British Airways doubles its service to St Kitts

St Kitts will gain a second weekly British Airways flight next spring. The additional service will fly every Tuesday from March 23.

BA will use 280-seat Boeing 777 in a three-class configuration with 40 Club World, 24 World Traveller Plus and 216 World Traveller seats.

The new flight, linked with Antigua, increases capacity to the destination while offering even greater flexibility to the duration of visitor nights.

The announcement came just eight months since the first BA scheduled service touched down in St Kitts.

The island’s tourism sports and culture minister Richard Skerrit said: ““I speak for our key partners, our hoteliers and all stakeholders involved in the tourism industry in St. Kitts & Nevis in welcoming this excellent news from British Airways at a time when there is still uncertainty in the industry; we are delighted that British Airways has had the confidence in our destination’s future growth to bring in two new flights in just 14 months.

“The UK is increasingly becoming an important market for St. Kitts with British Airways bringing in more than 4,000 passengers in the first half of 2009 alone.”

BA head of UK and Ireland sales Richard Tams said: “We’re delighted to be increasing the number of flights into St Kitts.

“The island has been proving extremely popular with our customers thanks to its beauty; atmosphere and the warm welcome travellers receive.

“We now operate more flights into the Caribbean than any other carrier, serving 14 destinations with 55 flights a week and we remain committed to the region.”

To book your British Airways flights to the Caribbean, visit British Airways>>

New Scandinavia air links

New flights to Bergen from Aberdeen and Newcastle are being introduced this autumn.

UK regional airline Eastern Airways is starting the services on October 5.

Fares to Bergen start at £89 one way.

The airline is to run daily weekday flights from both UK airports.

Extra flights are also being added to Stavanger from Aberdeen and Newcastle from October 4.

The airline’s chief operating officer Chris Holliday said: “The announcement of two new non-stop services to Bergen from Aberdeen and Newcastle clearly demonstrates our commitment to developing routes between the UK and Norway.

“Bergen is a key base for the global energy industry, and our services will benefit business travellers. Both services also provide a convenient link for leisure passengers taking short breaks in Norway, north east Scotland and north east England.”

Dreamliner finally set for take off

The maiden flight of the much delayed Boeing 787 Dreamliner is due before the end of the year.

Manufacturer Boeing said the first delivery is then expected in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Development delays mean that production of the new generation aircraft is almost two years behind schedule.

The company now expects to achieve a production rate of 10 aircraft a month in late 2013.

The new schedule reflects the previously announced need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft, along with the addition of several weeks of schedule margin to reduce flight test and certification risk, Boeing said.

“This new schedule provides us the time needed to complete the remaining work necessary to put the 787’s game-changing capability in the hands of our customers,” said Boeing chairman, president and CEO Jim McNerney.

“The design details and implementation plan are nearly complete, and the team is preparing airplanes for modification and testing.”

Current offers from BMI

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Virgin Atlantic Winter Fares Sale

Virgin Atlantic have some fantastic winter fares available to a variety of Long Haul destinations.

Sale ends 22nd September

ECONOMY SALE:

USA from £299

Asia from £319

Caribbean from £399

Africa from £399

PREMIUM ECONOMY:

USA from £531

Asia from £579

Africa from £659

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Jet2 to fly from East Midlands Airport

We would like to let you know some fantastic news, today (28th August 2009) Jet2.com announced the launch of a brand new base at East Midlands Airport, creating over 130,000 seats, seven new direct destinations and 250 new jobs for the region.

The airline will offer low fare destinations from East Midlands Airport to Lanzarote, Corfu, Dalaman, Heraklion, Paphos, Tenerife and Sharm El Sheikh which are available to book today for departures from May 2010, with starting fares from £59.99 one way including taxes.

It will also be possible to book package tours through Jet2holidays.com to these destinations from £269 per person for seven nights. This will extend Jet2.com’s catchment area further into Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield and surrounding areas.

Ian Doubtfire, Managing Director at Jet2.com said, “At a time when many competitors are cutting services and closing bases, we are increasing ours with our ambitious expansion into the Midlands which will be our seventh base to date within the UK.”

Seven new routes and starting fares from East Midlands Airport for summer 2010 are:

• Lanzarote, Arrecife from £59.99 one way including taxes, departing 20th May 2010
• Turkey, Dalaman from £69.99 one way including taxes, departing 21st May 2010
• Corfu from £59.99 one way including taxes, departing 24th May 2010
• Greece, Heraklion from £69.99 one way including taxes, departing 25th May 2010
• Cyprus, Paphos from £69.99 one way including taxes, departing 23rd May 2010
• Tenerife from £59.99 one way including taxes, departing 21st May 2010
• Egypt, Sharm El Sheikh from £79.99 one way including taxes, departing 27th May 2010

Tickets are on sale from today at the Jet2 website>> or Jet2 Holidays>>

Qantas Walkabout Pass

Qantas operates 28 services a week from London to Australia including daily flights
to Bangkok and Hong Kong and double daily flights to Singapore. Regional connections
and services from Ireland are available via London and Frankfurt with partners British
Airways and Aer Lingus.

