Operators catering for inbound tourists enjoy best month for bookings in three years
The plunging pound may cause British holidaymakers to choke at the prices if and when they next choose to go abroad. But one slice of the travel industry is seeing a silver lining in the storm clouds.
Tour operators catering for visitors are quietly calling it their best month for bookings since October 2019 as US tourists take advantage of sterling’s tumble.
Continue reading...Airline had started offering a single meal option on shorter Australian flights, prompting ire from travellers with dietary restrictions
Qantas will start serving vegetarian meals on all domestic flights again after a backlash from travellers.
At the start of the pandemic in 2020 Qantas reduced its meal offerings on board all domestic flights under 3.5 hours, which meant only providing a single option on some flights.
Continue reading...Billboards have been hijacked across Europe to highlight role of airline emissions in climate crisis
As Kate, 23, walked out of Seven Sisters station, in Tottenham, north London, she noticed an airline advertisement attracting unusual attention.
“I was on my way back home, I was coming out of the station, and I saw two people taking pictures of the billboard,” she said. “I thought at first it was just a normal airline ad, so I just walked past. Then I did a bit of a double take.”
Continue reading...Airline says it changed menu during Covid but critics say ‘one size fits all’ alienates passengers and is a sign of decline
Qantas has stopped offering vegetarian meals on some domestic flights, leaving one irate traveller to suggest it is a further sign that the airline is in decline.
Environmentalist Jon Dee was flying from Adelaide to Sydney on Sunday night when he was told there was only chicken pie on the menu.
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Continue reading...Despite backlash from customers and calls for CEO Alan Joyce to resign, airline has ‘a lot of confidence’ for September school holidays
Qantas has vowed its operations will settle into a new post-Covid normal within weeks after months of customer complaints over flight cancellations and lost baggage.
The Qantas group executive of associated airlines and services, John Gissing, told the Centre for Aviation summit in Adelaide the airline had “a lot of confidence” going into the September school holidays.
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Continue reading...All passengers were escorted out of the screened area of Melbourne airport because one passenger had bypassed screening in Sydney
All passengers on a Qantas flight from Sydney on Wednesday evening were escorted off the plane by police to the unscreened area of Melbourne airport, after one passenger managing to bypass screening.
A Qantas spokesperson said “a passenger on a Sydney to Melbourne service (QF487) boarded the flight after inadvertently passing from an ‘unscreened’ to a ‘screened’ part of the airport in Sydney.”
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Continue reading...Travellers in Bali have run out of medication and been offered tortuous routes home
Mass flight cancellations have left 4,000 Jetstar passengers stranded or forced to cancel trips, with the carrier only able to offer flights a week later in many cases.
Many have reported being left in Bali well beyond their planned return date without access to medication, or being forced to lose wages because they could not return home in time to work.
Continue reading...Flights found to run more than 14 minutes late on average as UK plans to reduce compensation
The budget airline Wizz Air was the worst performer for UK flight delays among its peers last year, according to analysis that has raised fresh concerns about government plans to slash customer compensation schemes.
The Hungarian carrier – which operates short-haul flights from 10 UK airports including Belfast International, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Gatwick and Luton – was found to have flights running an average of 14 minutes and 24 second behind schedule in 2021, months before the latest travel chaos took hold.
Continue reading...Airline’s loss halves on back of revival in travel as company announces share buyback of up to $400m
Qantas has posted a full-year underlying pre-tax loss of $1.86bn after border closures and travel uncertainty as the Covid-19 pandemic weighed on earnings.
The airline’s net loss after tax for the year to 30 June narrowed to $860m, compared with $1.7bn the year before.
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Continue reading...Independent review recommends moving flight paths to alleviate noise concerns but disgruntled residents want solutions sooner
Anti-aircraft noise campaigners say they will target investors in Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) as they threaten to ramp up efforts to force a curfew and cap on flights over the city.
Aircraft noise was the defining local issue at the federal election for many who live under flight paths that emerged when the Brisbane airport opened its second runway in mid-2020, playing a role in the election of Greens MPs in three inner-city seats.
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Continue reading...The FAA was alerted and said the piece appeared to be a metal sleeve from a wing flap of a large passenger jet; no one was hurt
A metal object believed to have fallen from a trans-Atlantic jet came crashing down outside the Maine state house, landing with a loud bang just feet from a capitol police worker, officials said on Monday.
