Author: News Team
Willie Walsh, the head of British Airways’ owner, IAG, has taken a hard line on what he described as ‘weak airlines’. Speaking during a session at the CAPA Airlines in Transition 2013 conference in County Wicklow, Ireland, Walsh said that failing airlines should not receive state aid, but should be allowed to go under. His comments were aimed at European carriers that receive state aid from their governments, while Walsh believes that any lost capacity from their failure would soon be taken up by other carriers, assuming that there was a perceived demand. He singled out Malev, a Hungarian Carrier,…
A UK-based travel company that is a member of the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) has ceased trading. French Freedom Holidays has gone into administration with over 400 holiday bookings outstanding. The company specialised in coach and camping holidays to France, and had previously held an Air Transport Operator’s Licence (ATOL). Holidays were sold to British and Irish travellers under the names Camping France 4 Less, Holiday France 4 Less, Ski Drive 4 Less, Ski France 4 Less, Welcome France and Welcome Holidays. The company’s demise, which was precipitated on the 5th of this month, came approximately two months…
Thomas Cook Airlines, a British charter airline based in Manchester, UK, has announced new flights to the Caribbean from Manchester Airport. Providing travellers with an option to London’s current monopoly on routes to St Lucia and Antigua, Thomas Cook will be offering flights to both destinations from Manchester, via Barbados, from next winter. The new weekly flights are scheduled to operate until the end of April next year, with the Manchester-St Lucia-Barbados route commencing on November 10, and the Manchester-Antigau-Barbados route commencing a month later on December 19. While a proportion of seats will be earmarked for passengers that have…
Despite the bad press that North Korea is receiving for its war rhetoric and threats against the US and South Korea, some westerners are finding it thrilling to have a holiday break in the nation, the BBC has said. Even as the British Foreign Office is considering changing its advice for tourists travelling to North Korea, tourists from western nations are reportedly finding a trip to the nation worthwhile, despite the fact that the trip is not very cheap, as many would expect. Tourists entering the nation have to live with constant surveillance from trained minders, suspicions of bugged hotel…
Gatwick Airport in the UK has managed to sustain its 2012/13 passenger figures slightly ahead of last year thanks to new carriers that have opened services to the airport. The airport had lost routes from its previous carriers but still achieved an increase of 400,000 passengers or 1.2 percent on the previous year, for a total footfall of 34.2 million. Ryanair’s Irish routes and Korean Air’s Seoul service were among Gatwick’s larger casualties, but new business from Air China, Iraqi Airways, Caribbean Airlines, Vueling, Gambia Bird and Icelandair more than filled the gap. In addition, Easyjet added a Moscow service,…
The UK has climbed two places up the world tourist destination table for 2012, to achieve 5th position. The table is compiled from a study of travel and tourism competitiveness by the World Economic Forum (WEF), and the UK’s rise from 7th position last year now puts it one place ahead of the USA, which took 6th place. However, the UK still lags behind its European competitors Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Spain, which took the first four places respectively. 140 countries are assessed by the WEF when it compiles the list, with tourism development and contribution of the tourism sector…
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…