News about UK and International Airlines http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/ Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:34:53 +0000 Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:34:53 +0000 Heathrow to north America could rise by more than 20 per cent on 2007 figures. That’s a result of the open skies agreement that allows full competition between airlines from Heathrow from March 30. Previously only four airlines - two from the UK and two from the USA - flew from the London airport: British Airways, Virgin, United Airlines and American Airlines. Now other airlines that include Continental, Delta, Northwest, US Airways and Air France-KLM will launch services. BA is moving its transatlantic operation to the newly opened Terminal 5 and launching a dedicated subsidiary called Open Skies. It will also offer business-class-only flights to New York from London's City airport. But Virgin is more cautious and is holding back from expanding its services - warning that the changes may not see reduced fares. Chief operating officer Lyell Strambi feels fares on the London to New York route will not fall significantly. He...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/more_choice_brings_premium_fares_down_12243620.htm Airfares Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/more_choice_brings_premium_fares_down_12243620.htm Heathrow. The airline is third overall at the airport, 20 places ahead of its rival British Airways and 22 places ahead of Virgin Atlantic. BMI regional commercial director, Peter Kenworthy, said: “Punctuality is a top priority for the business traveller and is something we constantly strive for. It is the cornerstone of our success. Our customers have come to know and expect timely departures and arrivals and reliability as standard. “Our staff across the network work hard in maintaining and...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/bmi_wins_punctuality_survey_20272992.htm BMI Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/bmi_wins_punctuality_survey_20272992.htm Euro legislation means that the DC-3 will soon be unable to make passenger flights.
The propeller driven aircraft is one of the all time classic flying machines and was an instant hit in the skies in its 1930s and 40s heyday.
And to mark the last days of the classic aircraft a farewell tour is offering passengers a chance to climb aboard. Airports across Britain are being used for the pleasure flights on a DC-3 operated by Air Atlantique.
Flights take off from Norwich, Coventry, Durham, Blackpool, Cardiff, Exeter, Newquay, Bournemouth and Belfast and will be operating until early July. The Euro laws come into effect on July 16.
Details of the farewell tour are on the www.classicflight.com website.
A spokesman said:
“The tour will see us bringing the Daks to airports throughout Britain. We'll be asking people to join us for a commemorative flight and to hear the thunder of those great Pratt and Whitney engines for what could be the last time.”  ...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/farewell_tour_for_classic_aircraft_91697469.htm General Travel Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/farewell_tour_for_classic_aircraft_91697469.htm http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/rising_oil_prices_fuels_flights_debate_13461475.htm General Travel Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/rising_oil_prices_fuels_flights_debate_13461475.htm http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/klm_boss_predicts_some_airlines_could_go_bust_11287004.htm General Travel Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/klm_boss_predicts_some_airlines_could_go_bust_11287004.htm Heathrow, and Sydney-Auckland.  Emirates’ A380 interiors and onboard product, which have been kept under wraps so far, will be revealed for the first time when the airline receives its first A380 from Airbus’ Hamburg facility on 28th July.
 
The A380 can fly up to 12,000 kilometres on a full passenger load, and offer better fuel economy per passenger kilometre than most hybrid passenger cars. The A380 is also quieter, both inside and outside of the cabin, which means more comfort for passengers and a smaller noise footprint.
 
