+ THE NEWS IN BRIEF

We are changing Travel News Update somewhat so that it says what is on the label. TNU looks back at some important news stories you may have missed in September and special dates in the forthcoming months completes this article.  DO PASS ON!

Flights to Israel

The European Commission and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have recommended airlines not to fly to Israel and Lebanon until 31 October.

The effect will be amplified by the upcoming Jewish holiday season, with the peak travel days expected to be 1, 6, 10 and 13 October, when between 74,000 and 77,000 were expected to crowd Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport each day. The cancellation of flights on these days will leave many Israelis overseas unable to return home, and the extra demand will be placed on the Israeli airlines, along with the few foreign airlines still active in Israel, whose planes were almost completely full for the holiday period, even before the current wave of cancellations.

El Al has announced that its schedule is operating as normal, but is full both ways for the next few days. "We are acting to reinforce the flight schedule as much as possible, and recommend passengers whose flights to Israel have been cancelled to travel to Athens or to Larnaca and to register at their travel agencies for the waiting list for flights back to Israel".  

Arkia and Israir are both flying, and new carrier Air Haifa is due to take off.

Haifa Airport is currently not operational.

www.iaa.gov.il  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Airports_Authority

www.airhaifa.com

www.arkia.co.il

www.elal.co.uk

www.israirairlines.com


Airports UK – The official CAA figures

TNU continues with its policy of comparing 2019 airport passenger figures with 2024.  These are normally published by the CAA around the 18th of two months previous.

The United Kingdom’s 49 licensed passenger airports moved 30.3m passengers in July 2019.  For the same month of this year the figure was 29.6m, slightly less but 5% on 2023.  

As regards the London airports Heathrow is performing the best in terms of growth, 8m passengers, and Stansted 2.8m for the month, a record figure.  The return of easyJet to Southend has been a lifeline for the airport with 33,000 passengers, although nothing near the quarter million who passed through in July 2019.  London City was eight points up on the same month last year.  This was in the main due to BA increasing the capacity of its Embraer 190 aircraft by eight seats, plus the introduction of ITA from Rome and Milan.  However at around 3.4m passengers expected for the year it is well down on the 2019 figure of 5.1m passengers.  At a growth of an unlikely 10% it will take six years to meet the pre-Covid level.  

www.caa.co.uk/data-and-analysis/uk-aviation-market/airports/uk-airport-data/uk-airport-data-2024


Blue Island ski flights

Skiing enthusiasts in the Channel Islands will be pleased to learn that the local airline Blue Islands will offer weekly flights direct from Jersey to Grenoble (France), departing every Saturday from 21 December 2024 until 15 February 2025.  Just two hours from Jersey, Grenoble is the gateway to the French Alps including the resorts of Avoriaz, Courchevel, La Plagne, Les Arcs, Méribel, Morzine, Tignes, Val d’Isere and Val Thorens.

www.blueislands.com


Bristol hotel opening

The Holiday Inn Bristol Filton is set to re-open in October following a multi-million-pound refurbishment to all areas of the hotel which offers 211 bedrooms, a well-maintained leisure club with an indoor pool, gym and saunas plus 18 meeting rooms.

The property is set in peaceful and scenic landscaped grounds featuring a lake. It is a 10mins drive from the M4 and 15mins from the M5 and 35mins from Bristol Lulsgate Airport. Bristol Parkway train station is only 10mins away by car.

Other popular attractions nearby include The Wave Surf Park, Bristol Zoo Project, Planet Ice and Aerospace Bristol.

www.ihg.com/holidayinnexpress/hotels/gb/en/bristol/brsnr/hoteldetail


British Airways has A380 problems

BA operates 12 of the 20th century megaliths, Emirates 116 and Singapore Airlines 17.  

Keeping them in the air is not easy.  Head for Points Rhys Jones reports.

www.headforpoints.com/2024/09/19/british-airways-has-an-a380-problem


EasyJet announces brand new route to Georgia – BA does the same

Georgia and its capital Tbilisi have not been, until now, on the ex-UK flight list.

Now things have suddenly changed with both British Airways (BA) and easyJet (EZ) announcing new flights, EZ increasing its Luton-based A320 fleet to 25 aircraft.

EZ takes off on 1 April 2025 and will operate twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays throughout the summer season.  The airline has also launched new routes to Tbilisi from Geneva and Milan Malpensa.

