France car manufacturer Peugeot has unveiled it’s new pay as you go car rental service in the UK, which has been operating in France for some time now.  The new service, called Mu, allows customers to rent a vehicle by using a prepaid top up account in order to hire from a fleet of vehicles including bikes, scooters and cars such as the 207 CC, 308 CC, 407 Coupe, 3008, and SUV, MPV and a large range of other accessories.

The company said that the idea behind Mu was to give customers an easy option when it came to renting a vehicle in countries where car ownership can be expensive and troublesome.  The service is aimed at customers who would only ever rent a car when they need to, such… Read the full story

by Riley Walker on March 9th, 2010

Major player in the car rental industry, Avis Europe, has announced that it plans to quadruple the number of hire car outlets it has in China in order to boost profits as the European market still awaits a recovery.

Avis Europe, which already has 26 outlets in China in partnership with Chinese company, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp plans to increase the numbers to 100 by 2012.

Finance director for Avis Europe, Martin Smith said that Avis accounted for about 46 per cent of outlets run by international operators in the country, which is still only a very small market.

He continued by saying that Avis was a driving force in China, adding that the company was committed to opening more outlets in bigger cities and that they were planning to… Read the full story

by Isabella Robinson on March 8th, 2010

Travellers who are scheduled on board British Airways flights will today know if their travel plans will be interrupted by a planned strike by cabin crew for the airline.

The union representing flight attendance of British Airways, Unite, said that they are close to reaching a deal with the airlkine that could prevent the need for any strike action, but also hit back at claims made by the airline’s chief executive Willie Walsh.

The dispute commenced last autumn following the airline freezing pay and cutting around 1700 positions, bringing down the number of cabin crew on long haul jumbo jet flights from 15 to 14.

On Wednesday, Walsh claimed that it was ready as it could be to fly, with over 1000 non cabin crew staff prepared to fly and… Read the full story

by Aadyn Taylor on March 5th, 2010

Australia’s flagship carrier Qantas has knocked back claims by unions of a group of female workers were sacked based on gender discrimination.

The union said that the 14 female cleaners had been replaced in February by males who could also work as baggage handlers.

An application was launched in Fair Work Australia by the Transport Workers’ Union for reinstatement saying that the women had been discriminated against as they had been barred from applying for 47 new positions that went to male employees.

The airline has hit back at claims by saying that the union’s focus on Qantas was part of a campaign to damage the brand of the iconic carrier by trying to claim gender discrimination.

The airline said that over 40 per cent of employees were women.

The… Read the full story

by Isabella Robinson on March 4th, 2010

UK car rental company Weddingcarhire.co.uk has unveiled a new Facebook site aimed at giving customers the lowest rates and best deals on car hire specifically for weddings.

The social networking site has become a new phenomenon for businesses wanting to sell their goods and services, and Weddingcarhire has joined the bandwagon to offer exclusive deals and late cancellation bookings.

The benefits of the new Facebook site allows customers to read a variety of reviews on vehicle types as well as the opportunity to read forums in order to find out the best driving options.  The dedicated Facebook page for wedding car hirers allows visitors to search through the extensive range of wedding vehicles while receiving travel tips and quotes.  The Facebook group will give customers the ability to chat with… Read the full story

by Cooper Anderson on March 3rd, 2010

The largest budget airline in Southeast Asia, AirAsia plans to list on the Thai and Indonesian stock exchanges in an attempt to tap into the regions capital markets, in spite of the rough year for airlines.

AirAsia presently has the most extensive network in Southeast Asia, serving over 70 destinations across 20 nations, and has grown significantly from just two planes to its current fleet of 85 in just seven years.

Now AirAsia, currently listed only in Malaysia, would like to list itself and its Thai affiliate in Thailand, as well as the Indonesian affiliate in Indonesia.

Group chief executive of the airline, Tony Fernandes, believed the move would give it more of a Southeast Asian identity, saying that the company would like to see as many ASEAN investors by… Read the full story

by Isabella Robinson on March 2nd, 2010

While news of a strike looms, and the airline industry suffers it’s worst year on record, trouble keeps cropping up for British Airays as images have been leaked onto a porn website allegedly showing cabin crew in sexy poses.

The images were said to have been taken by staff that were fooling around on aircraft and were meant for their friends’ eyes only, it was reported.

However, the pictures emerged on a hard-core porn website yesterday, embarrassing the women involved.

The photos reveal the cabin crew, wearing distinctive red, white and blue uniforms, lifting up their skirts to show their stockings and bottoms.

One source said that they were never intended to get out and never had occurred if they knew it would end up on a porn site.

British… Read the full story

by Lily Thompson on March 1st, 2010

The landscape for Australian budget travel is heating up as two budget carriers, Jetstar and Tiger Airways have launched sales on domestic routes in a price war that will strongly benefit Aussie travellers.

Qantas owned Jetstar is gearing up to offer fares from $1, while Tiger Airways is offering one way fares from $21 as part of its latest sale, where travellers only pay taxes and charges.

The sale includes flights between Australian destinations including Adelaide to Sydney, Brisbane to Rockhampton, Adelaide to Alice Springs and Melbourne to Launceston.

Consumer Communications Manager for Tiger Airways, Vanessa Regan, said that the airline would continue to give travellers cheap fares

She said that the sale this week reinforced the commitment to offer popular routes on sale for as little as the cost… Read the full story

by Isabella Robinson on February 26th, 2010

The travel plans of passengers who have booked flights with British Airways could be in chaos as cabin crew voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action due to conditions and pay.

The union representing the cabin crew, Unite, said that 78.77 per cent of the 11,691 ballot papers were issued and returned, with a total of 80.7 per cent supporting the strike.

But Unite has said that it would not be announcing any strike dates in the near future as it hoped it could continue negotiations with the airline.

The airline said that it would not allow Unite to ruin the company.

BA has said that some progress has been made during recent dialogue between the two parties and that it would do everything that it could to protect passenger’s… Read the full story

by Mia Harris on February 25th, 2010

Hertz Rent A Car parent company, Hertz Global Holdings Inc, has posted a narrower than expected quarterly loss, helped along by improvements in the US car hire industry as well as cost cutting.

In the last quarter, the company had recorded a net loss of $30.9 million, or 8 cents per share, compared with a loss of $1.21 billion or $3.77 a share, in the same time as last year.

Excluding items, the company earned 6 cents per share.

Revenue for the company in this quarter also fell by about 3 per cent to $1.74 billion.

Industry analysts were initially expecting that the company would earn up to 1 cent per share, prior to special items, on revenue of $1.70 billion, according to sources.

The total amount of expenses by… Read the full story

by Cooper Anderson on February 24th, 2010