Emirates expects delivery of five A380s in its current financial year, all featuring its ultra long-haul configuration of 489 seats: 14 in First Class, 76 in Business and 399 in Economy; with 13 tonnes of...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/the_future_of_flight_82758575.htm General Travel Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/the_future_of_flight_82758575.htm http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/openskies_launches_18207906.htm General Travel Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/openskies_launches_18207906.htm Heathrow’s second-largest airline, has produced a series of cultural guides to conducting business in a number of its destination countries, including Ethiopia, Israel, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia.   The guides include insight into social etiquette and offer a lighthearted but informative insider’s view of the best ways to conduct business in these destinations.   The guides can be downloaded free of charge from the BMI website and offer an invaluable insight into conducting business outside of the UK.            The cultural guides to doing business will provide readers information on the general etiquette of each country, with specific business etiquette, general business information including working hours and religious holidays as well as key destination information....]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/get_cultural_with_bmi_90519601.htm BMI Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/get_cultural_with_bmi_90519601.htm Heathrow from the UAE capital, as of October 2008. The new service brings the total number of flights to Heathrow each week from 17 to 21. Demand for flights between the UAE and UK has grown in the last year, with more than 306,000 passengers on the Heathrow service and 146,000 on the Manchester service. Heathrow is one of Etihad’s longest serving airports, having begun services in March 2004, only five months after the launch of the airline.  Travellers between Abu Dhabi and London Heathrow do so for both business and holidays. Holiday makers can take advantage of Etihad’s long haul routes via Abu Dhabi, including Sydney, Singapore and Bangkok as well as those who visit the UAE capital in its own right for a short break....]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/etihad_to_increase_london_heathrow_flights_18979774.htm Heathrow Airport Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/etihad_to_increase_london_heathrow_flights_18979774.htm Heathrow’s second largest airline, is offering new members of its longstanding frequent flyer programme, diamond club, the opportunity to be credited with 3,000 free destinations miles when joining before 17 July 2008. The 3,000 destinations miles will get you well on your way to your first free flight as you only need to earn 9,000 miles for a free return flight to one of bmi’s European destinations. The offer is only available at flybmi.com. Diamond club destinations miles can be spent on flights with bmi, Star Alliance partner airlines, hotel accommodation and on a range of gifts and treats.  The more members fly, the more rewards they can benefit from such as exclusive lounge access and additional baggage allowance.   ...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/a_diamond_deal_35155043.htm General Travel Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/a_diamond_deal_35155043.htm Gatwick airport, instead of having to fly chartered, or via Croatia. This bodes well for the country’s booming tourism industry. This small country sandwiched between Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovenia and Albania has a long coast line on the Mediterranean, and The World Travel and Tourism Council has predicted that it will become the fastest growing travel and tourism economy in the world. More direct flights from the UK to Montenegro must surely take it a step closer to achieving this. This year, The Montenegrin Ministry of Tourism says tourism has grown six percent on the same period last year. According to estimates, there will be a 13 percent increase on the  1.15 million tourists that visited Montenegro last year, taking this years number of tourists up to 1.3 million.
 ...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/montenegro_airlines_now_scheduled_from_gatwick_95107354.htm Gatwick Airport Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/montenegro_airlines_now_scheduled_from_gatwick_95107354.htm Gatwick and Heathrow to regional airports will be most at risk of the axe when BA announces its own first quarter results at the beginning of August. O'Leary said: "We believe our average fares for the year may fall by as much as five per cent if European air fares plunge this winter. Ryanair will lead this downward pricing at a time when most of our competitors are hoping to raise fares and fuel surcharges. We will continue to absorb higher oil costs, even if it means short-term losses." Rising oil prices, which averaged $117 a barrel in the first quarter of 2008 compared with $61 a barrel in the same period last year, is responsible for Ryanair's profits dropping to £16million. It faces losses of up to £47.3million this year compared with the record...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/low_budget_airline_price_war_56643267.htm General Travel Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/low_budget_airline_price_war_56643267.htm The Air Travel Insolvency Protection Advisory Committee (ATIPAC), which advises the Civil Aviation Authority, says more financial protection must be offered to protect passengers when airlines go bust.
  The committee said it had strong concerns over the lack of financial protection for air travellers booking directly with scheduled airlines.
  Highlighting the failure of UK business class carrier Silverjet, and US rivals MAXjet and Eos in the last seven months, in its eighth annual report, ATIPAC said these airline failures demonstrated the “significant financial” loss passengers can be exposed to in the event of an airline going out of business.
  Chairman, John Cox, said: "Airlines are not providing suitable protection and advice for their passengers. Information about financial protection is negligible and, in the event of an airline failing, passengers often have no choice but to pay their own repatriation costs. Those yet to travel often have to pay for replacement flights or face losing the value of any pre-paid element of their holiday.”
However, if you travel with an ATOL-protected tour operator, you face...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/no_passenger_protection_if_airlines_go_bust_35484506.htm Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/no_passenger_protection_if_airlines_go_bust_35484506.htm Flying Premium economy class can make all the difference to a longer flight, and Skytrax –  the air transport research organisation, which specialises in global airline and airport customer surveys, has revealed passengers like you have ranked EVA Air’s Elite Class cabin to be the Best Premium Economy Class in its annual World Airline Survey 2008. The Skytrax survey took the opinions of 15.5 million global air travellers, who were questioned by phone, email and online regarding issues surrounding cabin comfort, including cleanliness and amenities, airport facilites and service levels. In the survey, passengers werealso quizzed about in-flight safety procedures and catering. The survey listed more than 170 airlines. EVA Air has been running a premium economy service since its first flight to North America in 1992. ...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/eva_air_leads_premium_economy_18210906.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/eva_air_leads_premium_economy_18210906.htm   You'd be wise to keep a close eye on budget airlines after the collapse of Zoom, the carrier which went bust last week leaving thousands of passengers stranded. Soaring oil prices, poor sales for Zoom – despite the company battling to keep transatlantic fares lower than the competition - and a weak economy has created a crisis for airlines, with more than 27 airlines filing for bankruptcy this year. So being wary is only prudent. If you've made sure you've got a great deal on airport parking with APH, you are probably the type of person who travels properly. It goes without saying that travel insurance is a must – but check that your policy covers problems with the airline. Many don't. Purchase tickets with a credit or debit card,and most reputable card providers will provide payment insurance, which means, should things go wrong, you will at least be able to claim your money back. Now European carrier Alitalia is seeking bankruptcy protection...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/more_gloom_post-zoom_89882143.htm Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/more_gloom_post-zoom?_89882143.htm   The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says the global airline industry will lose US$5.2 billion in 2008. But the ongoing problems besetting the airline industry, should mean we – as customers – enjoy a winter of genuine bargains. Budget UK-based airline BMI is offering twice daily flights on its Heathrow to Moscow Domodedovo route. Economy fares start from £247, including charges and taxes. BMI has increased a deal with Russian carrier Transaero, which is also increasing its daily services between Moscow and London, with four flights a day in each direction. And the airline has also promised to slash its fares in a winter sale. Reduced rates are available on bookings made for travel before March 31 next year. Both business and economy fares have been cut on flights across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Russia, Central Asia and Africa. EasyJet is hoping its new daily flights from Gatwick to Istanbul will prove popular. Flights to the |Turkish city begin on December 12....]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/airlines_battle_for_winter_business_20632161.htm Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/airlines_battle_for_winter_business_20632161.htm    ...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/winter_flight_bargains_13705361.htm Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/winter_flight_bargains_13705361.htm Having announced record annual profits of $1.37 billion, it's good news that Dubai-based airline, Emirates, is cutting its seat prices by 20% on flights from the UK to destinations including Australia, South Africa, the Far East and the Indian Ocean. A spokesman said the price cuts were a result of the falling cost of a barrel of oil. The reduced fares are available until October 24 and are valid for travel until June 30, 2009. Meanwhile Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways has set its sights on flying 25 million passengers a year by 2020, according to the airline’s chief executive, James Hogan, with plans to double the number of cities served from 50 to 100. Etihad also saw its busiest summer period in its four year history, flying more than 1.6 million passengers in June, July and August....]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/mid-east_airlines_remain_bullish_18946845.htm Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/mid-east_airlines_remain_bullish_18946845.htm
Majorca-based airline LTE International Airways has suspended flights, making it the next likely carrier to collapse, in a 12 month period which has seen 25 airlines go bust. On its website, a spokesman for the troubled carrier said it "was just not possible to avoid this situation, given world events lately." LTE only started weekly services in July 2008 from Norwich to Alicante, Barcelona and Palma. It ran seven 180-passenger Airbus A320s from its Palma, Canary Islands and Milan bases.Passengers on the Norwich services were left stranded at the weekend, but tour operator Cosmos which used LTE's services arranged an alternative flight to bring 300 tourists back from Tenerife.
A Norwich airport spokesman expressed deep disappointment at the news, but added that LTE has suggested its flight suspensions are only a temporary measure as the company is not in liquidation or bankruptcy.
...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/norwich_holiday_makers_affected_by_flight_suspensions_64975648.htm Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/norwich_holiday_makers_affected_by_flight_suspensions_64975648.htm
If you’re excited by the idea of the new Airbus A380 mega-jumbo aircraft, then you’ll be thrilled to hear Qantas will be launching a service from London to Australia, via Singapore, on the super airliner in January next year.