BA will operate four flights per week from Heathrow from 31 March, departing every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

www.ba.com  

www.easyjet.com


Entry to the UK

The United Kingdom will require all travellers to obtain an electronic travel authorization (ETA) to enter the country starting in January.  This requirement applies to all visitors (regardless of age) who wish to travel to the UK visa-free. This requirement has been in place for visitors from the Gulf Cooperation Council states since early 2024.

Prospective visitors can begin applying for an ETA starting 27 November 2024, for travel beginning 8 January 2025.

An ETA will cost £10 and be valid for multiple entries of up to six months over a two-year period. Travellers must apply for an ETA online before they travel, and will be required to include an image.  It is expected it will take up to three business days to obtain.

www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-an-electronic-travel-authorisation-eta#how-long-it-takes


Eurostar and SkyTeam announce partnership

Eurostar and SkyTeam have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that paves the way for integrated intermodal journeys via air and rail for millions of customers.  With Eurostar on board as SkyTeam’s first non-airline partner, customers will be able to travel on itineraries that combine long- and medium-haul flights with sustainable rail journeys in a single reservation – while enjoying SkyTeam benefits.  

With its London terminus at St Pancras Eurostar’s increased network offers many possibilities to enjoy multi-city journeys between the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany that can easily be accommodated by rail.

SkyTeam members in Europe include Air Europa, Air France, ITA Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Middle East Airlines, SAS, TAROM and Virgin Atlantic.

www.eurostar.com

www.skyteam.com


Heathrow Express gets cheaper

Maybe it is the effect of the Elizabeth Line, or just planned marketing to attract more customers.

After trialling £10 tickets in August, Heathrow Express has decided to make the offer permanent.

Book on the website at least 60 days in advance and you now pay just £10 one-way for the 15mins Paddington to Heathrow journey (or vice versa).

You only need to commit to a specific day, not a specific train.

Given that children under 15 are free on Heathrow Express, a family of four with two young children could travel to the airport for just £20.

The offer can be combined with a Railcard discount which takes the price down to £6.60 each way.

Transport for London now charges £12.20 for the Elizabeth Line from Paddington to Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 taking 30mins and six stops.  But you have to get to Paddington.

www.heathrowexpress.co.uk


Loganair bolsters island connectivity

Travelling to or from Scotland’s island communities?  Loganair is to introduce new same-plane services as part of its 2025 summer schedule.

Building on its successful services connecting Shetland and Heathrow, and between Orkney and Heathrow, the airline will now offer four new routes, all operating via Inverness.  

It is one aircraft between Sumburgh and Belfast, with a short stop staying on board at Inverness.  If your destination is Manchester and its excellent international connections, the same arrangement is being planned.  With Kirkwall an Inverness flight will also go on to Manchester, and also on offer is a service terminating at Belfast City Airport.

www.loganair.co.uk


Luton Airport and Christmas

It may be a long way off but if you are using the airport during the holiday period be warned.  The trains from London St Pancras by EMR and Thameslink via Luton Parkway to Bedford will not be running.  The section south of Harpenden will be closed and replacement bus services provided.

Customers travelling between Saturday 21 and Sunday 29 December are urged to check their journeys in advance.

Journeys between London St Pancras and destinations on the Midland Main Line, including Luton Airport Parkway, St Albans, Bedford, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield will take longer and involve replacement bus services.

In addition, between Friday 27 and Sunday 29 December, there will be no Thameslink train services between London St Pancras and London Bridge as engineering work is carried out to upgrade the tracks.

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/luton-airport-parkway

New Heathrow T4 lounge

Plaza Premium has just launched another new UK lounge, hot off the heels of the opening of its new Plaza Express lounge at Gatwick.  At T4 it is available on a pay as you enter basis or by pre-booking

Opposite gates 10A & 10B it features floor-to-ceiling windows with panoramic views overlooking the runway.  Children are welcome (under 2 complementary) It opens at 05:00 and has the usual full facilities including showers plus separate male and female prayer rooms for private spiritual reflection.

Also operated by Plaza Premium is the Blush Lounge, which has El Al as a client and offers kosher meals.  It is by Gate 2.  Again in T4 are Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways with very much up-market facilities and full meal service

www.plazapremiumgroup.com


Oman Air has downgraded its First Class cabin

Offering daily flights from Heathrow T4 to the very modern Muscat International Airport Oman Air have lost First Class.

