Category Archives: Air transport

Grounded beef? Airlines sell in-flight meals to earthbound travellers

Posted on by

Carriers prevented from operating due to coronavirus have turned to offering trays of takeaway to nostalgic flyers

Airlines are not known for their excellent cuisine. A tray of plastic-sealed plane food is, for some travellers, barely tolerable at 30,000 feet. Yet, as the coronavirus pandemic has halted flights around the world, a growing number of airlines are now flogging in-flight meals to grounded customers.

Thai Airways began advertising meal boxes in April, when the pandemic struck, selling anything from stir fried tiger prawn to beef cheek with cumin sauce. In Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific is selling meals to airport staff, while Indonesia’s national airline Garuda is offering its food as takeaway dinners on a tray.

Continue reading...

Counter-terror arrests at Stansted after fighter jets intercept airliner

Posted on by

Pair from Kuwait and Italy arrived on flight from Vienna on Sunday

Counter-terrorism police have said they detained two men at Stansted airport.

A 34-year-old from Kuwait and a 48-year-old from Italy were detained by counter-terrorism officers from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit soon after 7pm on Sunday, the unit said in a statement.

Continue reading...

Extinction Rebellion plans bank holiday weekend ‘uprising’

Posted on by

Climate protests including ‘funeral march’ due to take place across UK, with focus on airports

Climate demonstrations are due to take place across the UK this weekend, as the environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion launches its latest “uprising”.

This weekend’s events will include a “funeral march” in Lewes, East Sussex, to “mark the death and destruction wrought by humans on our natural world”. The march, described as a Procession for the Planet, will include mourners dressed in black and a jazz band.

Continue reading...

Heathrow’s rapid Covid test centre ‘could replace quarantine’

Posted on by

Travel industry pins hopes for an end to 14-day isolation on new two-stage testing scheme at airport, with results delivered in hours

A new Covid test centre is ready to start rapid testing of inbound passengers arriving at Heathrow airport’s Terminal 2, as soon as the government gives it the go-ahead. Arrivals would find out results within 24 hours of being tested, replacing the need for a 14-day quarantine.

More than 13,000 passenger tests a day can be carried out in the facility, launched by aviation services firm Swissport and the Collinson Group, which runs airport lounges. A second test centre will be ready at Terminal 5 by the end of August, and operators say both centres are scalable according to demand.

Continue reading...

Test UK arrivals to cut Covid quarantine times, scientists urge

Posted on by

Testing people after seven days could also ‘increase compliance from public’, says one researcher

People arriving in Britain should be tested to cut quarantine time, scientists have urged, as speculation mounts that more holiday destinations will be axed from the air bridges list.

A growing number of countries are being added to the UK’s quarantine lists, with many Britons holidaying in France forced to make a frantic dash back before 4am on Saturday morning to avoid a 14-day period of isolation.

Continue reading...

UK could impose more ‘handbrake restrictions’ on arrivals beyond Spain

Posted on by

Quarantine measures for people travelling from Spain may be applied to other countries

Holidaymakers have been warned the government could impose “handbrake restrictions” on more countries beyond Spain in order to stop the spread of coronavirus – with travellers unlikely to be given much warning if further quarantine measures need to be enforced.

The restrictions on travellers returning from Spain after the measures were announced overnight threw summer holiday plans into disarray for British tourists, and will raise fears among those travelling to other European countries that they could face a similar turnaround at a moment’s notice.

Continue reading...

‘I have to work’: arrivals from Spain vent anger at quarantine decision

Posted on by

People arriving in Stansted tell of their surprise at having to now self-isolate for two weeks

People flying into Britain from Spain have attacked the government’s decision to impose a 14-day quarantine on people returning from the country, saying they were given no warning and that they felt safer in Spain.

As flights from Jerez, Alicante, Valencia and Palma landed in quick succession on Sunday afternoon at Stansted airport, passengers found themselves faced with the realisation that they were about to enter into an unexpected period of self-isolation.

Continue reading...

Climate activists slam Norman Foster over Saudi airport

Posted on by

Architect is ignoring his own environment pledge, say critics

One of Britain’s most famous architects is under fire for agreeing to design an airport and terminal in Saudi Arabia despite signing a climate emergency manifesto that called for an “urgent need for action” on climate change.

Norman Foster’s design firm, Foster and Partners, was one of the founding signatories of the profession’s Architects Declare manifesto last year. However, The Architects’ Journal last week revealed that several new Foster and Partners projects in Saudi Arabia have caused controversy in the profession over their links to the aviation industry.

Continue reading...

‘We’re desperate to dance’: Britons in Mallorca express relief over quarantine easing

Posted on by

Tourists slowly returning to Spain’s Balearic Islands after months-long coronavirus lockdown

Sunbathing on a deserted beach in Mallorca, Nicola Brett says she is having the “best holiday ever”.

The 31-year-old gym sales executive from York arrived on the Spanish island on a Ryanair flight on Sunday, hours after the government changed its advice against all but essential foreign travel. She was flying back at midnight on Thursday, just as the rules requiring those arriving in the UK to quarantine for 14 days were lifted.

