Kofi Annan backs tax on flights plan

The head of the United Nations has backed a ‘solidarity tax’ that will be levied on all flights leaving French airports from June 1.

Kofi Annan voiced his support of the tax that will see the money raised go towards development aid in poorer countries, and called on other countries to adopt it.

Ryanair founder backs Mexican airline

The family behind low-cost airline Ryanair has set its sights on the Mexican airline business.

The Ryan family has signed an agreement with one of Mexico’s largest bus companies and the two will work together to form a new airline called AeroBus.

According to Reuters the family has joined forces with bus company IAMSA.

Flybe scraps Norwich to Aberdeen service

Low-cost airline Flybe has scrapped a proposed new route linking Norwich and Aberdeen, the Norfolk Eastern Daily Press reports.

The service was announced last June, with the first flight tabled for March 16.

But Flybe now wants to focus all its attention on its Norwich to Edinburgh route, which it recently announced would be upped to twice daily from March 17.

Brits' holiday purchasing power shrinks 16%

Airfares may be falling but Brits holidaying in Europe are facing rising costs when they reach their destination.

That's according to Halifax Travel Insurance, which claims the shifting value of the pound means tourists' money went 16 per cent further four years ago than it does today.

Sunny Spain was held up as a prime example, with Brits' purchasing power a fifth lower than in 2002.

Investor makes pledge on Alderney airport charges

© Alderney Government

A firm planning to invest £10 million into loss-making Alderney Airport has pledged that the redevelopment will not lead to a huge spike in airport charges, UK-Airport-News.info reports.

Alderney Airport is served by two scheduled airlines and is the Channel Islands' oldest hub.

Although welcoming the proposed investment from HBC Limited, passengers and carriers using the airport had expressed concerns that the revamp could lead to higher charges at the airport.

Screaming stewardess panics passengers

In moments of turbulence, the last thing any air passenger wants is for the flight attendants to start panicking.

But that's exactly what happened last Friday on a flight from Gatwick to Las Vegas, when a Virgin Atlantic stewardess started screaming that the plane was going to crash.

Her shrill screams had an infectious effect on the 451 passengers on board as the aircraft encountered turbulence over Greenland. The plane touched down completely unscathed.

Latest headlines from the States

US airlines are slowly returning to New Orleans after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Continental Airlines has said it will soon be flying 111 flights a week to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International and others are beginning to restore flights. Continental Airlines page.

Flyglobespan sets sights on South Africa

Budget airline Flyglobespan has pressed on with its long-haul expansion by announcing it will launch cheap flights to South Africa from November, The Daily Record reports.

Flights from Manchester to Cape Town will go on sale from £289 as Flyglobespan vies to become one of the UK's first airlines to offer low-cost, long-haul flights.

Flyglobespan previously announced it will commence a Glasgow to Orlando service from June, with one-way tickets costing from £149.

More routes from Edinburgh to US on the cards

US carrier Delta Air Lines has hinted it may soon add further routes between Edinburgh and its home market if its first service from the Scottish capital goes well.

Last October, Delta announced it would begin flying between Edinburgh and Atlanta from June.

And after revealing initial sales for the new daily service have been good, Delta's Loren Neuenschwander said that Cincinnati in Ohio and New York could be next on the agenda.

Edinburgh rail link plans submitted

The Edinburgh Airport Rail Link has moved one step closer to being built.

A parliamentary Bill for the £500 million development has now been submitted to Holyrood officials and it is hoped the plans will be finalised by 2007, The Scotsman reports.

The project could include the building of a railway station in the main terminal of the airport that would feed Edinburgh city centre and other Scottish cities such as Glasgow and Aberdeen.

VLM's day in the sun

Low-cost airline VLM has been crowned Regional Airline of the Year by monthly magazine Air Transport World.

Although based in Belgium, VLM operates services from London City Airport to several continental European hubs as well as to Manchester, Liverpool, Jersey and the Isle of Man.

First Scottish flights to Costa Blanca to go daily

Popular demand has led Flyglobespan to up its new service from Edinburgh to Murcia in Spain from once weekly to daily before the first flight has even taken off.

The budget airline originally announced the route back in October, with weekly flights to the Costa Blanca beginning on April 1.

But the service will go daily from May 1, The Scotsman reports, as chairman Tom Dalrymple revealed that initial demand had been "encouraging".

XL’s quick flight sale

Book by 9am on Wednesday, March 1, to grab a cheap flight from XL.com.

The airline has discounted the price of one million seats by at least 20 per cent. Travel up to April 30, 2007.

