Author: News Team

The new chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, a UK-based air carrier, has imposed an immediate pay freeze at the company in reaction to the expectation of large annual losses, according to a report in the Sunday Times. An internal memo that has been seen by the newspaper shows that recently appointed executive, Craig Kreeger, has reacted swiftly to the airline’s expected record annual losses of £135 million. With reference to Virgin Atlantic’s financial performance, the memo reportedly said that it is ‘well behind where we anticipated.’ The predicted loss will follow a deficit of £80.2 million that the company reported…

A plan to double the capacity at London’s Heathrow Airport has been masterminded by a former British Airways Concorde pilot, according to a report in the Financial Times. Although still contentious, the idea put forward by former pilot, William ‘Jock’ Lowe, is more likely to be politically favourable than other methods of overcoming Heathrow’s capacity problems that have been put forward, as it involves lengthening existing runways rather than constructing new ones. Even so, the virtual doubling of the present Northern and Southern runways from 3,900 metres and 3,700 metres respectively, to 7,500 metres each, would involve alterations to the…

Finnair, a Finland-based air carrier and member of the Oneworld alliance, is to join its alliance partners in their transatlantic joint business. Three other members of the alliance, British Airways, Iberia and American Airlines, formed the transatlantic joint business in October 2010, and Finnair’s introduction to the agreement is expected to provide transatlantic passengers in Europe and North America with a greater selection of flights as well as an improved number of connections. Between them, the four airlines will operate 102 round trips per day between 42 destinations in North America and EU countries, plus Norway and Switzerland. This will…

Four of the UK’s biggest airlines have reacted angrily to a report on aviation taxes that shows that those levied by Britain are among the highest in the world. The report, which was carried out by the World Economic Forum, showed that Britain ranked 139 out of 140 on the taxation list, putting it into the same strata as Chad and Senegal. The UK’s major airlines have long been campaigning against the level of Air Passenger Duty (APD) in the country, and this comparative report has only fuelled their anger. Willie Walsh, CEO of the IAG, Carolyn McCall, CEO of…

Hotels.com has launched its biannual Hotel Price Index (HPI), which compares hotel room prices paid in 2012 with those paid in 2011. The latest report shows that prices went up in the period for UK travellers overall, despite 47 of the 115 countries covered by the report showing a price decrease, and prices remaining unchanged in six others. So, 63 countries registered price increases, and prices are likely to rise still further in 2013 as a range of negative economic conditions, recently compounded by the UK’s credit rating being downgraded, impact to weaken the pound. A number of European cities…

British Airways, a UK-based air carrier, is to extend the amount of in-flight entertainment on offer to its passengers. The company, a subsidiary of International Airlines Group, is to provide customers on more of its long-haul services with the opportunity of watching more television and film based content from the moment that they take their seat on the airplane until the moment that they disembark. BA’s extended in-flight entertainment program is now being added to services to Almaty, Amman, Baku, Beirut, Cairo and Tel Aviv. The move is an extension of the boarding to disembarkation total entertainment package that the…

If you love snow sports, chances are you’re keen to attend the Winter X Games 2013. Held in Tignes, France from March 20th to 22nd, these give you a unique opportunity to see some of the top athletes for freestyle and freeriding snowboarding and skiing. Since they’re happening next month, I thought I’d give you a quick rundown of the events you shouldn’t miss. Before I start, I should point out that the official schedule has not been released yet (or it hadn’t when I wrote this, anyway!), so I can’t give you exact dates or times for each. What…

Thomas Cook, a UK based on-line/off-line travel company, has today announced major cuts in both its workforce and the number of its retail outlets. The company has announced that it is to cut 2,500 jobs from its back office and retail network, and close 195 stores as it attempts to restructure for future profitability. The job cuts represent just over 16 percent of the company’s present UK workforce of 15,500, and a 90-day consultation will now begin in relation to the losses. Jobs at Thomas Cook’s head offices in Peterborough and Preston are at risk, and the Accrington office is…

The chairman of the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) has hit out at recent UK television programs that focus on negative aspects of the travel industry. John McEwan, the chairman of the travel operators’ organisation, has said that he will initiate an investigation into how the travel industry can influence, what he described as, more accurate and informative holiday-based television programs. The chairman’s comments came in the wake of television’s latest holiday angst program, Holiday Hit Squad, a series that is being screened weekly by the BBC. The program covers a range of undesirable holiday features, from hotels that…

Thomson Holidays, a UK-based travel operator and subsidiary of Tui Travel Plc, has been forced to postpone the planned introduction of Boeing’s problematic 787 Dreamliner aircraft for its summer schedules. Thomson was proud to promote itself as the first UK airline to have the state-of-the-art, eco-friendly aircraft available for passengers to experience, to the extent that it had applied a £10 supplement to flights where it was utilised, but on-going technical difficulties that have plagued manufacturer, Boeing, have put back the 787’s delivery for at least 2 months. Passengers that have paid the £10 supplement for flights from May this…