opposition bench include Hassans barristers Gilbert Licudi (GSLP) and Neil Costa (Liberal).
Mr Caruana announced a ministerial shuffle shortly after the election.

The new government portfolios are as follows:
Peter Caruana
The Chief Minister.
• The economy & finance, including:
• The economy generally.
• Public finance, government
revenue & expenditure.
• The Treasury, Income Tax, Customs,
Social Insurance Contributions & Rates.
• Financial services.
• Gambling & Lotteries.
• Information and public relations.
• Personal status, including immigration, residence and adoptions.
• EU and measures.
• Elections.
• The administration of Government departments charged with the aforesaid.
• Overall responsibility for, and supervision of, Government departments and public administration.

Joe Holliday
Ministry of Enterprise, Development & Technology and Deputy Chief Minister
• Trade & Commerce.
• Tourism.
• Ship Repair Yard.
• E-Commerce.
• E-Government.
• Industrial Parks.
• Inward Investment & International
Business Development.
• Telecommunications & IT.
• Town Planning & Building Control.
• Lands.
• Postal Services.
• Utilities: Water (Aquagib); Electricity (GEA); telephones (Gibtelecom).
• Broadcasting & Media.
• The administration of Government departments charged with the aforesaid.
• Assisting the Chief Minister in his exercise of overall responsibility for, and supervision of, Government departments and public administration.
Ernest Britto
Ministry of the Environment, Traffic & Transport
• Parking.
• Roads.
• Traffic.
• Licensing & Vehicles.
• Public Service Vehicles.
• Public Transport.
• Shipping and the Port.
• The Cruise & Ferry Terminal.
• The Airport.
• Natural Environment.
• Environmental Health.
• Urban Renewal Schemes.
• Beautification & Cleansing of public areas.
• Refuse collection & disposal.
• The Upper Rock.
• Green Areas.
• Sewage & Sewage Treatment.
• Noise abatement.
• Animal Welfare.
• The administration of Government departments charged with the aforesaid.
• Technical Services Department.
Fabian Vinet
Ministry of Housing
• Housing.
• Hostels.
• Building & Works.
• the administration of Government departments charged with the aforesaid.
Jaime Netto
Ministry of Family, Youth & Community Affairs
• Families & Children.
• Social Services – Social Work, the elderly, the disabled, residential homes and Day Centres.
• Social Security benefits, Pensions &
Social Assistance.
• Consumer Affairs.
• Minorities Issues.
• Civic rights (including Citizens advice, Ombudsman, Consumer protection, Data protection and Equality).
• Women’s Issues.
• Drugs & Substance Abuse Rehabilitation.
• Youth.
• The administration of Government departments charged with the aforesaid.
Yvette Del Agua
Ministry of Health & Civil Protection
• Public Health.
• Medical & Health Services.
• Civil Contingencies.
• Fire Brigade.
• Health & Safety.
• the administration of Government departments charged with the aforesaid.
Daniel Feetham
Ministry of Justice
• Justice.
• The Legal System.
• Probation Service.
• Tribunals.
• Community Service Scheme.
• Access to Justice/Legal Aid & Assistance.
• Law Reform.
• Publication of Laws.
• Police Issues/Crime/Law & Order.
• The Prison.
• International Legal Assistance.
• Law Drafting.
• the administration of Government departments charged with the aforesaid.

Mr Feetham will be based in No 6 Convent Place, from where he will also support, the Chief Minister in some of the Chief Minister’s ministerial portfolios.
Luis Montiel
Ministry of Employment, Labour & Industrial Relations
• Industrial relations.
• Employment.
• Vocational Training Schemes.
• Training Centres.
• Sheltered/Assisted Employment Schemes.
• The administration of Government departments charged with the aforesaid.
Clive Beltran
Ministry of Education & Training
• Education.
• Training.
• The administration of Governmental departments charged with the aforesaid.
Edwin Reyes
Ministry of Culture, Heritage, Sport & Leisure
• Culture.
• Heritage
• Sports.
• Leisure.
• The administration of Governmental departments charged with the aforesaid.

The Shadow Portfolios:
Joe Bossano, Leader of the Opposition
• The Economy, Public Finance and External Relations.
Fabian Picardo
• Financial Services, Telecommunications, the Environment, Industrial Relations and the Media.
Joseph Garcia
• Trade and Industry (including small businesses), the Port, Tourism and Heritage.
Charles Bruzon
• Housing, the elderly, the disabled and
the family.
Gilbert Licudi
• Employment, Training, Youth, Sport
and Transport.
Neil Costa
• Health and Social Services.
Steven Linares
• Government Services (including utilities), Education and Culture.

