Author: Shawon Hannan
Over 80 percent of Britons are clueless about the actual value of their essential toiletry bag, according to a holiday survey. A new report by Travelodge has revealed that 82 percent of the respondents did not know the contents of an average toiletry bag were worth £156.69. The research, which surveyed 3,000 British adults, was conducted as the hotel chain witnessed a rise in the number of toiletry bags being left behind at its 521 hotels. The average adult estimated their wash bag, with contents, was worth £52.23. However, in reality, the bag of essentials is actually worth nearly three…
ABTA, a UK-based association for travel agents, has published a specially commissioned report into the economic value of leisure aviation. The study, conducted by the Centre for Economics Business Research (CEBR), was commissioned by ABTA to help understand the significance and economic worth of leisure aviation to the UK economy. According to the report, leisure aviation contributed GBP14.1 billion of a Gross Value Added in 2010, nearly 1.1 percent of GDP, more than was contribution by the utilities, accountancy or advertising industries. The CEBR report reveals that the leisure industry accounts for 1.2 percent of total UK employment, equivalent to…
English Premier League football club, Manchester United FC, has announced a five-year partnership with Aeroflot, under which the Moscow-based international airline will become the club’s official carrier. As the club’s carrier, Aeroflot will provide the Premier League champions with strategic advice on travel for the team and club representatives. This partnership marks the club’s first commercial venture in Russia, where it is looking to expand its market and has nearly 18 million followers. The deal was announced at United’s Old Trafford ground in northwest England, attended by Aeroflot chief executive, Vitaly Saveliev, Manchester United group managing director, Richard Arnold, team…
Independent Taiwanese airline, EVA Air, has introduced a new generation business class cabin on flights from Taipei to London Heathrow. The Royal Laurel Class seats were introduced on UK flights last Friday and will be available on all London flights by the end of July. First introduced in June 2012 on Eva Air’s Taipei to New York route, the new seats are part of a $100 million investment to upgrade the top cabins on the entire airline’s Boeing 777-300ERs. Royal Laurel Class features 38 seats with a 180-degree recline in a reverse herringbone layout, enabling passengers at windows to look…
Nine out of ten Britons detest camping, according to travel website Holiday Extras. Holiday Extras, a UK-based online company providing pre-booked UK airport hotels and parking and a part of Holiday Extras ltd, said that its survey of 2,000 people showed that 90 per cent considered camping and caravanning the least enjoyable type of break. ‘Brits hate camping holidays most of all, even in cash-strapped recessionary times,’ it said. However, the poll results have been challenged by Dan Yates, the founder of camping website Pitchup.com, says a report by the Telegraph. ‘We launched Pitchup.com back in 2009 and this is…
Wizz Air, Eastern Europe’s biggest budget carrier, is set to launch an initial public offering in London. The sale of the carrier may happen as early as the second half of this year, Bloomberg News said in a report. The carrier has appointed Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Company to manage the public issue. Hungary-based Wizz Air has a fleet of more than 40 Airbus SAS single-aisle planes, flying more than 250 routes in Europe. The Airbuses have an average age of about three years, according to its website. The no-frills carrier, created in 2003, is trying…
‘Think small, think smart and think safe,’ when it comes to carry-on baggage, says international travel safety and security expert Dr. Todd Curtis of AirSafe.com. In ‘Baggage & Carry-on Advice,’ the first in the series of ‘The Art of Travel,’ Dr. Curtis explains a reasonable approach to avoid any problems with carry-on baggage while onboard the aircraft. It remains a fact that one of the most common frustrations that passengers face when they plan or pack a trip often revolves around baggage. Be it about what is allowed or prohibited on the aircraft, or what kinds of baggage fees may…
British Airways has become the first airline in the UK to take delivery of an Airbus A380 superjumbo. The first of 12 superjumbos ordered by BA, the plane landed at Heathrow airport this morning. BA’s A380 will join 12 daily A380 flights from London Heathrow – two by Qantas, three by Singapore Airlines, two by Malaysia Airlines and five by Emirates. BA said that that the first long-haul flight on the A380 to Los Angeles will be on September 24, with prices starting from £621 return, and the first to Hong Kong will be on October 22 with prices from…
Virgin Australia has become the latest to introduce a scheme that will reward pets through frequent flier programmes. The airlines will offer pet cats and dogs travelling on its domestic flights to collect points for their owners, and will also offer discounts on future flights. The animals travel in hold, but will have the benefit of earning participating Virgin Australia club members a minimum of 300 points. ‘Virgin Australia flies almost 30,000 pets each year around Australia,’ said Neil Thompson, chief of Virgin Australia’s Velocity club, ‘and a large proportion is owned by Velocity members, so we know how important…
British holidaymakers are set to cancel their trips to Egypt after advice from the Foreign Office urging them to avoid all but essential travel to major parts of the country. The travel advice comes amid the continuing conflict between supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi, who is currently under house arrest. In the latest violence, several deaths were reported on Tuesday in Cairo, along with the death of a US citizen in Alexandria last week. ‘In view of the continued unrest in Egypt, the Foreign Office recommends against all but essential travel to Egypt except for resorts on the…