Don’t get stung on the slopes

If the Winter Olympics has filled you with a desire to master a mogul or rip down a red run, then make sure you don't skate on thin ice with your insurance cover.

With resorts in Europe expecting a spike in skiers now the games in Turin are over people are being advised to make sure they have adequate protection.

Birthday offer from Iceland Express

Iceland Express is celebrating its third birthday by releasing two thousand seats to Reykjavik for £19 one-way, excluding taxes. Add on about £30 to cover taxes and charges (for a one-way flight).

Fly from London Stansted - or Copenhagen - between Wednesday, March 1, and Monday, May 15.

The pick of the Sundays - travel section digest

There's a far-flung feel to today's travel sections with the Sundays' writers venturing to the four corners of the world. Rajasthan is the destination for The Sunday Times and The Sunday Telegraph: Alexander Frater and Ed Smith visit the beautiful lake city just as the England team prepare for this week's first Test in India.

Antony Sher goes in search of the gorillas of Uganda for The Sunday Times, and Paddy Magrane in The Observer holidays in Eritrea. Amazing as it sounds, the capital of the country, Asmara, was "envisaged by Mussolini's architects in the 1930s as a Modernist experiment, with wide streets and bold, beautiful buildings". It's Italy in Africa, complete with "a head-clearing espresso and a pastry that any chef in Florence would have been proud of".

What the Saturday papers say

Like to spend £10,000 a night while on holiday? No? Look away then, because that’s the cover story on the front of The Times travel section. More specifically, Jeannette Hyde reviews travel guidebooks for the "too rich to research" brigade.

Anthony Peregrine in The Daily Telegraph kicks off the paper’s new series on luxury travel with a holiday in French Polynesia, and in The Independent, Jack Barker reports that “the most arduous part of a Kenyan villa holiday is choosing your next sundowner cocktail”.

Bastille Day to banish Parisian demons

Paris is battling hard to restore its reputation as the world's favourite tourist destination.

In 2003, the Parisian tourist industry was hit by the fallout between the US and France over the Iraq war. It was jolted again last October as riots spread through the city.

The country lost billions of pounds in potential tourist revenues as a result.

But although bruised and battered, Europe's capital of love is ready to pick itself up and prove why it is still the premier destination for city breaks.

‘Dirty bomb’ scanners at airports

Scanners that can detect radioactive material in a so-called ‘dirty bomb’ may soon be a permanent fixture at airports.

The Home Office has carried out trials of equipment that can scan containers and lorries for nuclear material at airports and ferry terminals.

And mobile versions are also available that allow the scanning of passengers either through metal-detector style apparatus or with a hand-held device.

Leeds to Inverness link from Eastern

Eastern Airways has announced the launch of a new service between Inverness and Leeds-Bradford starting this spring.

The airline will operate daily flights (except Saturdays) from April 24 with the one hour twenty minute flight departing Leeds Bradford at 10.15am and returning from Inverness at 12.05pm.

Cheap flights round-up

It was a busy week for route announcements as several low-cost airlines bulked up their summer and winter timetables.

Although new services to Paris and Tenerife provided the highlight, the last seven days also saw a steady flow of domestic route additions and early spring sales.

Keep an eye on card fees when abroad

When travelling abroad one of the easiest ways to lose money is to pay too much when converting currency or being forced into accepting over the top fees.

One of the worst options available to you is the bureaux de change who will offer a very poor exchange rate and often charge a flat fee.

Just recently I saw an airport bureaux charging people £5 just to use the service.

Isle of Man to Glasgow flights boost

Scottish airline Loganair is doubling its flights between the Isle of Man and Glasgow between March and May.

The British Airways partner currently operates a once-daily service between the two locations, with one-way tickets including taxes and charges starting at £49.

Loganair will now gradually introduce a second daily service. Two extra flights will be added on March 31, followed by three more on May 2. The final two daily flights will debut on May 23.

Fantastic Far East offers

Book by Tuesday, February 28: flights to the hustling, bustling cities of the Far East are on sale with KLM.

The Dutch airline has return flights with taxes from £334. Destinations on offer include Beijing from £334; Chengdu from £335; Shanghai from £364; Singapore from £381; Hong Kong from £382; and Bangkok from £426.

easyJet: 'We won't charge extra for hold luggage'

Budget airline easyJet has vowed it won't introduce extra charges for hold luggage, despite similar moves from rivals.

Both Ryanair and Flybe are introducing fees of up to £5 a time for each piece of checked-in luggage, while slashing back overall fares. They believe it will encourage passengers to fly lighter, saving on time and fuel and cutting queuing times for passengers with just hand luggage. But easyJet has ruled out a similar move.