On the southern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar, the first phase of Morocco’s new megaport, Tangier Mediterranean, is already in operation.

A container terminal run by global liner giant AP Moller – better known through its shipping subsidiary Maersk – is already handling cargo there.
The company’s familiar sky-blue gantry cranes have for years dominated the skyline in Algeciras, where it operates a dedicated terminal handling over 3m containers a year. Now they are evident on the Moroccan side of the Strait too.
At this Moroccan terminal, Maersk and its partner companies transfer cargo between small ships serving African markets to larger vessels heading to Europe and the US.
It is an operation that mirrors the one in Algeciras. In the coming years, it will turn Tangier into a major hub for freight.
Morocco has already awarded a tender for a second container terminal at the Tangier Mediterranean site. It will be run by some of Maersk’s main rivals.
Earlier this year Morocco also announced plans for a second port, Tangier Mediterranean 2, where a further two box terminals will be built by 2012.
Mohammed Margaoui, the kingdom’s Transport Secretary, said last month that by 2015, ports on either side of the Strait could be handling as many as 19m containers a year.
Morocco’s vision, one that is shared by Spain too, is to turn the Strait into a major platform for global trade.
Already work is underway in the port’s immediate hinterland to build road and rail links that will serve free trade zones and logistics zones, and link the entire project to the deeper hinterland beyond.
Some European manufacturers have already announced plans to relocate to Morocco to cash in on cheaper labour and user-friendly fiscal regimes.
Companies such as Spain’s Acciona Trasmediterranea are positioning themselves for a forecast rise in cross-Strait freight traffic as a result.
This month, the Spanish company will launch a daily rail service from Algeciras to southern France, bolstered by increased ferry links from Tangier. The service aims to tap volumes of perishable cargo moving north into Europe.
All across the southern shore of the Strait there is evidence of major investment, both in industrial infrastructure and in leisure facilities.
The road from Ceuta to Tetouan through M’Diq resembles more the Costa del Sol than the traditional image of northern Morocco, historically one of the country’s poorest regions.
The pace of change is frenzied, the transformation remarkable.
By next year, the first of nine ferry berths will be operational in the new Tangier port, as will a terminal to handle liquid bulk cargoes such as fuel oil.
There are plans to start bunkering operations from the port, which will increase competition between ports on the Strait but should also serve to attract more ships to the region, which will ultimately benefit everyone.
In the next two to three years, all the traffic currently handled by the existing port of Tangier will be shifted to the new site, freeing up the old facilities for development as a cruise and yachting destination.

If there is one issue that is guaranteed to generate heated debate in Gibraltar, it is the issue of traffic congestion.

At peak times during the day Gibraltar’s roads are, quite literally, clogged to a standstill.
Much has been made by opposition parties recently about the impact of trucks and goods vehicles on the situation, and in truth this cannot be denied.
The boom in construction projects around the Rock has generated significant heavy traffic, as materials and equipment are ferried to and from building sites. The slow-moving trucks block roads, form tailbacks. But beyond all this there is a deeper, underlying fact that is perhaps more uncomfortable to confront: Gibraltar’s love affair with the car.

