Pound rises against the euro

Holidaymakers will be in for a nice surprise this summer as the pound has reached a high of 1.24 euro’s a height that has not been reached since November 2008. Added with the fact that most euro zone countries are struggling with the world wide recession prices are much cheaper than they were 12 months ago, meaning UK travellers will get much more for their money.

Numerous travel companies are reporting a rush of bookings since England were dumped out of the World Cup 4-1 by Germany as many travellers were waiting to see how far England would progress before taking their holidays.

At least the good news about the rising pound will give the UK travellers something to cheer about. The pound is also doing well against Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria and Croatia.

Major Tour operator Thomas Cook claimed the recent rise in the pound could save holidaymakers an average of £700 on meals, drinks, cigarettes, taxis, ice cream and newspapers.

Business Travel Revival

BA CEO Willie Walsh has predicted that Business travel will play a key role in reviving the economy and airline industry, as companies start to come out of their shells and try to build up again due to the recession. Mr Walsh says that face to face meetings with business owners and there oversees customers will be essential.

Mr Walsh also quoted that a recent survey carried out, found that 79% of business owners rated a face to face meeting as the most productive form of choice. The news was also backed by Clive Wratten who manages the UK branch of Etihad, who stated the airline had seen a big increase in business travel for its Manchester and London routes.

Mr Walsh also went on to thank the travel management community for its support during the recent strikes by cabin crew workers and proclaimed that if more strikes were to come then BA’s long haul service would be totally unaffected with flights at Gatwick and London City Airport again running at 100%.

British Airlines Trailing

A recent survey carried out by consumer magazine has found the British airlines to be trailing behind its overseas competition. Out of 18 airlines Thomas Cook found itself rooted at the bottom of the list, whilst Virgin Atlantic finished 6th Britain’s highest entry.

British Airways finished 11th but were praised for their cleanliness and cabin crew, Thomas Cook took the heaviest criticism about legroom and comfort, whilst Ryanair was criticised over baggage charges.

The best long haul operator was awarded to Air New Zealand which recently launched a lie-flat layout for its economy class.

Which magazine head of research Rochelle Turner stated that price wasn’t the only factor customers were thinking of and that a friendly and comfortable experience had a lasting impression on travellers.

BA To Expand US Services

British Airways has announced it is considering extending its services from London City Airport by introducing new routes, to three North American Cities.

Chicago, Washington DC and Boston will be part of the expansion plans after BA CEO announced after finding a recently introduced route from London City airport and Ney York City was very profitable. The popular route was expected to take a full year until it became profitable but this was achieved in just 10 weeks.

Mr Walsh stated if the success of the route continues then additional services would be introduced along with more capacity to the existing New York route.

The news comes as a nice surprise for Willie Walsh whose airline has had to endure countless setbacks this year, posting record losses due to striking cabin crew workers, the recession and the Volcanic ash cloud which grounded all flights during parts of April and March costing the airline industry billions.

BA & Unite still at loggerheads

BA & Unite are still to reach an agreement in the long and drawn out battle regarding pay and conditions. A battle that has so far resulted in 22 days of strike action carried out by the Unite Union that has cost BA in excess of £150m.

Reconciliation service ACAS has stated that it had given both sides new proposals last week but no agreement had been reached as the fear of another strike during July looked increasingly likely.

The original strikes were over changes to staffing levels and pay disputes but now are clearly over the travel concessions removed by BA for striking cabin crew workers.

Planes With No Pilots

New Jersey airport is set to try out a series of tests to see if it’s possible to carry out flights without a pilot. It is hoped in future years even as close as 2030 it could be possible that cargo planes used by the likes of UPS could be flown via UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle).

The technology has been used by the armed forces for gathering intelligence flying over war torn country’s safely.It is also hoped that eventually unmanned commercial flights will be a possibility.

What the flying public might think about that remains to be seen. The test will be carried out by the Federal Aviation Administration and Insitu Inc a UAV company owned by Boeing. The Boeing sky eagle has been used by the military, which is launched into the air and uses a hook in the ground when landing to slow it down.

Balloon flights from Lucca airport

In last May the Agreement of cooperation between the “Vincent Lunardi Balloon Club” and Lucca-Tassignano Airport was firmed in order to promote the activities of the provincial airport.

Balloon flights have not only a sportif value but also tourist/attractive one.

This represents a way for discovering and admiring the whole territory with all its beauties and increase the number of those who spend holidays in Tuscany.

If we think to the history of Balloon flights it is really very ancient. The first experiments took place in XVIII century and inspired both poetry and literature. Science had made man almost a god, because it demonstrated the ability of his reason to understand and to command the laws of nature. Science had opened limitless vistas of human progress.

The first flights were accompanied by women in tears, common people raising their hands toward the sky in deep silence, the passengers waving and crying out in joy.

Now those moments are only sweet memories but even today balloon flights represent a moment of freedom, a way to fly like birds in the sky.