Continue reading...

UK travellers unable to fly to Greece as country reopens

Posted on by

Ban on air travel between Britain and Greece to continue until June 30, unlike other countries

It was meant to be the moment when Greece “welcomed the world”. But in another about-turn, travellers on flights from the UK will not be accepted when the Mediterranean country reopens to tourism on Monday.

Bowing to new advice from the EU, Athens announced on Friday that the suspension of air links with Britain, in effect since March, will continue to be enforced until 30 June.

Continue reading...

Critics round on No 10 over ‘ridiculous’ rules for 14-day quarantine

Posted on by

Exclusive: Opponents claim exemptions to rules could mean great economic pain for little public health benefit

Tens of thousands of new arrivals to the UK will be able to go food shopping, change accommodation and use public transport from airports during a 14-day quarantine imposed to prevent a second wave of coronavirus, under draft plans to be laid before parliament.

The Guardian understands that about a fifth of people are expected to receive a spot-check to ensure that they are staying at the address or addresses they have provided to the authorities, but enforcement of the quarantine will be limited.

Continue reading...

World’s largest all-electric aircraft set for first flight

Posted on by

Nine-seater plane should take to skies on Thursday and produce no carbon emissions

The world’s largest all-electric aircraft is about to take to the skies for the first time.

The Cessna Caravan, retrofitted with an electric engine, is expected to fly for 20-30 minutes over Washington State in the US on Thursday.

Continue reading...

Business groups brand UK’s quarantine plan for arrivals ‘isolationist’

Posted on by

All incomers – including British citizens – must disclose where they will be staying, Priti Patel says

Business groups have accused the government of pursuing an “isolationist” policy after the home secretary, Priti Patel, confirmed that arrivals in the UK will have to quarantine themselves for a fortnight or face a £1,000 fine.

From 8 June, almost everyone arriving at ports and airports, including UK citizens, will be required to travel directly to an address they provide to the authorities, where they must then self-isolate for a fortnight. The French interior ministry expressed its “regret” that it would not be exempt from the quarantine plan, after assurances this month that the country would be.

Continue reading...

Priti Patel announces 14-day quarantine for travellers to UK – video

Posted on by

From 8 June people arriving in the UK will have to tell the authorities where they will be staying and face spot checks to ensure they self-isolate for 14 days, the home secretary, Priti Patel, has confirmed. Anyone failing to comply could face a fine of £1,000


Continue reading...

UK quarantine plan: what will it mean for travellers?

Posted on by

Major shift in border policy will require people arriving in UK to self-isolate for 14 days

The government has unveiled a major shift in border policy to be introduced next month in a bid to prevent a second wave of Covid-19 in the UK.

Continue reading...

Pakistan plane crash: smoke billows over residential area in Karachi – video

Posted on by

There are fears of mass casualties after a passenger aircraft carrying more than 100 people crashed into a residential area in the Pakistani city of Karachi.

The Pakistan International Airlines jet, carrying 99 passengers and eight crew members, was on its final approach to Karachi airport when it went down near Model Colony

Continue reading...

Is the Covid-19 crisis the catalyst for greening the world’s airlines?

Posted on by

Aviation is struggling and seeking support, but there are demands for it to give something in return

“The political moment is now” to address the climate risks posed by the aviation industry, analysts, insiders and campaigners say, as governments across the world weigh up bailouts for airlines grounded by the coronavirus pandemic.

Rescue packages need to come with green strings, such as reduced carbon footprints and frequent flyer levies, they warn, or the sector will return to the path that has made it the fastest rising source of climate-wrecking carbon emissions over the past decade.

Continue reading...

Flying long haul during Covid-19: air travel has never been stranger

Posted on by

I knew my journey home would be complicated, but I wasn’t prepared for the sense of isolation as I moved from one dystopian scene to another

When I booked my flight home after spending more than two-and-a-half months in Europe, I knew what my journey would entail. With no more direct flights between Paris and Hong Kong, I would have a brief layover in London. I knew that when I landed at the Hong Kong airport, I would be tested and held at a facility for roughly eight hours until my results came back.

In the best case scenario – if I were negative – I would be spending two weeks in home quarantine, my whereabouts tracked by an app and a chunky device worn on my wrist. If I were positive, I would be sent to the hospital.

Continue reading...

Morrison government overhauls airport fees after threat of Nationals revolt

Posted on by

Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce among those who raised objections to the Peter Dutton proposal for regional airport fees

The Morrison government has overhauled cost recovery arrangements for regional airports to conduct security screening to head off a potential revolt by the Nationals in the Senate.

The Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick sought on Wednesday night to disallow regulations imposing security screening requirements that he says would have forced small airports to seek cost recovery through increases in landing charges. Patrick said the changes originally proposed by the home affairs minister Peter Dutton could see fares from Whyalla increase by $54 to $70 per passenger.

Continue reading...