Author: Shawon Hannan

British Airways, a UK-based air carrier, is to use the slots at Heathrow that it recently obtained with its purchase of low-cost airline, Bmi, to increase its flights to Africa. The new Africa services will include an extra flight each week to Sierra Leone and Liberia, giving the airline a total of four weekly flights to the two countries, as well as additional flights to Nairobi in Kenya and Johannesburg in South Africa. North African destinations will benefit from increased services to Agadir and Marrakech in Morocco from next winter, and a fourth weekly flight will be added to Tripoli…

Virgin Rail, the train-operating arm of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin group of companies, is demanding that Network Rail, the authority that is responsible for the UK’s rail network, carry out millions of pounds worth of improvements to its infrastructure. Virgin says that the customer-focussed improvements should be carried out in order to compensate passengers for Network Rail’s recent poor punctuality performance. Virgin Trains owner, VRG, intends to enforce improvements in punctuality, as it believes that Network Rail’s current inadequate performance is tantamount to a breach of contract and is bad for business. Virgin’s stance follows criticism levelled at Network Rail…

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) is urging the British government to review the regulations pertaining to the sale of travel insurance. ABTA’s move has been triggered by a rising trend in the number of British holidaymakers travelling abroad without adequate insurance. In 2011, 20 percent of travellers did not have insurance, but this figure had risen to 25 percent by 2012, according to an ABTA survey. In ABTA’s opinion, the decline in those travelling with insurance followed the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) 2007 decision to regulate travel insurance sales. ABTA also believes that travel insurance is best sold…

Easyjet, a low-cost airline based in Luton, UK, has completed a deal with Stansted airport in Essex that will see the airline double its present capacity at the facility. Manchester Airports Group (MAG), Stansted’s new owners, announced the framework deal today. It will mean that Easyjet’s present throughput of 2.8 million passengers per annum at the airport can be more than doubled to a proposed six million in a gradual process over the next five years. MAG has stated that it hopes the deal will also increase the number of business passengers that use the airport. Easyjet’s present Stansted operation…

Monarch Airlines, a charter and scheduled airline operator based in Luton, UK, is planning a major renewal of its fleet of aircraft. The company is intending to place an order for 60 new aircraft this autumn, with the incoming aircraft replacing some of the existing fleet, while others will allow the company to expand. In the interim, the company will operate 39 aircraft and lease any additional aircraft needed to service short-term expansion. On fulfilment of the order the group will only be operating two aircraft types. The exact aircraft to be ordered are still under consideration, with a choice…

A planned third day of the strike by French air traffic controllers, which was to take place tomorrow (Thursday June 13), has been called off. The strike is still causing disruption today however, with around 1,800 of a total of 7,650 flights expected to suffer cancellation following the loss of a similar number yesterday. The strike is in protest at an EU proposal to create a single European air space, to be known as the ‘Single European Sky.’ Fears for the working conditions of individual countries’ air traffic workers, in addition to fears raised by unions over the safety implications…

A senior economist has spoken of the importance of tourism to the UK’s economic recovery. Andrew Sentence, a senior economic advisor at London-based PriceWaterhouseCoopers and a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, said that tourism was on a par with financial services with regards to driving growth. Speaking at the British Hospitality and Tourism summit in London on Tuesday, Sentence itemised Britain’s top export-oriented services, estimating tourism, culture and heritage as being responsible for 9 percent of GDP, which puts it on a par with financial services. Only business and professional services at 13 percent fared…

British Airways, a UK-based airline company, has announced the results of a survey that it has carried out into British workers’ ability to switch off from work while on holiday. The survey has revealed that Brits abroad find it hard to leave the stresses of the workplace behind, and switch off for as little as four days during two weeks holiday. Three days was the minimum time that respondents to the survey said that it took them to wind down and forget about work. Then, once the holiday moves into its last few days, fears about the return to work…

The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has repeated a warning for travellers intending to visit Turkey. The latest warning from the FCO has been issued with the expectation that further demonstrations are to take place in cities across the country. There have also been reports that riot police have entered Istanbul’s Taksim Square, a main focus point in the two-week-long demonstration. The BBC has reported the use of tear gas and water cannon by the authorities, despite Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, having agreed to a meeting tomorrow with organisers of the protest. The FCO has warned that…

UK airlines are being forced to cancel flights and are expressing their anger over a strike by French air traffic controllers. The three-day strike, which starts today, has forced Luton-based low-cost airline, Easyjet, to cancel almost 130 flights, including scheduled flights to and from Nice, Toulouse and Paris Charles de Gaulle airports. The company commented, ‘EasyJet and all other airlines operating to and from France have been advised to expect only 50 percent of normal services, which means we will be required to cancel approximately 128 flights each day.’ UK-based British Airways and Ireland-based low-cost carrier, Ryanair, are also facing…