Travellers wishing to visit Egypt are being advised that the situation has calmed down significantly since the height of the protests which resulted in the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak. The UK Foreign Office has been closely monitoring the situation over the past week and has decided to relax its travel advice.

David Cameron, the Prime Minister, earlier visited Egypt to talk to the caretaker PM and the head of Egypt’s armed forces. He said that Egypt now had a real opportunity to push towards a more democratic future.

At the end of January, the Home Office put out a warning against all but the most essential travel to major cities including Suez, Alexandria, Luxor and Cairo. This advice has now been lifted, and a spokesman said the situation has… Read the full story

by Mia Harris on February 22nd, 2011

SkyTeam airline alliance members Delta Airlines and Air France-KLM have expressed an interest in acquiring Sir Richard Branson’s stake of Virgin Atlantic. The founder owns a controlling 51 per cent. The remaining 49 per cent is in the hands of Singapore Airlines which acquired the share in 2009 for £600 million.

Singapore has said that it wants to concentrate its efforts in the Asian market and that if a decent enough offer made it onto the table the airline might be prepared to dispose of its Virgin shares.

Sir Richard has been working with Deutsche Bank to examine the possibilities for the future of the airline. The review comes following the merger of British Airways with Spanish flag-carrier Iberia. Sir Richard has long been opposed to the deal which also… Read the full story

by Riley Walker on February 21st, 2011

National flag-carrier Qantas and rival Virgin Blue have produced the best performance in terms of being on time throughout 2010. According to BITRE figures, the country’s largest carrier had the best on time departure statistics at 85.6 per cent as well as the best on time arrival figures of all the major domestic carriers at 85.6 per cent.

Virgin Blue came in at second with 83 per cent of its departures doing so on time and 82.3 per cent of all arrivals landing as scheduled. Jetstar’s departures for 2010 were 80.7 per cent on time and its arrivals were 80.8 per cent as per the carrier’s timetable.

Tiger was the poorest performer with only 71.7 per cent of all services taking off on time and 72.2 per cent of all… Read the full story

by Aadyn Taylor on February 18th, 2011

The country’s largest airline, Qantas, has announced first-half profits of $241 million, an impressive increase on the $58 million declared for the same period a year earlier. The figure is made all the more admirable when the estimated $55 million loss from the grounding of its fleet of six A380 superjumbos following an engine explosion is taken into account.

As well as an increase in net profits, Qantas has announced that it will be extending the leases on a pair of Boeing 737-800s and taking out new leases on five more. The aircraft will be used to strengthen the airline’s presence in the Asian market.

Budget arm Jetstar will have the leases on 11 Airbus 320s extended and Qantas said it will take out an additional 10 leases on new… Read the full story

by Aadyn Taylor on February 17th, 2011

Hertz has expanded its presence in the New Zealand and Australian car rental markets by acquiring Ace Rental Cars, a budget car rental firm, and has also signed an agreement with Apollo Motorhome Holidays. The partnership with the world’s number one privately-run supplier of recreational vehicles will allow Hertz to tap into the growing market for motorhome and campervan holidays.

According to Michel Taride, Hertz’s international president, the acquisition of Apollo would allow the rental giant to tap into the demand for second tier segment of the car hire market which accounts for nearly half of the rental market in New Zealand. He added that Hertz was also determined to grow the brand across the Tasman.

Mr Taride went on to say that Hertz would continue to concentrate on its… Read the full story

by Lily Thompson on February 16th, 2011

Hilton hotel workers in Melbourne have complained that they don’t usually get sufficient time to clean hotel rooms on normal days and that the problem is compounded on February 14 every year. One female worker said Valentine’s Day for her means carpets with chocolate ground in, bathrooms covered with bubble bath, champagne spillages and beds covered with whipped cream, massage oil and other stains.

Although there is often so much more to clean no extra time is allocated according to the worker. According to the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union, staff have complained that to clean a room to a proper standard takes around 45 minutes, but most of the time they are given just 15.

The union said that this was not only unfair on its members but could… Read the full story

by Mia Harris on February 15th, 2011

Leading car hire firm Avis has been honoured with the National Smoke-Free Business Award in the US. The award has been given out by the Americans for Non-Smokers’ Rights group in recognition of the car rental group’s commitment to running a 100 per cent smoke-free operation throughout the US and Canada.

According to Avis’ executive vice president of operations, Larry De Shon, one of the top requests from customers is that they be given a smoke free vehicle. He added that by prohibiting smoking across the whole of the Avis Budget group, customers were assured a fresh smelling car ever time they booked.

Avis first banned smoking for customers and employees in 2009. It has also implemented measures for all offices to be completely smoke free by 1 April this… Read the full story

by Riley Walker on February 14th, 2011

Leading car rental firm Hertz has said it aims to have 16 locations across the US retrofitted with solar panels as a way to cut back on CO2 emissions. The scheme will model itself on the pilot introduced at its rental location at Denver International Airport at the end of last year and will involve the use of photovoltaic systems capable of generating some 2.3 MW of power in total.

It is estimated that the Denver project will offset well over half-a-million pounds of CO2 every year. The outlets currently slated for conversion include locations in New York, Colorado, California and Georgia.

Hertz senior vice president, Richard Broome, said the company was striving to find better ways to reduce its impact on the environment. He added that it had already… Read the full story

by Aadyn Taylor on February 11th, 2011

Qantas could face industrial action from its pilots after a meeting between airline bosses and the Australian and International Pilots Association reportedly failed to come to an agreement over job security. According to Barry Jackson, president of the AIPA, Qantas has failed to give guarantees over plans to offshore jobs. The association is due to hold meetings in Melbourne and Sydney to decide how best to resolve the issues it has with the carrier.

In return for guarantees over job security, the union has said it is willing to put a 2.5 per cent limit on wage claims each year. Jackson said the pilots wanted assured career progression and job security and to tie themselves to the airline brand. He added that this was the reason pilots joined Qantas in… Read the full story

by Isabella Robinson on February 10th, 2011

In the wake of some of the worst flooding in living memory and devastating cyclones, Australian tourism chiefs are asking Australians to holiday at home in 2011. Martin Ferguson, the tourism minister, said it was extremely important that, following the natural disasters that have ravaged Queensland over the last few months, people realise that the state is very much open for business as usual.

The minister added that travellers who may have been following events through the media need to be made aware that most tourist destinations are now back on their feet. Queensland’s tourism authorities are already investing millions in raising awareness and marketing the state to potential foreign visitors.

The campaign to bring people back has been helped by the recent visit by queen of US television, Oprah… Read the full story

by Lily Thompson on February 9th, 2011