Business class not good enough for Charles

Travelling business class with British Airways just doesn't cut the mustard with Prince Charles, recently released excerpts from his diary suggest.

A judge ordered the release of the heir to the throne's 1997 journal earlier this week, giving people an unprecedented insight into his innermost thoughts.

Thomsonfly bargains from £16.99

Offer closes on Tuesday, February 28: there is just this weekend to book a bargain flight with Thomsonfly from £16.99. All fares are one-way and include taxes and charges.

The airline has one-way flights to Paris, Amsterdam, Jersey and Lyon from £16.99. Depart from Coventry, Doncaster and Bournemouth (to Amsterdam, Paris and Lyon only).

From £29.99 one-way, there are flights to Barcelona, Alicante, Ibiza, Malaga, Valencia and Palma. Depart from Coventry to Barcelona and Valencia and from Birmingham, East Midlands and Glasgow to Palma. Flights to Alicante, Ibiza and Malaga depart from 12 airports around the UK including London Gatwick, Stansted and Luton. Travel until October 28.

Kick off summer travel from £14.99

© bmibaby

Offer closes on Wednesday, March 1: bmibaby’s “lowest-ever summer fares” start from £14.99 one-way including taxes and charges for travel in April (limited availability over Easter - April 10-21), May and June.

Routes on offer include Cork, Jersey, Knock and Newquay from £14.99 one-way. Amsterdam, Paris (CDG), Perpignan and Prague cost from £19.99 one-way.

£24.99 will take you to Bordeaux and Nice (one-way) and Alicante, Malaga and Palma cost from £29.99 one-way.

Online check-in service from easyJet

© easyJet

Passengers travelling light with easyJet now have the chance to check-in online and save themselves the time of queuing up.

The airline is giving people who have just hand luggage the chance to bypass the check-in queue by printing-off their boarding pass from their own computer.

The service is currently only available for passengers flying from Stansted, Gatwick and Edinburgh but easyJet say that by April 90 per cent of travellers will be able to check-in online.

Norwich to Paris from May

Norwich Airport will get its first ever direct link to Paris from May, courtesy of low-cost airline Flybe.

One-way tickets will start at £29.99, with the daily service to Charles de Gaulle Airport commencing on May 25.

And with a flight time of just 1 hour 25 minutes, Norwich residents will soon be able to reach the French capital in less time than it takes to drive to London.

Regional airports top poll

Regional airports dominated a recent poll of the UK's best airports by adventure travel magazine Wanderlust.

Based on customer satisfaction over the past 12 months, Southampton, Newcastle and Bristol were all voted into the top four – proving that big isn't necessarily beautiful.

Increase in charter flight delays spark concern

Average UK charter flight delays stood at close to half an hour in 2005, sparking concern that new passenger compensation rules have failed to improve airline services.

Official data shows that average delays on charter flights leaving UK airports between April and October widened from 23 minutes in 2004 to 28 minutes last year.

Some eleven per cent of unscheduled flights were delayed by more than an hour, up from nine per cent in 2004 and eight per cent in 2003.

Edinburgh to Moscow service axed

The hunt for an airline to begin direct flights between Edinburgh and Moscow is already under way after Transaero announced it will stop flying between the two cities.

The Russian airline operated weekly flights between the two capital cities as part of its summer programme.

But it is pulling out due to a lack of interest from Russian businessmen.

Ireland on sale from £16

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day (March 17), Aer Lingus is reminding travellers of its cheap one-way (with taxes) fares to the Emerald Isle.

To Dublin, the flag carrier has flights departing from Bristol from £16; from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Liverpool from £17; from Birmingham from £19; and from London Heathrow and Manchester from £20.

Clock ticking on Jet2.com bargains

© Jet2.com

UK passengers have less than one week left to take advantage of budget airline Jet2.com's spring sale.

A host of city, ski and winter sun breaks are on offer until February 28, with one-way tickets including taxes and charges start at £9.99.

Flights must be booked for March and April.

Two new routes from Monarch

Monarch Scheduled has launched its winter 2006 timetable with the news that the airline is to begin two new routes.

The low-cost operator will begin three flights a week to Tenerife from Gatwick, starting on October 29 and on the same day begin two flights a week to Lanzarote from Manchester.

The airline has also said it will increase the frequency of many of its existing flights and intends to continue a number of the services launched for summer 2006 through the winter months.

Business service on route to London

VLM Airlines will introduce business class services on its daily flights between Brussels and London City from March 1.

With approximately 80% of passengers on the route business people the airline is confident that the new service will prove a success.

