Austrian airline Laudamotion is to become the latest airline to operate from Liverpool John Lennon Airport, having announced plans to commence a twice weekly service from Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) to Vienna, starting in Winter 2019.

Flights will commence on 28 October operating at convenient flight times on Mondays and Fridays using Airbus A320 aircraft.

Laudamotion has bases in Vienna, Innsbruck, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf and Palma and currently only operate to London Stansted in the UK.

This is LJLA’s first scheduled service to Vienna and is the latest new destination to be served direct from the North West’s faster, easier, friendlier airport. It will be the third new airline to be announced in Liverpool during the last 9 months.

Paul Winfield, Director of Aviation Development for LJLA commented: “For Laudamotion to choose Liverpool to be their first UK regional airport to operate from, is a tremendous achievement for the Airport and shows how attractive operating from here is becoming for some of Europe’s top airline’s.

“Vienna is another new destination to be served from Liverpool and we expect this to be popular with both the leisure traveller and the region’s business community.”

Andreas Gruber, Managing Director of Laudamotion added: “Our routes work because we have the right offer for price-sensitive customers. In particular, with our new City Shuttle routes, I’m sure to increase the traffic with our new non-stop service to and from Vienna.”

Two major brands are set to open at Trafford Retail Park in early 2020 after Peel Retail Parks, part of Peel Land & Property (Peel L&P), announced it has received the green light to construct its phase two development from Trafford Council. 

Aldi has signed for a 18,568 sq ft discount food store and Starbucks has agreed a lease on a 1,800 sq ft drive-thru unit with parking at the Barton Roadscheme. Joining an already strong line up of retailers including Dunelm, Food Warehouse, Nando’s and B&M, the new brands are expected to further boost the park’s 4 million annual footfall figure. 

Stuart Parks at Aldi UK said: “This site is an ideal location for a new Aldi store as it’s a shopping area that our customers already visit. We look forward to opening the doors of this store next year and helping the community shop and save closer to home.”

Roger Wheeldon, Development Director at Peel Land and Property said: “Phase two of Trafford Retail Park will be a welcome addition of retail floor space to what is already a top performing park. The new Tenants will provide additional choice for our existing customers and we’re confident the new stores will encourage a new clientele to the park, subsequently increasing footfall.

“We expect to start on site in summer 2019 and hope to see both Aldi and Starbucks trading early 2020.”

The date of the 16th Manchester Hoteliers’ Association Annual Ball has been announced.

It will take place at The Principal Manchester on Friday, October 11, with more than 600 people from the region’s hospitality industry expected to attend.

Last year’s event raised a total of £37,000 for MHA’s chosen charities.

Hospitality Action were credited with 50% of the funds raised, receiving £18,333, with the remaining amount equally split between charities including Mustard Tree, Breast Cancer Care and The Christie.

MHA Chair Adrian Ellis said: “Last year’s MHA Ball saw a record number of people in attendance and a record amount of money raised, which we are hoping to exceed again this year.

“It’s no secret that the MHA Ball has become a fixture in the calendar for anyone who works in the hospitality sector throughout Greater Manchester.

“We look forward to rewarding the hard-working individuals within our thriving sector while raising another record sum of money for a number of worthy causes in the region.”

There are currently more than 22,000 hotel bedrooms in the Greater Manchester area and 9,000 bedrooms in Manchester city centre, with more hotels set to bolster numbers further when they open over the next 12 months.

“Manchester is continually flourishing and attracts tourists from all over the world,” said Adrian, who is also General Manager of The Lowry Hotel.

“Many talented individuals employed in the hospitality sector work relentlessly to ensure visitors to our city have the best possible experience. That’s why it’s imperative that we continue to hold the MHA Ball, to recognise those people who enable the hospitality sector in this city to thrive.

“We look forward to another prosperous and successful year and thank The Principal Hotel for yet again hosting the MHA Ball 2019.”

Praetura Ventures has announced it is raising money for its first Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) fund, as part of its mission to bridge the estimated £300m venture capital funding gap for scaling businesses in the North West of England. The company plans to raise £15m of EIS capital to fund around eight to 10 early-stage companies in the region.

Praetura Ventures already has a proven track record generating lucrative returns by backing early-stage businesses. The company has invested over £100m since 2011, with four successful exits to-date at an average of 8x return on investment. Its existing portfolio is made up of some of the North West’s most exciting early stage businesses including Peak AI and Sorted. Due to close mid-May, the EIS fund will invest in high-growth early-stage tech or IP enabled businesses, targeting a minimum return of 2x over a five to seven-year period.

With 10% of the UK’s high-growth firms, but only 3% of venture capital, the North West scale-up business community is significantly underserved and a lack of venture capital funding in the region presents an additional barrier for entrepreneurs as they look to scale their businesses. With its ‘more than money’ approach to investment andcombined experience of over 250 years in investment and managing business growth, Praetura Ventures is in a prime position to identify and support high-performancebusinesses who may otherwise struggle to get the financial backing they need.

Praetura Ventures is also announcing a number of senior hires. Formerly Chief Commercial Officer at Phones4U, Scott Hooton has joined the business as Operations Director. In addition, Praetura Ventures has brought on board Jonathan Prescott, previously Regional Sales Director at Octopus Investments to head up Business Development and Fundraising activities. Mark Lyons and Guy Weaver have also joined to co-lead the Investment Team after holding leadership roles at Aston Ventures and KPMG respectively.

Praetura Ventures is part of the Praetura group, sitting alongside debt-focused businesses Praetura Asset Finance and Praetura Commercial Finance.

David Foreman, Managing Director of Praetura Ventures, said: “The launch of our first EIS fund is an exciting milestone for Praetura Ventures, as we look to bridge the funding gap in the North West. The fund will allow us to back exceptional management teams and entrepreneurs and will open up opportunities for investors to benefit from the entrepreneurial talent in the region. The fund is the first step in our journey to become a leading venture capital firm in the region. We’re now eager to hear from ambitious entrepreneurs and management teams as well as investors who are keen to invest in exciting opportunities in the North West.”

David Grimes, founder and CEO of Sorted, said: “Some investors like to sweep in and take over your business, but Praetura don’t operate like that. They’re unique in their approach to portfolio companies. They back your vision and give you the support to make it happen. They know how to build and grow a company and help you to speak to the right people at the right time. Finance is a great example: Praetura put one oftheir own people into the business to make sure it was operating properly. It proved critical when we went on to do further fundraising.”

Digitl, the Manchester based eCommerce and marketplace agency, has launched a new website for genderless make-up brand Jecca Blac. The business was founded by Jessica Blacker, the LGBTQ advocate and beauty entrepreneur.

The new site, which includes a secure shopping area and blog giving users tips on make-up techniques, also coincides with its rebrand from Jecca to Jecca Black. The brand’s main target market is the LGBTQ+ community.

Jessica Black commented: “We are entering a new phase of Jecca Blac’s journey so we wanted our website to reflect that. Darren and the team at Digitl got us right from the start and the result is a cutting edge and stylish website that shouts what we’re all about.”

Darren Ratcliffe, founder of Digitl, added: “The last few months have been a busy period for Digitl so it’s fantastic to see the new Jecca Blac site launch. As a business, we feel passionately about what it is trying to achieve which makes our job that much easier and more enjoyable.”