In assessing this situation, the Gibraltar Development Plan presents a number of stark facts to set the context.
First it points out the obvious, namely that Gibraltar’s roads are in the main narrow, and quite often steep. Not great for driving on, in other words. Then the report highlights a worrying statistic: In 2005, there were 23,000 vehicles on the road here, just 5000 or so less than the entire population of Gibraltar.
Add to that the impact of visitors across the border. In 1984, a year before the frontier with Spain was fully re-opened, the number of overland visitors to Gibraltar was 477,000. That figure shot up to 7.4m visitors in 2005 and continues to rise year-on-year. Post-Cordoba efforts to ease the flow of traffic at the border and lessen the queues have, officials say, resulted in even greater numbers of vehicles crossing into Gibraltar. The upshot is more queues, particularly on the way out.
The context for these dry numbers, the report points out, is Gibraltar’s “heavy reliance on the private motor car for all trips, many of which are for short distances.”
Perhaps the most damning assessment of the present situation is contained within the environmental impact assessment that accompanies the Development Plan. The assessment was prepared by a specialist UK consultant and provides the benefit not just of an expert eye, but also of an outsider’s perspective.
The author notes that efforts have been made over the past years to encourage the use of public transport, for example by providing free bus rides for children and pensioners.
“This may be the start of a long-term change in attitudes to use of public transport,” the environmental study notes.
“However, the present situation in terms of traffic flows verges at times on gridlock, especially in the morning and evening rush-hours and particularly where these coincide with aircraft movements at the airport involving the closure of the cross-runway road.”
The main driver behind this situation is the prolific use of the private vehicle in Gibraltar, the assessment adds.
This high use of private transport aggravates demands on limited land resources by increasing the need to provide garage and car parking space, which is a particular planning problem.
The study acknowledges that it is easy to point to the drawbacks of the private car and to ignore the fact that for many Gibraltarians it is an essential support to their freedom to travel, “and a way of compensating for the confined nature of living in Gibraltar.”
“Politically, it is difficult to legislate for change, as demonstrated by the length of debate over the idea of congestion charging in London,” the environmental
study concludes.
“However, if there is one subject that needs to be tackled in order to achieve a sustainable future for Gibraltar it is the subject of transport.”
“This is not to argue for the banning of the car or unreasonable restrictions on the rights of individuals, but to suggest that priorities need to be changed to give equal consideration to walkers and cyclists and to design and build effective transfer facilities between cars and public transport.”
The Development Plan introduces a twin-track approach to tackling the traffic problem.
On the one hand it acknowledges the need for new road infrastructure and parking facilities to ease existing congestion. But there is also an awareness of the need to foster a move away from the reliance on private transport to get around the Rock.
“The Plan’s strategic principle in relation to transport is to cater for the needs of private transport but to encourage and facilitate alternative means of transport,” the document states.
Central to the new infrastructure projects is the plan for a new road at the frontier and the airport. By diverting traffic through a tunnel at the east end of the runway, the idea is to ease the flow of traffic and remove the disruption caused by flights.
Additionally the design will rationalise the various commercial goods clearance activities at the frontier, including lorry parking and customs and clearing agents’ facilities.
There is also a proposal to widen Devil’s Tower road and develop park and ride facilities to encourage visitors to leave their cars and use public transport to move around once on the Rock.
Elsewhere, a new link road from Europort to Coaling Island will facilitate the flow of traffic to and from new housing developments in the area of the port, as well as from north to south and back.
In the Upper Town area, the link between Moorish Castle and Willis’s Road will help decongest an area prone to traffic jams, as residential traffic meets cars coming down from the Upper Rock Nature Reserve.
A number of new car parks are also foreseen, some of which are already under construction. The guiding principle here is that developers must compensate for any loss in off-road parking.
The Development Plan also acknowledges the impact on traffic of ongoing construction projects, though it offers only road conceptual ideas on how to tackle this issue.
“During the construction stage of new developments there has been a noticeable trend over the last few years for contractors to appropriate public highway land, whether this be footpaths or parts of the roadway, in order to facilitate their construction activities,” it says.
“The Commission is concerned with this trend as it frequently results in major disruption and inconvenience to the general public by disrupting vehicular and pedestrian traffic flows.”
To tackle this problem, permission for new developments would normally require construction activities to be limited to the site of the application, but there will inevitably be times where this is not impossible.
In between all this, is a commitment to build cycle paths wherever possible. Gibraltar’s size, the plan notes, should make it ideal for cycling, yet less than 1% of the population regularly use bicycles to get around the Rock.
Cycle paths may help encourage others to opt for that mode of transport. Ultimately, particularly in the coming years while much of the new infrastructure is being built, the only real solution to the congestion problem is to leave the car at home whenever possible.

Customs inspectors have tightened border checks in the run-up to Christmas to ensure holiday shoppers pay duty on goods bought in Spain.
Anyone caught dodging the rules faces a fine and even a court appearance.
The move has helped address concerns long voiced by local retailers, many of who say they are not competing on a level playing field with shops in Spain.
In an official statement late last month, Customs said: “In the run up to the festive season, Customs are reminding the general public of the obligation to declare on importation all dutiable goods that have been obtained outside Gibraltar.”
A simplified personal declaration form was made available to people crossing into Spain to speed up the customs clearance process.
Local travel agents organising shopping trips were briefed on the procedures and followed and provided with the forms.
“Failure to declare any goods will result in court procedures or fines being imposed,” the official notice warned.
As this edition went to press, there was no information available as to how many people had fallen foul of the tightened checks.