The Editor-in-Chief was privileged to fly First Class in the superb product back in November 2022.  He and his wife sat by themselves.  For the future the cabin and seats are being marketed as ‘Business Studios’ featuring eight =seats in a 1+2+1 layout with 82inch seat pitch, privacy walls and 23inch TVs and a Club Class menu.  The two Boeing 787s in the fleet are also used on flights to Bangkok.

This move by Oman seems to reflect a move by airlines to dispense with First Class, except on routes carrying high profile clients.  With private suites now being the order of the day for Club, First in fact offers little in enhancements.  Typical is Qatar Airways who under the previous regime claimed that its Club Class was so good First was not required for the future. It is now having second thoughts.  First is being retained on some routes.

Oman Air is due to join oneworld by the end of the year.

See Jeff Mills Disappearing First Class  and Malcolm Ginsberg’s Flying with Oman Air.

www.omanair.com/en


Qatar Airways adds more Heathrow services

The only effect of Akbar’s Al Baker’s abrupt departure from Qatar Airways (QR) last November seems to be less topical media coverage with the Gulf carrier commercially as aggressive as ever.

ACL, which co-ordinates slots at Heathrow, has recorded a “permanent slot transfer” from TAROM (RO) to QR from 27 October.  No price was given, although previous Heathrow slots have gone for many millions.  The additional slot pair will allow QR to launch its eighth daily Heathrow flight.

QR Gatwick continues with two flights per day.

RO, meanwhile, is left without a scheduled London flight, British Airways offering a twice weekly Bucharest service plus Ryanair from Stansted and Wizz from Luton.

www.qatarairways.com

www.tarom.ro/en


Southampton loses flights

British Airways has pulled out of Southampton Airport for summer 2025.  The move comes just a year after the airport unveiled a 164-metre development to its existing runway to allow larger Airbus A320 and Boeing Max to use the airport.

The Embraer 190 used on the weekend services were home-based at London City Airport which has weekend flight restrictions.  These aircraft will now use Stansted, operationally a more sensible airport for BA.  

As things stand for next year Southampton Airport will see scheduled flights by Aurigny (Alderney and Guernsey), Blue Islands (Guernsey and Jersey), Chalair Aviation (Caen), Eastern Airways (Paris–Charles de Gaulle), easyJet (Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast International, Faro, Glasgow, Geneva, Palma de Mallorca), KLM (Amsterdam) and Loganair (Edinburgh, Newcastle-upon-Tyne).  The airport is moving around 750,000 passengers annually.

Just 30 miles away, and with a longer runway Bournemouth Airport is served by Ryanair while TUI operates to Palma and Jet2.com is also opening a base at Bournemouth next summer and plans to serve Faro and Palma.

www.southamptonairport.com

www.bournemouthairport.com


Southwest free seating to end

One of the great bun-fights in air travel is about to go.

Southwest Airlines ‘open seating’ policy will begin to be withdrawn.

The airline is a precursor of Ryanair, a Michael O’Leary visit in the early 1990s paved the way for the Ryanair we know today, but with allocated seats.  Southwest operates a batch arrangement for boarding, which can cause commotion.  A new boarding system is expected to be in place by 2026 with sales starting midsummer 2025.  

A Boeing 737 operator, Southwest is the third largest US carrier with 171m passengers carried in 2023 (Ryanair 184m).

The airline is struggling financially and lost $231m in the first quarter of 2024. In June, Elliott Investment Management, an activist investment fund, announced that it had taken a $1.9bn position in Southwest and would seek to oust leadership at the carrier, arguing it had "failed to evolve" citing "leadership’s stubborn unwillingness to evolve the Company’s strategy.".  

From its birth in 1967, with the legendary Herb Kelleher in charge (died 2019), it has led the ‘low-cost airline’ brigade, and still offers two pieces of free luggage per ticket.  This is now being questioned.  

www.southwest.com


Stansted to Dubai

Emirates has opened its own dedicated lounge to support its twice daily three class (no Premium Economy yet) Boeing 777ER service to Dubai.

Emirates has spent more than £4m on the facility, which can hold up to 125 passengers. It covers 900sq m in total.

It becomes the sixth Emirates lounge in the UK following Birmingham, Gatwick, Glasgow Heathrow and Manchester. British Airways only has lounges at five UK airports – Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Glasgow and Heathrow.

www.emirates.com/uk/english


TUI Management changes

Andrew Flintham, Managing Director TUI UK & Ireland, is leaving to head up rival British Airways Holidays.  It is a return having earlier in his career been with British Airways and then First Choice Holidays.  He starts work at the end of the month.  Neil Swanson, current Chief Marketing Officer, TUI, will replace Flintham as the operator’s new Managing Director.

www.britishairways.com/en-gb/flights-and-holidays

www.tui.co.uk


UK to Oz non-stop

As TNU reported at the time Qantas had decided to temporarily reroute its London flights via Singapore due to unfavourable weather and security concerns on its usual route through the Middle East.

