Author: News Team
A report compiled by the owners of Heathrow airport, Heathrow Airport Holdings, has warned of massive job losses if a new airport hub in the Thames Estuary gets the go ahead. Instead of the alternative airport option, Heathrow’s management is promoting the addition of a third runway at Heathrow; an option that it claims would be ‘cheaper, quicker and better for the economy.’ In support of its claims, the airport has commissioned a report that it intends to present to the UK Aviation Commission, the body that is looking into the options for expanding London’s aviation capacity. In the report,…
Kuoni, a Swiss-based travel company is to open more concessions on the premises of stores owned by high street retailer, John Lewis. The travel company intends to open four new concessions in John Lewis stores around the UK, a doubling of the four stores where it first opened concessions in the autumn of last year. The new locations will be in stores in Brent Cross, Aberdeen, Welwyn and Leicester, adding to existing stores in Southampton, Reading, Cardiff and Oxford Street in London. The John Lewis store concessions are in addition to Kuoni’s own high street stores, of which there are…
Recognised for Excellence (R4E), a part of the EFQM Levels of Excellence certification programme, has renewed Virgin Train’s certification at 5 stars, the highest level. The certification is a renewal of the 5-star rating that Virgin Trains originally obtained two years ago, and follows the British Quality Foundation’s (BQF) bi-annual assessment of the company. Virgin was assessed on nine criteria and improved its overall score by approximately 20 percent. R4E claims to recognise successful efforts to implement excellence and good practice, and offers the benefits of a structured approach to identifying organisational strengths and areas for improvement. The 5-star rating…
Center Parks UK, the operator of a network of holiday villages in the United Kingdom, has revealed details of its new Woburn Forest park, which is currently under construction. Woburn Forest village is scheduled to open in the spring of next year and will house an updated version of Center Park’s Sub-tropical Swimming Paradise. The swimming facility is at the hub of all Center Parks sites, and the company claims that it is the most popular of the pastimes that are on offer, with the vast majority of guests making use of it during their stay. Woburn Forest’s Swimming Paradise…
Newly released figures for April this year has shown that spending by visitors to the UK increased by 13 percent for the month, despite an actual fall in visitor numbers. The 2.88 million foreign visitors that arrived during the month of April was 1 percent down on the same period last year, but arrivals from developing markets including Brazil and China were at record levels. With the final month’s figures in place it can be revealed that visitors to Britain spent GBP19.19 billion during the year to April, which was a record. For the first four months of 2013, visitors…
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…