Author: Shawon Hannan

CityJet, an Ireland-based airline, is offering new services to Brest, in France, from Dublin, the Republic of Ireland’s capital. The new service will be commencing from June 29, 2013, with flight AF5266 departing on Saturdays from Dublin Airport, for Aeroport Brest Bretagne. The return flight departs from Brest on the same day. The new route will operate using an Avro RJ85 jet that has capacity for 95 passengers. This addition to the service compliments the current summer service between London City airport and Brest. Passengers can book the new fares at www.cityjet.com, commencing from €96 one way and €189 return.…

The worldwide investigation into Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft amidst fears regarding its safety has concluded that the airplane’s battery is not at fault as first thought. US safety officials have ruled out overcharging as the cause of the battery fire, and are now focusing on the aircraft’s battery charger and auxiliary power unit. UK airlines Thomson Airways and British Airways are both scheduled to receive their first Dreamliner aircraft in May this year, but this is now in doubt since – as of Friday January 18 – Boeing has put deliveries of the aircraft on hold until the Federal Aviation…

The new Mercure Milton Keynes Abbey Hill Hotel, formerly the Abbey Hill Hotel, is being launched following a refurbishment that has cost £1.5m. The Mercure brand has announced that its latest property, in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK, features a decorative theme throughout its public spaces that is inspired by nature. This includes the hotel’s 60-seat restaurant, 50-person capacity bar and lobby area, and its 88 bedrooms. For business guests and private functions, the hotel can also provide five state-of-the-art meeting rooms. The hotel is located conveniently close to Milton Keynes town centre, five minutes’ drive from the town’s railway station,…

Manchester Airports Group, the owners of the Manchester, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports in the UK, has agreed to buy Stansted Airport for £1.5bn. The UK’s fourth busiest airport by passenger numbers is being sold by Heathrow Airport Holdings, formerly BAA, following the organisation’s decision not to contest an order from competition regulators for it to sell Stansted. Three of the UK’s largest airports, Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, were all originally owned by BAA, but following pressure from the Competition Commission, BAA will now only retain Heathrow and a few smaller airports, including Glasgow. The leading shareholders in Manchester Airports…

UK based British Airways has announced changes to its 2013 summer schedule, to include a new route. The airline is offering weekend services to Ibiza, in Spain, from London Heathrow airport, from April 27, 2013. The airline currently offers services to the White Isle from both London City and Gatwick airports. The airline is also introducing flights to Spain from London Heathrow airport to Palma, commencing from March 31, 2013, and from Gatwick airport to Lanzarote commencing from March 31, and Tenerife from Gatwick commencing from March 29, 2013. The airline has also announced that it is moving its services…

All 50 Boeing Dreamliner aircraft that are currently in service for various global airlines have been grounded, with Ethiopian Airlines becoming the latest of the airlines to ground its fleet. The airlines are grounding the aircraft due to fears for its airworthiness following incidents of its onboard battery catching fire. This week two Japanese airlines, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airlines, became the first to ground their Dreamliner aircraft and begin an investigation into its safety standards. The Dreamliner is touted to be the first to offer mid-size airplane capabilities on long-distance routes. The USA’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has…

UAE-based airline company, Emirates Airline, has announced that its inaugural service to Poland will be commencing from February 6, 2013. Emirates has launched its service to Poland with a trade preview of the airline’s main A380 aircraft, with a reproduction of a First Class Private Suite on display. The airline will be offering a daily service to Warsaw in Poland, from Dubai in the UAE, with a 237-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Richard Jewsbury, the airline senior vice president of commercial operations for Europe and Russian Federation, said, ‘Warsaw will be the first new route for Emirates in 2013 and our…

Virgin Trains, a UK-based train operator, has announced a sale of its standard class fares. The company is offering up to 50,000 Virgin Trains seats at discounted prices, with prices commencing from £5.50 for a journey between London and Birmingham. The offer is running until January 19, 2012, on a first come, first served basis. The tickets are for travel between January 21, and March 17, 2013, and may also be purchased online. The company will be operating around 106 extra carriages on its services, which will add around 30 percent more seats in Standard Class. Some of the bargain…

Network Rail, a company that operates the railway network in the UK, has recently awarded a ten-year contract for the supply of low carbon electricity for the UK’s electrified rail network. The contract has been awarded to UK based EDF Energy, who will be providing around 3.2TWh of electricity a year to power the rail network as it carries three million passengers and thousands of tons of freight per day. David Higgins, the chief executive officer for Network Rail, said, ‘Rail is already the greenest form of public transport and this partnership with EDF Energy will help us make it…

Airberlin, a Germany-based airline company, is aiming for a job cut of around 900 employees. The airline, which is suffering from financial losses, expects to cut costs and improve its financials through the job cuts, which are part of its new transformation plan, Turbine. The airline, in a statement, said, ‘The negotiations for the restructuring programme and the planned personnel measures with the staff committees are already in place. The management of Air Berlin will implement ‘turbine’, together with the employees and in a constructive dialogue with employee representatives and those discussions in the coming months to give the highest…