This meant that the ‘non-stop’ route from the UK to Oz was no longer non-stop, diminishing the advantage of booking it.

The route has now returned, with a same plane service to Melbourne, where immigration takes place.  Passengers to Sydney can also use the service, with the formalities being dealt with at Perth, with a quick straightforward arrival at Sydney and other Australian airports.
 
Whilst no date (2026?) has been given for an introduction, Qantas is investing in a fleet of specially modified A350-1000s that will be able to fly the route in up to 22hrs, depending on winds and the direction.  Called ‘Project Sunrise’ it is the last major route innovation in civil aviation.  

BTN ON TOUR The longest air routes discusses the vast distances now offered non-stop.  Things have not changed much.  Read the Editor-in-Chief’s own experience back in 2018  Qantas Boomerang Route.

www.qantas.com


United goes for free wi-fi

United Airlines announced that it plans to introduce Elon Musk’s Starlink wi-fi to its whole fleet, becoming one of the largest US carriers to use the satellite-based service.

The airline said it will start testing the Starlink service early next year, expecting the first passenger flights to be equipped with the service in late 2025. The Federal Aviation Administration has to certify the equipment on each type of aircraft United operates.

The service will be free.  United currently charges $8 for in-flight wi-fi to MileagePlus members and $10 to non-members. Passengers will be able to access live TV and streaming, shop online, browse social media, and use multiple devices at the same time.  

www.united.com

www.starlink.com


Walking tours of London

The evergreen Rachel Kolsky has published her footbound journeys through some of London’s most fascinating areas to the end of the year. Each tour takes about two hours.  Unfortunately most are sold but she does get returns.  

The obvious journeys are in the schedule including Whitechapel and Fitzrovia, but also involved are those areas where the possibility of heritage is not so clear, including Ealing and Walthamstow.  Rachel is off cruise lecturing in December but is already taking bookings for 2025.

BTN reported on a typical walk just as Covid was coming to an end.  www.btnews.co.uk/article/19433

http://www.golondontours.com


Wizz Air to Jeddah

Next Spring will see the Hungarian-based and London Stock Exchange listed airline Wizz Air introduce daily Gatwick flights to Jeddah (Saudia Arabia), using an Airbus A321XLR.  The 239-seat aircraft will take in excess of six hours for the nearly 3,000-mile flight.  

Wizz Air has 47 A321XLR aircraft on order, with eight due for delivery next year.  London to New York is around 500 miles further and it is open speculation if the aircraft could be used for an East Coast North America programme.  With its bank of Gatwick slots Wizz will have no difficulties in fitting the long-range narrow-bodied Airbus into its programme.  

www.wizzair.com


World Travel Market

WTM returns to its now well-established home at East London’s ExCel centre 5-7 November.  

The introduction of the Elizabeth Line has been a big boom for the show with public transport backed up with the DLR, and now every 15mins bus service from the nearby London City Airport.

According to the organisers last year’s show had 43,000 visitors over the three days from 184 countries with 3,875 exhibitors represented.  There were 82 conference sessions.  

2024 will be bigger still with a 7% growth expected.  It is reported that there will be over 80 new exhibitors lined up at the global gathering.

https://hub.wtm.com


Dates for the diary

7 October – Annual ABTA Travel Convention opening in Costa Navarino (Greece).
www.abta.com/events/the-travel-convention

8-10 October – World Aviation Festival at RAI Amsterdam, with many airlines’ top executives attending.
www.terrapinn.com/conference/aviation-festival/index.stm

13-14 November – Business Show at ExCeL London, claimed to be the world’s largest business event for startups and SMEs.  
www.greatbritishbusinessshow.co.uk

3 December – ABTA’s Travel Matters conference in London. Mike Kane MP, Minister for Aviation, Maritime and Security, Department for Transport, will be giving the keynote speech.
www.abta.com/events/travel-matters

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READERS' COMMENT

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 200 words maximum

David Starkie, United Kingdom

In 2019 Southampton's throughput was more than double the figure for last year. The airport was badly hit of course by the demise of Flybe. Pity, it is a lovely airport to use with superb access to and from the next door rail station which is on the main line to London.