The Federal Aviation Administration was alerted on Friday and returned to the State House on Monday as it investigated the object, according to the capitol police chief Matthew Clancy.
Continue reading...Michael O’Leary warns of rising cost of fuel and says policymakers need to get inflation back to about 2%
The boss of Ryanair has warned the era of ultra-low airfares is over and said Brexit is partly to blame for a shortage of airport workers that has created chaos during the peak holiday period.
The airline’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said surging oil prices would make it impossible to keep offering promotional tickets for less than €10 (£8.50). He added that Ryanair’s average fare would rise from about €40 towards €50 over the next five years as the company adjusted to rising inflation.
Continue reading...Workers say they just want a fair deal on pay, conditions and schedules at an airline has long resisted union efforts
Flight attendants at Delta are currently pushing to form a union at the only major airline in the US where flight attendants are not unionized.
Workers are racing to gather union authorization cards signed by a supermajority at Delta to trigger a union election over the next few months, as signatures are only valid for one year.
Continue reading...Multiple airlines experience delays due to crew absences while Qantas technical glitch left passengers waiting for hours
Widespread flight cancellations across multiple airlines have frustrated travellers at Sydney and Melbourne airports on Monday, as the industry grapples with staffing shortages as well as a technology glitch that affected Qantas flights on Sunday.
Across Qantas, Virgin Australia, Jetstar and Rex, 23 domestic flights were cancelled out of Sydney airport on Monday.
Continue reading...Airline group says demand is strong despite ‘historic challenges’ at Heathrow and elsewhere
British Airways has returned to profit for the first time since the start of the pandemic, with its owner International Airlines Group saying demand was strong despite “historic challenges” still facing the industry.
IAG said that there was no sign of bookings tailing off in the autumn and beyond – in the face of pessimistic forecasts from its main airport base, Heathrow – and that demand for the most lucrative transatlantic routes was continuing to grow.
Continue reading...Manufacturers to emphasise their efforts to reduce environmental impact of planes
Low-emission air travel and a potential deal for Japan to help build the UK’s next-generation Tempest fighter jet are set to take centre stage at the annual Farnborough airshow this week.
Executives from global aerospace manufacturers and airlines will gather at the airport in Hampshire after a four-year gap. The show, which begins on Monday, normally happens every two years but was cancelled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, as the aviation industry faced potential collapse.
Continue reading...Airport asks airlines including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Air France to remove flights
Heathrow airport cancelled more than 60 flights on Monday and warned that it may have to ask airlines to remove more as it struggles to cope with the rebound in travel demand after the pandemic.
The flights were spread across Terminals 3 and 5, with British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Air France among the airlines affected.
Continue reading...Planned action by the airline’s Spain-based cabin crew over working conditions will increase disruption for holidaymakers
British holidaymakers are braced for fresh travel chaos across Europe this summer with staff at Ryanair on Saturday becoming the latest to threaten strike action.
As striking airport workers in Paris forced the cancellation of dozens of flights on Saturday and promised more industrial action later in July, Spain-based cabin crew at Ryanair revealed they now plan to strike for 12 days in July.
Continue reading...Technical issues, wet weather, school holidays and staff shortages blamed for long queues
As airport queues stretched out the door on Saturday wreaking havoc on the holiday plans of hundreds of thousands of travellers, Sydney airport said people arriving too far in advance for their flight was exacerbating problems caused by wet weather, school holidays and continuing staff shortages.
In Sydney, Guardian Australia understands there were technical issues with luggage check-in systems across several domestic airlines on Friday and Saturday, which have contributed to long queues at baggage drops.
Continue reading...Over the Memorial Day and Juneteenth holiday weekends more than 3,000 flights were canceled and over 19,000 were delayed
As Fourth of July travel chaos looms, experts are warning that a combination of factors including pilot shortages, the climate crisis and even the rise of drones means the situation is unlikely to get better soon.
Over the Memorial Day and Juneteenth holiday weekends more than 3,000 flights were canceled and more than 19,000 were delayed. About 1,800 flights have been canceled so far this week, according to the Hill.
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