The Australian carrier just launched its first A380 flights between Melbourne and the US west coast. It’s planned to make these flights daily by the end of 2009. And the first Sydney-Los Angeles flight on the 450-seat aircraft is due to take off on October 24 this year.

Qantas is taking delivery of three A380s by the end of the year, and aims to have eight in service by the end of 2009.
...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/oz_carrier_flies_first_trans-pacific_mega-jumbo_58414864.htm Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/oz_carrier_flies_first_trans-pacific_mega-jumbo_58414864.htm The new deal applies to all flights booked from October 20th, and taken before the end of March next year. Jet2 runs services from Manchester, Newcastle, Blackpool, Edinburgh and Belfast International airports in addition to its Leeds Bradford airport hub. In practical terms, this means many of you should be able to take plenty of luggage for a short break, with enough room left for those all important souvenirs. We recommend you pack carefully, use a small bag and weigh it before arriving at the airport.
The carrier, which has operated out of the UK for 30 years and flown eight million passengers, claims its 22kg allowance is the best in its business sector. At the time of writing, rival carriers such as Monarch, bmibaby, easyJet, Aer Lingus, Flybe and Thomsonfly, offered a...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/more_baggage_and_more_destinations_for_jet2_14758965.htm Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/more_baggage_and_more_destinations_for_jet2_14758965.htm Stansted airport to New York, Florida, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston.

 ...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/uk_to_us_for_£8_69399366.htm Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/uk_to_us_for_£8?_69399366.htm
Thomson Airways report that all their flights are now covered under the ATOL scheme. This means that customers should be able to book their holiday flights in the knowledge that their money is safe.

Tim Williamson, customer director for the company pointed out: “Our recent annual results showed record profits and as Europe’s largest travel company, we are financially robust. However, customers are confused about financial protection. They don’t realise that when they book a flight direct with a scheduled or low cost airline, they take a gamble with their money. We want to send a clear message that they can choose to book with a company who will look after their money or they can book with a low cost carrier and keep their fingers crossed.”

Thomson and First Choice have unveiled a wide range of early booking offers and are launching a national advertising campaign for both brands. The message from the group is clear – book early to secure the lowest...]]> http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/every_thompson_flight_for_2009_to_be_atol_protected_14511283.htm Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.aph.com/news/airlines/every_thompson_flight_for_2009_to_be_atol_protected_14511283.htm