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The Walkabout Fare allows you to experience one international stopover in each direction on route, when travelling to Australia and New Zealand. Offering a choice of 7 cities within Australia and 4 cities within New Zealand, the Walkabout fare is ideal for point to point travel.

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* Self service snack bar

Plus a contemporary menu, hot towels to freshen up, soft blanket and pillow and a comfort pack.

DOMESTIC SECTOR FARES
The Qantas domestic network covers over 50 Australian destinations and we are proud to be able to offer two classes of travel on the domestic routes – Business and Economy. Recently upgraded with Marc Newson-designed fabrics, the cabins offer in-flight service features such as complimentary meals and snacks as well as audio-visual entertainment. Qantas Cityflyer service offers customers travelling between Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, more flights and more seats than any other airline.

WalkaboutPass Type   Example Routing   From price
Single Zone                      Sydney to Cairns   £30
Between Zones               Perth to Sydney    £80

International Economy Flights with Qantas from London. Regional departures available Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle via London Heathrow. Valid for travel for selected dates between 15/08/09-07/12/09 and 16/01/10 – 31/03/10. Must be booked by 31/08/09. Facilities listed available on A380 flights. Walkabout pass fares must be booked in conjunction with a Qantas International flight.

All prices are per person at nett and include all taxes & charges. Facilites listed may only be available on A380 flights. Terms and conditions apply. All offers subject to change and availability. Offers are correct at time of sending but may be subject to change without prior notification.

You can book your Qantas flights and Walkabout Pass with Explorer Travel by calling 0208 816 8789. These deals can’t be booked online.

SAS cuts autumn fares

Autumn flights from the UK to Scandinavia are being cut by up to 40% by SAS.

Prices on international routes via Copenhagen to destinations such as Tokyo, Bangkok and New York are also being reduced for bookings made by August 31.

The reduced fares apply to travel between October 1 and December 15.

Examples include

Heathrow–Stavanger cut by £25 to £59;

Aberdeen–Stavanger cut by £24 to £69,

Heathrow–Oslo cut by £23 to £59,

Manchester-Oslo and Stockholm cut by £40 to £59.

New York via Copenhagen is reduced to £460 and Tokyo to £539.

More Info / Book Now

Easyjet could desert Luton Airport as talks over landing charges breakdown

A breakdown in talks over landing fees could see EasyJet deserting Luton Airport and moving several of its planes elsewhere.

The budget airline started at Luton and refers to it as its ’spiritual home’ but is understood to be refusing to pay higher landing charges proposed by the airport.

If they are unable to reach an agreement the carrier could instead move its aircraft to Stansted and Gatwick.

The talks come after fellow budget airline Ryanair cancelled 90 per cent of flights from Manchester and cut routes from Stansted and Dublin over charges.

The competition to deliver cheap flights in an increasingly difficult economic climate is causing many airlines to try and cut as many costs as possible.

Regional British airports in particular seem to be losing out, which could leave British passengers in certain areas with less of a choice of budget airline from their closest airports.

Britain could also lose business to European airports which have scrapped tourist taxes or reduced airport charges to zero.  The move could encourage carriers to base themselves abroad to reduce costs.

Sources close to the EasyJet negotiations suggested to the Travel Trade Gazette that airport charges already make up about 10 per cent of the average EasyJet fare from Luton and the proposed increase would force it to raise ticket prices for passengers.

It is thought that if EasyJet does not get the deal it wants, it could drop plans to expand at Luton and move two of its eight aircraft based there to other airports.

EasyJet spokesman Andrew McConnell said: ‘Talks are still continuing between EasyJet and the airport about airport costs and the future growth strategy, which would allow us to invest at the airport to create much needed jobs.’

Brussels Airlines Big Weekend Sale 30 European cities at rock-bottom prices

During the Brussels Airlines Big Weekend Sale, more than 30 European cities are up for grabs at rock-bottom return fares. Best of all, with this newsletter you get your chance to book one day earlier – on Thursday at 18:00! Which gives you first choice to get a low-priced ticket to your favourite city.

Now, which city do you love the best? Take part in the Brussels Airlines Big Weekend Sale and book now!

When to book: From Thusday 20 Aug 09 18:00 to Sunday 23 Aug 09 Midnight

When to fly: From October 2009 through January 2010

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