Author: Shawon Hannan
Jet2, a low cost airline based at Leeds Bradford Airport in the UK, has agreed to resume flights to Belfast International airport after being offered the use of an alternative runway. The airline had suspended flights to the airport from Monday this week over safety concerns relating to the operational runway’s maintenance programme. The airport confirmed that a Jet2.com aircraft had reported engine problems on three occasions, but denied that there was any evidence connecting this with work on the runway. Despite the Civil Aviation Authority’s assertion that the airport was safe, and the fact that no other airline had…
World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) president David Scowsill has urged the UK to ease its visa entry requirement and adopt the Schengen System that is common in most of Europe, if it is to avoid missing out on attracting tourists. The Schengen visa allows visitors access to 25 European countries on one document, and although the UK is already in the process of easing visa restrictions for Indian visitors, Scowsill commented, ‘It is good to hear David Cameron is vowing to relax visa rules to allow more Indians to travel to Britain for work and study. Anything which allows…
South Wales is to host a conference that will focus on the benefits of a form of tourism to the South Wales valleys that can benefit the region’s business as well as including and positively affecting local people. Titled, Community Tourism in the Valleys – A National Conference, the event is to be held at The Orangery, Margam Park, Margam, over two days on 23 and 24 April 2013, and will showcase the impact that community tourism has on the Valleys Regional Park. The Valleys Regional Park is an area that spans from Cwmbran to Kidwelly, and it is a…
According to available figures, business travel is improving in Europe albeit slowly. According to the data, there have been modest increases in business travel for 2013 into 2014 across most of Western Europe, especially in Germany and the UK. The increase in business travel in most European nations, if not all, suggests that the economies in these nations are recovering and doing better than in the crisis periods. Catherine McGavock, regional director-Europe for the Global Business Travel Association, said, ‘This has been a very difficult period for Europe. We are talking about modest growth, not a recovery that surges off…
Travelodge, the budget hotel chain that originated in the USA, is offloading 18 of its UK hotel properties. Following financial difficulties last year, the company agreed a restructuring package with its creditors in October, and the property sale forms part of that restructuring. Beneficiaries of the sale include rival hotel chains Best Western, Ibis and Metro Inns, who have all committed to taking some of the properties. Customers that have pending booking at the hotels in question will either have those bookings honoured by the new owners or have them transferred to another Travelodge property nearby. In addition to the…
Scientists are predicting that changes in the Earth’s climate will ultimately increase the levels of turbulence experienced by transatlantic airline passengers and increase the cost of tickets, according to reports today. Reading University scientists have been studying the North Atlantic corridor, the main flight route between North America and Europe for 600 flights per day. With the help of a supercomputer they have been plotting the expected changes to air currents above 10km in altitude, including the jet stream. Global warming has already caused these winds to intensify and become less stable, and this phenomenon is expected to intensify still…
Sir Richard Branson, head of the Virgin Group including the Virgin Atlantic airline, is to work as an airhostess on a rival carrier’s flight. The humiliating comedown from business tycoon to serving passengers on an Air Asia X flight is the result of a lost bet. Branson and his counterpart at Air Asia X, Tony Fernandes, are also both owners of Formula One racing teams. At the beginning of the 2010 Formula One season, Sir Richard agreed to a bet with Fernandes with regards to the respective finishing position of their two teams, with the loser committed to working a…
Emirates airline, an air carrier based in Dubai, United Arab emirates, has announced that it is sponsoring the Newcastle Metro, a light rail/rapid transport system that serves the Newcastle and Gateshead area. The sponsorship, in the form of a promotional travel advert that will be displayed on the outside of four Metrocar compartments, will run for one year. From May, the two carriages that comprise each of the four adverts will feature 56 metres of Emirates’ ‘Hello Tomorrow’ promotional format, with images of destinations to which the airline operates flights from Newcastle International Airport. The airline is also promoting destinations…
Virgin Atlantic, the UK-based long haul airline, is formally launching its Little Red domestic subsidiary today. Although the new airline has been operational since it commenced flights between Manchester and London on March 31, and the Edinburgh service also started on April 5, the airline’s head, Sir Richard Branson, will officially mark the company’s launch today by joining a flight from Heathrow to Edinburgh. The Aberdeen route will commence its service from tomorrow, April 9. Countering the negative opinion of some commentators that have compared the service available from Little Red with that of the ill-fated BMI, Craig Kreeger, Virgin…
For three nights in May, a large number of the UK’s art and museum attractions will be opening their doors to night visitors. Conjuring images of the spooky goings-on in Hollywood’s Night at the Museum movie franchise, Britain’s museums will be welcoming late night guests for two nights between May 16 and 18. The special event is part of a Europe-wide initiative, La Nuit des Musees, which has now also been adopted by Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain and Germany after being conceived in France in 2005. The event is not limited to museums, but will also include some observatories, stately homes…