Airport And Travel Information

Ebay, the online auction giant, is set to liven up the online travel market after it announced that it is to sell holidays to UK customers for the first time after teaming up with online travel agent Octopus Travel.

The deal with the web-based holiday firm will allow eBay to offer 50,000 hotels and travel deals to UK customers from as little as 99p, as well as full package holidays.

The holidays are expected to follow the usual format of a fixed price ‘buy it now’ option and auction listings.

Gareth Gaston, Managing Director of Octopus Travel commented that he was excited about the prospect of the new venture, and partnering Ebay  to offer unique deals on the auction site. 

As more and more people are booking their flights and hotel rooms on  the internet, it should prove another media, through which customers may find excellent deals. 

A spokesman  from another popular holiday firm said that the move was a sensible idea from eBay but stated  that in the current climate consumers would still shop around for the best buys.

The  online market in terms of travel products is still growing and the move by Ebay is really a natural advancement. doesn’t come as a surprise, People have been selling holidays and villa owners auction off their properties on the site or a number of years.

Thomas Cook also have a holiday shop, and many timeshare weeks, and indeed full timeshare ownership may be purchased.

The move into travel follows a similar recent move by the retail giant to allow supermarkets and other retail outlets to sell their products through the site’s auction system.

An airline entrepreneur dubbed “Baby Branson” who launched a low-cost carrier as a teenager is back in business , following the collapse of his first venture.

Martin Halstead , still at the tender age of 23, is launching Varsity Express next month, which will offer  flights between Oxford and Edinburgh.

The airline aims to offer excellent customer service fast,  and affordable prices .

An across the board price of £49 single will apply on all flights up  untill 12 March.Passengers will be carried on an 18 seat Jetstream. Flights are only on weekdays, and he is looking to add another route in the near future.

Halstead shot to as a 19-year-old when he started Alpha One Airways, a low-cost carrier offering flights between Oxford and Cambridge. However the business folded just six weeks after launch.

He has since held a number of positions within the aviation industry, including working as a flight attendant on Branson’s Virgin Atlantic. He also secured an air transport licence at the Oxford Air Training School at the age of 18.

He would not disclose the identity of Varsity’s backers but they are understood to be a group of British businessmen with property interests in the Canary Islands, according to The Times. The deal could eventually give him a half-share in the company.

Nearly ten years after the Air France Concorde crash that killed 113 people and terminated the life of  the supersonic plane, five men and Continental Airlines are to stand trial in Paris, accused of responsibility for the disaster.

The four-month trial in Cergy-Pontoise will try and establish why the Air France Concorde crashed whilst taking off from Charles de Gaulle airport on 25 July 2000.

French prosecutors will argue that an 18-inch scrap of titanium on the runway caused the accident. A Continental Airlines DC-10 shed the “wear strip” on the runway shortly before takeoff, shredding the Concorde’s tyre and splattering pieces of rubber into the fuel tanks, which caused a fire, they will say.

Continental Airways is accused of using titanium, despite it not being allowed for temporary repairs on aircraft.

Lawyers  will argue that a key part of the undercarriage had been accidentally left out by Air France ground staff, causing too much weight to bear on the tyres, one of which exploded when it hit a bump in the runway.

The trial will also examine whether the aircraft should have been grounded earlier, after weakness and design faults had previously come to light. 

In the 24 years of Concorde flights prior to the accident, there were 65 incidents of burst tyres, six of which led to the perforation of fuel tanks.

If convicted, Continental Airways faces a maximum fine of 375,000 euros (£328,000), and the five individual defendants face up to five years in jail and a fine of up to 75,000 euros (£66,000).

Concorde was decommissioned in 2003.

The result of the new vote by around 13,000 BA staff will be announced at the end of next month. Should they vote to strike in protest at the airline’s demand for cuts, the first action is likely to take place early in March. Unite would then be free to hold a series of walk outs which, with Easter falling at the beginning of April would have a large impact on the Airline over one of its busiest weekends of the year.

The union had planned to strike for 12-days over Christmas, but was prevented from doing so by a High Court injunction, despite overwhelming endorsement for industrial action in the original ballot. At the time Unite promised it would hold a fresh ballot as well as ongoing negotiations with the airline. A spokesman for the union reiterated what was said last month ie. they were prepared to meet with the airline at any time or place , to aim to reach an agreement between them and their employees.

Experts believe the ballot announcement will hit bookings with passengers choosing other airlines rather than have their travel plans put at risk. When Unite announced a strike ballot in November, there was a significant fall in bookings over the next five days before the BA then announced a seat sale which clouded the effect.

Those people travelling over the next two to three months, may book with a different airline than risk a repeat of what happened at Christmas. A British Airways spokesman said the company was “saddened” but not surprised by the strike ballot and was considering several options should the strikes go ahead. These included leasing aircraft and crew from other companies who would operate services on BA’s behalf. In addition Willie Walsh, the company’s chief executive, has written to staff asking if they would be willing to train as cabin crew to step into the shoes of those who went on strike.

British Airways is flying a second relief aircraft of emergency supplies and equipment to earthquake hit Haiti. A Boeing 747 freighter with capacity for up to 100 tonnes of cargo is scheduled to fly out on Friday (January 22) carrying aid from Oxfam, the Red Cross, UNICEF and the World Food Programme.

