Author: Shawon Hannan

The UK rail regulator has wanred Network Rail, the company responsible for maintaining the country’s track infrastructure, for failing to maintain the rail track infrastructure causing significant delays and inconvenience to passengers. ‘The company is falling short of expectations at the moment,’ said Richard Price, the chief executive of the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). ‘It is facing many problems of its own making, having failed to deliver plans to renew Britain’s rail network, with delayed works now affecting performance,’ he added. According to a report by The Telegraph, the ORR has also warned the rail company that it will…

Edinburgh airport – Scotland’s busiest airport – has improved on punctuality and had the least delays on record during this spring, The Scotsman has reported, citing data from Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). For scheduled flights, Edinburgh reduced the average delay by one minute to eight minutes in April to June as compared to last year. A total of 86 per cent of flights operated within the industry’s punctuality standard of up to 15 minutes delay – an increase of two percentage points. The percentage is reportedly the airport’s highest for the season since CAA records began 15 years ago. However,…

UK’s InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is set to launch a new brand campaign as part of efforts to support its growing Holiday Inn Express brand. The new brand campaign, which will be launched in the UK and Germany, targets travellers looking for a decent hotel stay, for business or holiday, at an affordable rate. Created by JWT London, the advertising campaign focuses on the brand’s pledge to give guests an unfussy accommodation – ‘Simple. Smart. Spot On.’ The campaign will be transmitted across TV, radio, digital, PR, in-hotel and B2B channels in the UK and across PR channels in Germany.…

British Airways (BA), the UK’s national carrier, is planning to extend its ‘hand baggage only’ fares to short haul flights from Heathrow and London City, media reports have said. The ‘no frills’ fares are available for purchase now for BA flights leaving on or after September 24 from Heathrow Airport to eight short-haul destinations including Stockholm, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris (Charles de Gaulle and Orly), Rome and Rotterdam, The Telegraph reports. The airline had already introduced the ‘no frills’ policy on some short haul flights from Gatwick Airport in February, as part of efforts to keep up with budget…

A new campaign, ‘Back Heathrow,’ has been launched to give voice to local residents and public who support Heathrow airport. A community campaign with initial funding by Heathrow Airport, ‘Back Heathrow’ will fight for the jobs and businesses that are dependent on Heathrow. Rob Gray, who lives locally and has previously worked for the Aviation Foundation, has been named as the Campaign Director. The campaign follows a survey published in June, which revealed that more people in local communities around Heathrow back the airport than oppose it. Meantime a statement from the Mayor last month said that his plans for…

Holidays have become costlier for British travellers as hotel prices in the majority of tourist cities increased in the first half of 2013, The Telegraph has reported, citing research by Hotels.com. Research by the booking website examined the average price paid by British travellers in 111 cities and found that prices in 61 of them had increased, while it remained the same in 11, and in 39 cities prices had declined. The biggest increases were reportedly registered in Cancun, Sharm El Sheikh and Marrakech. Average room rates in the Mexican resort increased to £147 a night, 32 per cent higher…

Budget airline EasyJet has announced the launch of two new routes from Belfast to the Channel Islands and to France. Starting summer 2014, easyJet, Northern Ireland’s largest airline, will introduce new flights to Jersey in the Channel Islands and Bordeaux in south west France. There is currently no direct flight from Northern Ireland to the Channel Islands. Seats for both routes go on sale next month. The announcement marks the carrier’s 15th anniversary at Belfast International Airport (BIA) on September 9. Besides announcing the two new routes, easyJet staged a water arch salute for arriving aircraft as part of its…

British Airways, the largest international carrier in the UK, and Qatar Airways, a Middle East leading airline, have entered into a partnership for the airlines’ frequent flyer programmes. British Airways Executive Club members and Qatar Airways Privilege Club members will now be able to earn miles, and can begin redeeming miles as of October 1, 2013 on each other’s flights. Effective from September 2, 2013, members of British Airways Executive Club can collect Avios while flying on Qatar Airways, which has a large network across the Middle East and beyond. Qatar Airways was named as Skytrax’s Best Middle East Airline…

Retail brands Zara, Ted Baker and Snow+Rock are set to open stores in December in the South Terminal’s newly developed retail area, London Gatwick has said. Since mid-July, 11 new or refreshed premium stores have opened in the new retail area – the final phase of a major GBP21m transformation of airside shopping in South Terminal. The new stores included airport firsts for Ernest Jones and Aspinal of London, as well as a brand new 6,000 sq ft Harrods fashion and accessories department store. The transformation of South Terminal is in line with detailed passenger research, with key feedback of…

British Airways, the UK’s national carrier, and Unite, the country’s biggest employee unions, have reached a major recognition deal representing the airline’s cabin crew. The agreement signed between Unite general secretary Len McCluskey and British Airways chief executive Keith Williams covers terms and conditions including pay, holidays and hours of work for all new and future cabin crew at British Airways working on European and worldwide routes. The agreement covers the airline’s mixed fleet cabin crew – mainly young recruits hired on different terms after an industrial dispute in 2010. BA’s mixed fleet crew works separately from the established crew…