News Archive

Business airline Eos woos investor.

Business class only Eos Airlines which flies from Stansted airport to New York JFK says it expects to secure an extra $50 million investment next month.

Continental transatlantic flights run low on fuel.

Flights between Britain and the US operated by Continental Airlines are under scrutiny by US pilots, politicians and regulators over figures showing the airline's planes ran low on fuel while approaching New York on 96 occasions last year.

The number of "minimum fuel" declarations by Continental pilots leapt five-fold at Newark airport over the past two years, prompting criticism over the carrier's use of relatively small planes for transatlantic routes. Continental has carved out a lucrative niche in services from smaller regional airports.

The carrier uses single-aisle Boeing 757 jets, typically carrying 175 passengers - smaller than the wide-bodied fleets favoured by its transatlantic rivals at Heathrow and Gatwick.

A report published last week by the US department of transportation revealed that the federal aviation administration inspector responsible for Boeing 757s had indicated "some concern with using that aircraft type on long overseas flights because of its limited range". The report said these concerns were shared by air traffic controllers and by the safety chairman of the Continental Airlines' pilots union.

Where can you go to make your pound go further?

With the pound slipping to an all-time low against the euro, thousands of British holidaymakers are switching their summer destinations in a bid to make their money go further. But where should they go?

In May 2000 a pound bought more than €1.75; last summer it was worth just under €1.5, but as we went to press last week it had fallen to just €1.25. The Association of British Travel Agents estimated the currency fluctuation would add £120 to a £1,000 holiday, compared with last year.

In response, the Post Office last week advised travellers to head to countries outside the eurozone, recommending Bulgaria and Turkey.

T5 baggage heading back to Heathrow after trip to Milan.

Suitcases which went missing during the botched opening of Terminal 5 are heading back to Heathrow after a fruitless two-week trip to Italy.

British Airways drove the bags in a 24-hour trip to a warehouse close to Milan airport to be sorted after T5's baggage management system failed.

Embarrassed managers had hoped to forward them to passengers across continental Europe who had been forced to travel without their luggage in the days after the £4.3bn terminal opened.

But now the airline has admitted that several hundred of those bags are in the process of being trucked and flown back to the UK because their owners finished their holidays and business trips before BA could get their bags to them.

At the beginning of the month as many as 5,000 bags were driven to Milan after at least 20,000 mounted up at T5 during chaotic scenes in which the new terminal's baggage handling systems collapsed and scores of flights were cancelled.

Insurers withdraw lost luggage cover at Terminal 5.

Some travel insurance policies are not offering cover for baggage lost by customers flying out of Heathrow's Terminal 5, it has emerged.

Thousands of items of luggage have been lost and delayed in the recent turmoil, and the British Airways' website is still warning of problems for travellers.

Now, insurers including Direct Line and Churchill - both owned by Royal Bank of Scotland - have said they will exclude baggage loss and delays from new insurance policies.