Two Toyota Land Cruisers from the Red Cross plus 50 tonnes of food and blankets from Oxfam will be loaded onto the aircraft at Stansted Airport, ready for distribution. The aircraft will touch down in Denmark, where water supplies, tents and a further 25 tonnes of food will also be loaded.

Last Saturday, the airline’s UNICEF Change For Good Programme donated £3000,000 to the relief fund, and BA sent a relief flight with supplies from Heathrow Airport to the Dominican Republic. The aircraft, crewed by BA partners Global Supply Systems, will depart from Stansted Airport at 10.35 and fly to Billund in Denmark to pick up aid before heading to Santa Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

A BA spokesperson said that it was important to work with the aid agencies in providing much needed supplies, and that they were proud that they were able to help.

Snow has continued to fall across the UK ensuing in  the closure of Gatwick Airport for the second time in a week.

Heathrow is currently open but airport operator BAA  has warned that there might be delays and cancellations due to the ongoing  adverse weather conditions. Birmingham Airport and Cardiff Airport were both closed earlier, but  have now reopened although delays and cancellations may be on the cards.

Train services have also been severely disrupted with East Coast, First Great Western, First TransPennine Express, London Midland, London Overground, National Express East Anglia, Northern Rail, South West Trains, Southeastern all experiencing delays and cancellations. Eurostar, which was forced to cancel services last week, is running a “near normal” service today.

Roads have also been affected and the M48 Old Severn Bridge is closed stranding drivers in Devon. The severe weather warnings apply to north-west England, the West Midlands, Wales and southern England. Forecasters are expecting up to 4cm (1.5in) of snow in some parts, before the weather eases at the weekend.

The runway at  Gatwick Airport is undergoing snow clearance at present, and is expected to open again around 16.00 hours for departing flights only. Passengers are advised to contact their airline for the latest flight information, as there are many delays and cancellations.

Heathrow remains open, but cancellations are possible today due to the weather. Passengers should check the status of their flight with their airline. A spokesman for Heathrow stated that although the maintenance team were doing their best to keep runways open  more snow was forecast, and the threat of closure still remained.

All travellers are advised to leave plenty of time for their journey to the airport.

A spokesman for BAA  has stated that the company  is facing a tough 2010 with Heathrow the only one of its six airports to register a rise in traffic. Its Scottish airports namely Edinbirgh Glasgow and Aberdeen were badly hit by the collapse of Flyglobespan late last year , and the recent adverse weather has added to their woes.

The number of people travelling from BAA airports fell by nearly two per cent last month due largely to the icy weather compared with December 2008, when overall figures fell by 0.9 per cent to eight million.

 It is roughly estimated that the dreadful weather conditions accounted for the loss of 150,000 passengers at BAA’s airports across the country.

Airports across the world face additional fees of as much as €50,000 a week for additional security,as a result of  the failed bomb attack by a Nigerian student on a Detroit-bound flight last month.

BAA has still not calculated  the costs associated with this latest measure, but it will have at least four full-body scanning devices in place at Heathrow by the end of January.

However, passenger numbers at Heathrow in December were boosted by greater European traffic as well as more long-haul flights to Asia and Africa. Increases in the number of European scheduled fights – as opposed to holiday resort-bound chartered flights – also helped lift passenger numbers.

Stansted has been especially hit by the reduction in operations there by low-cost airlines.

The collapse of the major carrier Globespan was also partly to blame for a more severe decline in traffic at Scottish airports ,along with the severe weather last month being a significant factor in the decline of travellers.

When planning your holiday abroad before you get in a spin about making sure you’ve got enough clothes or who is going to look after the family pets, spare a thought for who is going to look after your car, unless your flying from a local airport and you can get dropped off, the chances are you will have to park you car at the airport, if you are flying to South Africa or South America for instance you may be forced to fly from Heathrow or Gatwick airport, unless you live around the London area, travelling to these airports can be a strenuous task .

So now you need to find somewhere to park your car, you will generally have 4 options

1. On Airport Parking

This will generally be the most expensive form of Heathrow airport parking but has the advantage that you can simply park up and walk to check inn avoiding any drawn out transfers to and from the airport.

2. Off Airport Parking

Parking off the airport is a cheaper option, which will involve you driving straight to the off airport car park, then being transferred to the airport, the cost of the transfer is usually included in the price of your booking.

3. Meet And Greet Parking

This is the premier option for airport parking where you drive to the airport and will be met at the terminal by a member of staff who will take your car and park it for you, then on your return your car will be waiting for you right outside the terminal ready to drive straight home, this is the more expensive option but involves less hassle.

4. Airport Hotel Parking

This is fast becoming a very popular choice among travellers, if you want to avoid the rush hour traffic and travel to the airport in your own time, then this is the option for you, by taking a Gatwick hotel parking option you can enjoy the many hotels on and around Gatwick airport which is seen by many to be an extension to the holiday. Typically you would drive to the hotel stay the night then be transferred to the airport in the morning ready for your flight.

The only thing left to do know is to research the airport parking provider you plan on using to look after your pride and joy, dont just pick the first advert you see, take some time to find out how long they have been providing airport parking and make sure they are a reputable establishment