Author: News Team
The Brussels-based European Commission has accused Eurotunnel of overcharging. Groupe Eurotunnel SA, a company with its headquarters in Paris, France, manages and operates the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France, including the vehicle shuttle services. The European Commission has said that the company is overcharging passengers using the Channel Tunnel, and that the overcharging extends to both passenger and freight traffic. Further to its assertion, the Commission has urged the British and French governments to investigate the cost structure for using the tunnel and ensure that European Union rules that legislate against excessive track charges are being complied with. The…
Easyjet, a low-cost air carrier with headquarters in Luton, UK, has said that it will not now turn away passengers travelling to Cyprus if their passports are valid for less than three months, according to a report in the Daily Mail newspaper. The airline had said that passengers flying to the destinations of Larnaca and Paphos on the Mediterranean holiday island risked being turned away if their passports did not have at least three months validity remaining. The airline took this stance despite the fact that the border authorities of both the UK and Cyprus insisted that such passports are…
Stansted airport in Essex, UK, has today unveiled a £80 million development project. Mike Davies, the chairman of the airport’s owner, Manchester Airports Group (MAG), was joined by the UK’s transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, and the airport’s managing director, Andrew Harrison, when details of the plan were revealed, which is intended to ‘transform Stansted’s iconic terminal building and meet the demands of modern air travel’. The upgrade, which has been designed with the help of psychologists in order to minimise passenger stress and maximise relaxation, will involve better use of existing space, new security facilities and a larger departure lounge.…
A major new tourism strategy has been announced this week by the Welsh government. The new strategy is intended to develop the Welsh tourism sector by 10 percent between now and 2020. Manon Williams, the new chief executive of tourism and marketing for Visit Wales, the body responsible for developing Welsh tourism, has been the guiding force behind the creation of the strategy, which is intended to maximise the country’s high quality and iconic products and events while at the same time building on its reputation. The views of 1,000 individuals, operators and businesses involved in the Welsh tourism industry…
Thomson Airways, a British charter airline that is part of the Tui travel group, has been recognised in the World Airline Awards. Travellers from more than 160 countries around the globe vote for the awards, making it the world’s biggest airline passenger survey, and Thomson Airways achieved the Best Leisure Airline award. Other major winners were Dubai-based Emirates, which was awarded airline of the year, while the World’s Best Cabin Staff award went to Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific. The best low-cost airline award was taken by Malaysia-based Air Asia. To compile the survey, 18.2 million passengers were asked for their…
Ireland-based low-cost air carrier, Ryanair, has finalised its $15.6 billion aircraft purchase deal with American aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, at the Paris Air Show. At a specially-staged signing ceremony, Ryanair’s president, Michael O’Leary, and Ray Conner, the president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, confirmed the Irish airline’s order for 175 Boeing 737-800 airplanes, the biggest single deal that the airplane manufacturer has ever struck with a European airline. On signing the deal, O’Leary said, ‘Ryanair is proud to buy Boeing, who make great aircraft, and the 737-800 has been the foundation of Ryanair’s recent successful growth due to its great engineering and…
The UK government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the department responsible for the welfare of British citizens overseas, has issued updated travel advice for UK residents that are planning to visit Brazil. The new advice comes in the wake of recent violent protests that have erupted in a number of major Brazilian cities. Sao Paulo was the latest city to witness the violence, following similar incidents that had already affected parts of the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. What started out as a low-key protest over a 10 percent fare increase on many of the South American…
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has strongly criticised Heathrow Airport Holdings, the owners of Heathrow airport, over its objections to the possibility of a new airport being built in the Thames Estuary to address London’s need for more aviation capacity. Heathrow’s owner has stated that a third runway on its site would be less expensive and available sooner than a completely new airport, and that a new airport could also result in the closure of Heathrow with thousands of workers forced into redundancy or relocation. Boris Johnson, a supporter of the new airport option, commented in the Evening Standard…
Virgin Trains, the train operating arm of sir Richard Branson’s Virgin empire, and the franchise holder for the West Coast Main Line, has announced that it is offering a number of cheap day return tickets between Glasgow and destinations in the north of England during the middle of July. The company is offering a 25 percent reduction on return fares for all 9 days between July 13 and July 21, for all passengers returning the same day to destinations including Lancaster, Oxenholme, Penrith, Carlisle and Glasgow. During the same period, Network Rail, the company responsible for the UK’s rail infrastructure,…
The county of Yorkshire in the UK is already benefiting from its coup in being chosen as the start point for this year’s Tour de France cycle race, by reporting an impressive increase in its tourism figures for the first part of the year. In January and February, Yorkshire shrugged off the effects of particularly hard winter weather to record the highest year-on year rise for tourism spend in the country. The county’s tourism revenue grew by 47 percent for the period. Figures from the Great Britain Travel Survey (GBTS) also reveal that trips to Yorkshire increased by 6.6 percent…