2008 Articles

Book launched to accompany Flying Without Fear course

A book has been released to accompany Virgin Atlantic's popular Flying Without Fear course, which has been running at airports across the UK for the past ten years.

The book contains answers to 101 questions about flying, which have been put forward on the Flying Without Fear website and raised by people participating in the course.

It will also provide information from a cabin crew safety trainer, as well as tips from aviation experts and methods to help people overcome their fear of flying.
Continue reading article »

Four UK hubs improve punctuality

Four airports in the UK improved their scheduled punctuality in the first three months of 2008 compared to the same period of the previous year, according to new figures.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced that Luton, Gatwick, Stansted and Birmingham all saw their ratio of on-time flights increase this year.

Stansted and Birmingham were the best performers, respectively operating 80 per cent and 78 per cent of their flights within 15 minutes of their planned arrival or departure time.
Continue reading article »

Manchester to celebrate 70th anniversary

Manchester Airport will this month celebrate its 70th anniversary.

The north-west hub will mark the occasion on June 25th and will host a series of celebratory events throughout the year, including a number of dinners and parties.

The festivities will conclude with the completion of the new Concorde hangar, an attraction at Manchester that travellers will be able to visit.
Continue reading article »

London airports buck traffic trend

The London hubs of Heathrow and Gatwick Airport bucked an overall trend of falling passenger figures across the UK in May, airport operator BAA announced.

Heathrow handled more than 5.6 million travellers last month, a 0.6 per cent increase on May 2007, while Gatwick saw its figures increase by 1.1 per cent to reach three million.

BAA's seven UK airports handled a combined total of 12.7 million passengers in May, which represented a 0.5 per cent drop on the previous year.
Continue reading article »

Gatwick praised for queue times

Air passengers have named Gatwick Airport the best of the ten busiest gateways in Europe for security waiting times.

The result was part of a quarterly Airports Council International survey which sought the opinions of passengers on a range of different service factors.

Gatwick was assessed alongside some of the major airports in Europe, including the UK hubs of Heathrow and Manchester, as well as Paris Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam Schiphol and Frankfurt.
Continue reading article »

More flights to link Heathrow to Hong Kong

London Heathrow Airport will offer more connections to Hong Kong with Virgin Atlantic this year.

The airline announced that it will increase frequency on this service to twice-daily from December 5th.

As well as increasing the number of seats available on the Heathrow-Hong Kong route, the change will open up "fresh opportunities" for travellers looking for onward connections throughout Asia, Virgin Atlantic claimed.
Continue reading article »

New York takes top spot in American tourism

New York was the most popular destination in the US for international visitors last year, with a total of 7.6m holidaymakers jetting into the city, according to new figures.

The Big Apple attracted nearly three times as many visitors as its closest competitor, Los Angeles, which welcomed some 2.7 million tourists.

Figures from the US department of commerce showed that Miami and San Francisco were the next most popular destinations, with 2.3 million visitors each, reports the Associated Press.
Continue reading article »

Lion King announces 3-month extension

Hit musical The Lion King has announced a three-month extension to its stay in the West End.

The stage version of the Disney movie will now be taking bookings at the Lyceum Theatre until January 4th 2009.

Cast members currently bringing the characters in the story to life include Shaun Escoffery as Mufasa, George Asprey as Scar and Andile Gumbi as Simba.
Continue reading article »

Leeds/Bradford to host new services to Egypt

Leeds/Bradford Airport is set to host new connections to the Egyptian holiday hotspot of Sharm el Sheikh.

Jet2 and Jet2holidays are set to offer the direct services, which will represent a first for Yorkshire.

Sharm el Sheikh is becoming increasingly popular among British travellers and the forthcoming launch will be the first time that a tour operator and airline have flown to the destination from the region.
Continue reading article »

New checks to be introduced for US travel

People catching flights from the UK to the United States from January 2009 will have to provide certain pieces of personal information prior to departure as part of a new security initiative.

The new Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (Esta) system, which will require travellers to submit biographical, travel and eligibility information at least 72 hours before their flight, will replace the written forms that Brits travelling to America currently have to complete.

Michael Chertoff, US homeland security secretary, said that the initiative is a modern way of gathering information about visitors who are able to travel to the US without a visa.
Continue reading article »

Ryanair to expand from UK hubs

Ryanair has announced a forthcoming expansion in its network that will bring new services to a number of UK airports.

The development, which the low-cost airline claimed will be its biggest ever single expansion, will lead to a total of 40 new routes this winter.

A dozen of these new connections will be available from the UK, including six services from Luton Airport and a new service between London Stansted and Madrid.
Continue reading article »