Enjoy your vacation with a balloon flight! It will be a great and unforgettable experience!

Wiliie Walsh refuses bonus

Willie Walsh the CEO of British Airways has shown his striking cabin crew workers that everyone must take pay cuts after refusing a £334,000 bonus which is the second time the airline boss has turned down his annual bonus.

Although Mr Walsh does earn a handsome £735,000 a year he has shown he is ready to take a pay cut to help his company come through the other side of the deep recession, he also missed his July salary as part of his cost-cutting plans. The Unite union claim had he taken the massive bonus there would have been uproar.

Mr Walsh is currently locked in a battle with the union regarding pay and conditions. The pay committee have set him three tasks if he is to be eligible for bonus next year.

One of these tasks includes resolving the pay dispute with cabin crew workers which has so far resulted in 21 days of strike action. The dispute is still not solved with talk of more stikes on the way so if Mr Walsh wants his bonus next year he will have to resolve this issue in the near future.

Walsh stated that if BA failed to change then the company would shrink and shrink eventually into non existence.

BA Stand firm

BA cabin crew workers are set to meet MPs later today as the last of the 5 day strikes draws to a close. They will tell the MPs that BA is gripped by a climate of fear, however Willie Walsh CEO of BA has stated his company would hold out for as long as it takes instead of giving in to Union.

Mr Walsh went on to say flight numbers would continue to rise amid plans for more strikes, which the union has said will take place if an agreement can not be reached. Today is the 21st day BA has operated with a depleted work force.

But it is obvious that they are adapting well to the strikes as they run more flights each time they are in operation and with Willie Walsh claiming he will not back down. You wonder what the unions will try next as more workers are now feeling the pinch of having huge holes in their wage packets.

Easyjet to (AVOID) ash clouds

Easyjet has unveiled an ash detection system in light of the recent ash cloud chaos. The company lost £75m, due to the UK airspace closure in large parts of April and May, when it had 1600 flights grounded by the volcanic ash cloud.

The system called (Avoid) Airborne Volcanic Object Identifier and Detector will help pilots to identify ash in the air up to 60 miles away and then fly around the potential hazard.

The (CAA) Civil Aviation Authority said it was pleased an airline had found a technical solution to the issue and although it could not endorse the technology it would help as much as possible to get certification.

The Easyjet chief executive Andy Harrison stated the technology that uses infra red would be tested by Airbus on Easyjet’s behalf in the next two months and insisted there was no intention for Easyjet to keep the technology for themselves. Stating it was happy to share the knowledge and not give themselves an advantage in the aviation market.

Despite the ash cloud problems during May Easyjet announced an increase in passenger numbers for May, jumping another 7.9% for the same period last year.

Fog problems at Melbourne

Thick fog has caused chaos at Melbourne airport this morning as airlines with planes bound for the Australian airport were forced to keep its planes grounded or divert the ones already on route.

The fog was only causing problems for planes wishing to land but still had a knock on effect for departing planes, it started to clear at around 11 am but a spokesman said it would be the afternoon before the backlog was cleared.

Several planes were forced to turn around mid-air and return to their departing airports or were diverted to Sydney and Adelaide. A weather expert stated that as Australia moved towards its summer more foggy mornings would be common

Good news for football fans

As the BA cabin crew strike enters its fourth day, some good news for football fans has been announced by BA. As they stated that all football fans booked on BA planes bound for the World Cup in South Africa would be unaffected by the 3rd walkout by BA staff which is due to start on the 5th June ending on the 9th June 2 days shy of the start of the tournament.

Talks were carried out yesterday between BA and Unite but again a solution looks a way off. The welcome news for football fans is part of the 80% of flights that BA say will operate at Heathrow airport. BA seem confident that every time Unite orders its members to strike they can operate at higher level to the previous strikes.

Unite say they will ballot its members for more strikes in July but BA don’t seem to be to bothered and you have to think that BA are starting to get the upper hand now as the long battle rages on.

Ryanair raise baggage fees despite massive profits

Budget airline Ryanair are to raise baggage fees despite announcing an increase in profit of 200% from last year. The airline is also planning to pay its first dividend to its shareholders totalling €500 million.

Passengers numbers were up by 14% with revenue up by 2%, the airline said cheaper oil prices had meant a 29% cut in fuel costs which had greatly contributed to this. But despite of the massive profits announced Ryanair are planning on raising baggage charges from £15 per bag to £20 per bag during July and August.

Mr O’ Leary CEO of Ryanair said his plan was not to raise more money but bring the volume of baggage inline with the rest of year and encourage passengers to bring less luggage. O’Leary is still upset over the ash cloud chaos and his airline would be suing a number of European governments and demanded a change to the regulations on compensating passengers.

He also went on to say that the regulations were out of date and that they were designed to facilitate an isolated incident at 1 airport not 18 days of UK airport closure affecting thousands of flights and airlines.