Airport security staff due to hold 10 days of strikes over pay, forcing airline to axe 5% of its schedule
British Airways is to cancel more than 300 flights to and from Heathrow over the Easter holiday period due to strikes by airport security staff.
The airline is axing about 5% of its schedule, with 16 return short-haul flights cancelled daily. It said the majority of affected customers would be booked on to alternative flights within 24 hours, or could be fully refunded.
Continue reading...Train passengers advised to plan ahead over holiday weekend with west coast main line services hit
Rail passengers have been advised to plan ahead for Easter, with engineering works expected to close the west coast main line between some of Britain’s biggest cities.
No trains will run between London Euston and Milton Keynes throughout the four-day holiday weekend from Good Friday on 7 April, until Easter Monday, on 10 April, meaning replacement buses or alternative routes will be needed to travel between the capital and towns and cities including Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.
Continue reading...Authorities will resume issuing all visas after closing borders to international holidaymakers in 2020
China will reopen its borders to foreign tourists for the first time in the three years since the Covid pandemic erupted by allowing all categories of visas to be issued.
The removal of this last cross-border control measure on Wednesday comes after authorities declared victory over the virus last month.
Continue reading...Young ‘custodian’ hopes to make ancestral home of Muncaster first carbon-zero castle in UK
In 1990, the year Ewan Frost-Pennington was born, the final bears left Muncaster Castle in the westernmost corner of the Lake District. Winnie, an Asiatic black bear, departed Cumbria for Dudley zoo, along with Inca, her daughter, and her sister, Gretel.
Three decades later, the bear pit has now been covered over with a solar farm. It is the brainchild of Frost-Pennington, the heir to the 800-year-old pink granite fortress, as he tries to make Muncaster the first carbon-zero castle in the UK.
Continue reading...More than 5.4m passengers travelled through airport in January, double the 2.6m from 2022
Heathrow airport had its busiest start to the year since before the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns in 2020 as travel restrictions continued to ease, according to data published on Monday.
More than 5.4 million passengers travelled through the UK’s and Europe’s busiest airport in January, double the 2.6 million from 2022, Heathrow said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.
Continue reading...Disability royal commissioner writes to company bosses after hearing of people dropped on the floor and discrimination against assistance dogs
The chair of the disability royal commission has written to Australian airline and airport chiefs about improving their treatment of travellers with disabilities, after the inquiry heard stories of people dropped on the floor and discrimination against assistance dogs.
The royal commission has so far heard that people with disabilities are routinely subject to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation when flying domestically, with participants telling the inquiry they felt airlines were “dehumanising” them and that complaints were rarely followed up. Advocates have told Guardian Australia that complaining through the Australian Human Rights Commission is often the only way to seek recourse.
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Continue reading...Sympathy and irritation from public as thousands of RMT union members at Network Rail prepare to strike
Rail passengers were facing delays as they rushed to get the last trains before Christmas Eve services came to a halt, while Britain’s roads were braced for extra traffic as a result of the strikes on the railways.
People embarking on festive getaways or heading home for the holidays gathered on the concourses of major stations including London Euston and Birmingham New Street.
Continue reading...Campaigners welcome DfT’s temporary £60m subsidy to cut emissions and congestion, but say it should go further
Bus fares in many places across England will be capped at £2 for the winter under a government-backed campaign to encourage people back on to public transport.
Single fares on most major operators’ services will be limited from January until March under the scheme.
Continue reading...Rights groups say amended criminal code underscores shift towards fundamentalism
Indonesia’s parliament has overhauled the country’s criminal code to outlaw sex outside marriage and curtail free speech, in a dramatic setback to freedoms in the world’s third-largest democracy.
Passed with support from all political parties, the draconian legislation has shocked not only rights activists but also the country’s booming tourism sector, which relies on a stream of visitors to its tropical islands.
Continue reading...Videos appear to show guests rushing to locked gates as strict Covid restrictions return across China
Visitors to Shanghai’s Disney resort were trapped inside for the second time in 12 months after authorities and operators announced a sudden lockdown as part of China’s strict pandemic response.
In a repeat of scenes from across Covid-zero China, viral videos on Monday appeared to show guests rushing to the locked gates of the theme park in an attempt to escape the lockdown. It followed extraordinary scenes on the weekend, with a mass escape of employees from a locked-down Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, to walk up to hundreds of kilometres to their hometowns.
Continue reading...Additional requirements would be time-consuming and threaten capacity, Dover port boss says
Post-Brexit Channel border delays could multiply from next May, with a five-person vehicle being held for up to 10 minutes if the EU goes ahead with a planned biometric entry system, the Port of Dover has said.
The entry-exit system (EES), which is due to start in May 2023, will require all non-EU nationals to register their fingerprints and be photographed before entering the bloc.
Continue reading...Strike will affect Network Rail and 15 train operators and comes on top those planned for 1 and 5 October
Another rail strike has been announced for next month, continuing the wave of industrial action sweeping the country.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) announced that 40,000 of its members at Network Rail and 15 train operators will strike on 8 October.
Continue reading...Sprawling group owns assets including Thomas Cook, Club Med and Wolverhampton Wanderers
China’s biggest banks and state-owned companies have been told to check their financial exposure to Fosun, the sprawling conglomerate that owns assets including the Premier League football club Wolverhampton Wanderers, as the heavily debt-laden group struggles from the impact of downturn in the property sector in its home market.
The financial strength of the Shanghai-based group, co-founded in 1992 by the billionaire Guo Guangchang and built into one of China’s largest non-state-owned conglomerates, has come under scrutiny after a huge sell-off in property bonds that began in June.
Continue reading...Cost of electricity for running trains alone is expected to increase from £595m to £885m in 2023-24
Network Rail is bracing for a £1bn energy bill for the first time in the history of Britain’s railways, as the energy crisis is forecast to increase its costs by more than 50% over the next financial year.
The cost of traction – providing the electricity for running electric trains – is expected to increase to £885m in 2023-24, Network Rail said, up from £595m this year.
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...Cross-Channel ferry passengers told to arrive in good time for border checks after weekend of delays
Cross-Channel ferry passengers were being told to arrive in good time at Dover as queues built at the Port of Dover amid fears the severe disruption of recent days could return to Kent throughout the summer.
The ferry operator DFDS told passengers there were queues of about an hour for French border checks on Monday morning and to “allow a minimum of 120 minutes before your departure to complete all controls”.
Continue reading...Travellers told to allow three to four hours to pass through security and French border checks at port
French authorities have hit back at claims by the Port of Dover that French border control staff were to blame for a second day of hours-long delays, saying: “France is not responsible for Brexit.”
It came after the port blamed delays on insufficient border staff at police aux frontières.
Continue reading...Kent port apologises for delays and blames French border control as summer getaway kicks off
Holidaymakers have been warned chaos that triggered six-hour queues at Dover could spill into the weekend, after the port declared a “critical incident” that it blamed on “woefully inadequate” French border control staffing.
The Kent port apologised to travellers facing long waits to cross the Channel on an extremely busy day for travel across the UK, as schools across England and Wales break up for the holidays.
Continue reading...Authorities keen to avoid repeat of fatal glacier fall and avalanche but need to protect local tourism industry
The summer season was just getting into the swing in the mountain towns based around the Marmolada, the highest peak in the Italian Dolomites, when a huge mass of ice from a glacier on its north side snapped off last Sunday afternoon, causing a fatal avalanche.
Hotels, restaurants and mountain refuges were packed, and trails busy with hikers, climbers and cyclists, many flocking to the mountains in search of slightly fresher temperatures during Italy’s intense heatwave.
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...