Author: Shawon Hannan
Extra trains are to be laid on for horseracing fans visiting the Royal Ascot event later this month. The South West Trains – Network Rail Alliance, a train operating company owned by Stagecoach Group and operating the South Western rail franchise, has announced that it will run a special charter train on behalf of the racecourse to assist race goers in getting to the meeting. The Royal Ascot meeting will take place between June 18 and June 22, and the specially chartered ‘Ascot Express’ will operate on each of those days, leaving London Waterloo railway station at 09.12 am for…
British Airways, a UK-based airline, is preparing for the delivery of three new aircraft over the next four weeks. Two Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft will be arriving in the UK later this month, following the model being given the all clear over a problem with an overheating battery that dogged it in the early part of this year. The two aircraft will arrive mid-morning on consecutive days, June 26 and 27. The airline’s new Airbus A380 is due to arrive mid-morning on July 4. Once all of the aircraft are in service, British Airways will be the first airline in…
Network Rail, the authority responsible for the operation of the UK’s rail network, missed all of its punctuality targets for the last 12 months in England and Wales, according to figures issued by the UK government’s rail regulator. Due to its shortcomings (or should that be late-comings?) Network Rail could now face government-imposed penalties of as much as £75 million for its performance up until year end March 31, 2013. Official figures from the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) showed a decline in train punctuality of 0.7 percent on the previous year, to 90.9 percent from 91.6 percent. The ORR…
Thomson, First Choice, a brand name of Crawley, UK-based Tui Travel, is to add more flights to its schedules for 2014. The company intends to increase its services from Southend by 300 percent in the next 12 months, compared to its current schedules. The new flights will include a second weekly service to Palma, Majorca, and the opening up of a new destination for the company, Ibiza. The use of local airports to facilitate customer convenience has driven the decision. The additional weekly flight to Majorca will also allow the company’s package holiday clients to have a greater degree of…
Hampton by Hilton, a budget hotel brand from the Hilton Worldwide hotel group, is aiming to double its hotel portfolio in the UK by 2015. The company intends to have 23 properties operational within two years, double its present number. Two new hotels are currently in the process of being opened, Hampton by Hilton London Gatwick Airport, North Terminal, and Hampton by Hilton Birmingham City North. The two are being redeveloped at a cost of £22.5 million. The Gatwick property is scheduled to open early next year with a connection to the airport’s North Terminal via the hotel’s own covered…
In a mixed week for Ireland-based budget airline, Ryanair, it reported year-on-year growth for the month of May, but clashed publicly with a disgruntled singing star. Ryanair’s total passenger figure for May, 7.86 million, was 350,000 higher than for the same month last year, and represented a 5 percent year-on-year increase. The total passenger figure for the year to May was a record for the company at 79.8 million, a 4 percent increase on the figure for the previous year. In a statement, a spokesman for the company said, ‘Ryanair’s traffic increased by 5 percent over May 2012 and our…
An increase in visitors to Brazil last year was spearheaded by British travellers, according to recently released figures. The Brazilian Ministry of Tourism released the data, showing that 155,548 British nationals visited the South American hotspot last year, an increase of 4 percent on the previous year. The British invasion was part of a record-breaking year for visitors to Brazil, as the country welcomed a total of 5,433,354, a 4.5 percent increase on the previous year. In addition to Brazil’s dramatic and varied landscapes and tropical climate, visitors are arriving to sample the growing excitement as the country prepares to…
The UK government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has issued a warning to British travellers to Stockholm, Sweden’s capital, regarding a recent sequence of riots. For their own safety, visitors have been advised to avoid any large gatherings, take extra care when commuting around the city and to monitor local news reports. The advice comes in the wake of consecutive nights of rioting in some parts of the city, which started last Sunday. The problem areas include Husby, Hagsatra, Ragsved amd Skogas, according to the FCO, which also reminded visitors that the emergency services number in Sweden is 112, should…
The positive impression that London gained as a result of last years successful Olympic and Paralympic games is still enduring, with the capital city’s hotels reporting increased demand. Hotels.com, a hotel booking service with online and telephone operations, has reported that compared to last year, searches on its website for London-based hotels are up by 53 percent for next week’s half-term holiday, despite the 2012 figure being positively influenced by the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Visitors to London are reaping a two-fold benefit of enjoying hotel facilities that were either new or renovated for last year’s events, and competitive room…
A British Airways (BA) airplane made an emergency landing at Heathrow earlier today, forcing the closure of both of the airport’s runways. The landing was carried out at 09.00 BST, and all passengers and crew were safely evacuated. BA said in a statement that flight BA762, en route from Heathrow to Oslo in Norway, had returned to Heathrow shortly after takeoff due to a technical fault. The aircraft, an Airbus A319, had 75 passengers on board and BA has promised a full investigation into the problem. Following the incident, the southern runway was reopened but there was a delay in…