Man sent to prison for bomb ‘joke’

Potential plane pranksters should take a clear warning from the example of Peter Aldred, jailed for two months yesterday for telling a flight attendant his bag contained a bomb.

Although most people know that security is no laughing matter, the marketing manager from Hertfordshire caused easyJet to alert the ground staff at Inverness Airport, who then called the police.

BA online check-in ad removed from the air

Consumers who complained that a British Airways TV advertisement was misleading have had their grounds upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The ad in question was highlighting the airline's online check-in process, allowing passengers to print their own boarding pass and thereby avoid lengthy queues on arrival at the airport.

However, the voice in the ad said that "only at ba.com" was this possible.

Fly into spring with Germanwings

Book between 5pm (6pm CET) today, Wednesday, February 22, and 10.59pm (11.59 CET) on Sunday, February 26, to be in with a chance of landing one of the 300,000 tickets that Germanwings will have on sale from €1 (about 70p) excluding taxes and charges.

Travel between Wednesday, March 1, and Wednesday, May 31.

Discount parking firm expands services

Jetting off from the UK's airports could become even cheaper and more convenient with a new range of car parking options.

Discount Airport Parking has announced that it has added to its portfolio, with two new services for Heathrow and another for Gatwick.

Italy from £86

Alitalia’s current special offers include flights from London Heathrow to Rome (Fiumicino) from £88 return including taxes.

There are also flights from London Heathrow to Milan from £109, Venice from £118 and Catania from £121.

From Manchester Airport, fly to Milan from £86 and Rome from £128.

Flights from Newquay ended by airline

Low-cost airline Monarch Scheduled has decided to end flights between Newquay and Malaga, blaming the passenger fee levied by Cornwall County Council.

Flights will operate until Sunday, April 30 but the airline’s chief executive has said that the council’s £5 levy makes flying to Cornwall more expensive than other regional airports.

Jersey to Stansted link announced

Jersey residents will get a new air link to London from the summer.

Newly founded low-cost airline Atlantic Express says it will begin flying twice daily from the island to Stansted from May 27, according to uk-airport-news.info.

One-way tickets will start at £39.99, excluding taxes and charges.

Atlantic Express also plans to launch a service between Jersey and Zurich from the summer.

Island officials believe the two routes will open up new opportunities for its inhabitants to tour the UK and Europe, with Stansted offering a choice of 150 low fare onward flights.

Gatwick gets cheap car park

Passengers at Gatwick are set to enjoy a wider range of cheap parking options with the arrival of low-cost provider Airparks Services.

The firm is already present in several other UK airports and now claims to be launching "the cheapest parking site" at Gatwick.

The company is offering a special advance purchase price of £27.80 for eight days parking from March 28.

Roadworks near Blackpool Airport

Fliers departing from Blackpool Airport may have to leave extra time for their journeys due to roadworks in the area.

A major overhaul of a junction near the airport in South Shore began yesterday, and will continue until May.

The work could cause congestion in the area and slow traffic heading for the airport.

Ryanair lays claim to customer services crown

Ryanair was more punctual and lost fewer bags than any of its rivals in 2005, according to a statement from the low-cost airline.

Ryanair's claims come just days after the release of customer services figures from the Association of European Airlines (AEA), which showed British Airways has one of the worst records for punctuality on the continent.

The AEA said that 26 per cent of BA's short-haul flights were delayed in 2005, putting it 24th in a list of 25 airlines to have submitted information.

Sabre sinks teeth into two more airlines

Travellers visiting Sabre-affiliated travel agents will now have access to the cheapest possible airfares from two further airlines.

Sabre has just signed deals with UK-based carrier Virgin Atlantic and Scandinavian airline SAS, allowing its customers to enjoy the duo's cheapest fares without buying direct.

Latest headlines from the US

More plans were announced this week to help minimise the agony of boarding flights in the US, which has increased with the rigorous screening programmes set in place since September 11. GE Security announced that it would invest $16 million towards the Verified Identity Pass, which allows passengers to opt for screening prior to boarding.

New to the States, Virgin Nigeria, the airline owned partly by Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic and partly by Nigerian investors, was finally given permission to operate between Nigeria and the US.

Ryanair pushes for Maltese debut

Cheap flights to Malta could soon be on the cards after it emerged Ryanair will hold talks with Maltese officials this week.

The low-cost airline is hoping to launch a route to the Mediterranean archipelago by next year, according to MaltaMedia.

The sun-drenched country earned close to €500 million from tourism in the first half of 2005 but is yet to be served by budget airlines such as Ryanair and easyJet.