Airport And Travel Information

Ryanair, the leading budget Airline has created a new base at Leeds Bradford Airport,  with two planes servicing 17 routes.
To celebrate the opening of the new base, one million seats priced at just 5 euros were put on sale , covering routes to European destinations, for travel during April and May.

The opening of the new base is hoped to increase passengers to around a million a year, and keep jobs safe.

Flights are now available to Limoges, Venice, Knock, Pisa, Krakow, Ibiza, Palma, Alicante,Barcelona,Malta,Faro, Nantes, Dublin and Carcassonne.

A spokesman for the airport stated that the introduction of the seven new routes from Leeds Bradford was good news , as it gave passengers more choice of destinations , and also secured around 1,000 new job opportunites in the region.

British Airways has predicted  further flight disruptions this week as the strike enters its third day.

At present there doesn’t appear to be a solution on the horizon , and the  Airline is losing millions of pounds because of the dispute.

It is reported that a mere 300 staff out of 2,200 who were rostered on at the weekend, actually turned up, BA dispute these figures , quoting a 98% attendance at Gatwick Airport and 50% at Heathrow.

Cabin crew have organised a second  walk out commencing 27 March  until the 30th, and there are no plans for any emergency talks, to try and avert strike action.

BA has said that the walk outs have led to other problems, as staff are finding themselves in different locations, and many aircraft are not where they were originally supposed to be.

An estimated 1,000 flights have ben cancelled over the three days , which is just over half that were originally scheduled

The union Unite have claimed that BA are sending out “ghost flight” with no passengers on board, and that only a handful took off from Heathrow with travellers on board.

Many passengers have booked with other airlines, some of which have increased their number of seats by adding additional flights on some routes.

There have been picket lines in the Heathrow vicinity, with supporters and staff jeering at cabin crew,  aboard coaches bringing them into work. 

Tony Woodley, has asked senior members of BA to see sense, and initiate some new talks, in order to try and settle the dispute.

British Airways is expected to announce later today which flights will be cancelled, following a decision by cabin crew to hold a series of strikes later on this month. Unite have confirmed that from March 20th there will be a three day walk out and from March 27th, another four day strike.

British Airways in expected to cancel some flights to short haul destinations, but concentrate on manning the more lucrative long haul haul aeroplanes. The airline announced that it is no longer selling seats on the flights affected by strike days and were in the process of altering flight schedules.

At present British Airways have no plans to cancel  departures from London City Airport, while flights from London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports to non Europe destinations will hopefully not be affected. The Airline have also pointed out that the service on board will be restricted due to skeleton crews. Hot meals will only be available to those passengers in first class, whilst others will be offered salads and cold meals.

Customers who have special dietary requirements (Hindu, Kosher etc) are being requested to bring their own food. Baby meals will still be ok. Passengers booked to travel between March 19th and 31st on affected flights will have the choice of rebooking or cancelling and obtaining a refund.

Leading travel firms Thomson and First Choice are to open up to 30 travel agency shops over the next two years, in a bid to increase their stake in the holiday market. The whereabouts of the new stores has not yet been revealed. A company spokesman stated that a large ratio of customers would still rather go into a travel agents and discuss their requirements face to face with a travel consultant. Many staff working in the agencies have first hand knowledge of specific countries and resorts and can provide invaluable information. The web and call centre, as methods for getting the best deal and choosing the best resort to suit the individual researching continue to play a huge role in the way people book their holidays. Many people do not trust themselves to book a holiday without a professional making the booking for them or have the time to research all the information they need, and many would be travellers have either no access to the net or indeed the skills to book a holiday online. A re-branding for 40 First Choice Holiday Hypermarkets to either Thomson or First Choice Holiday Superstores is already underway.