OFT won’t open IAG deal probe… March 5, 2012 BRITISH Airways parent IAG has come a step closer to buying loss-making carrier BMI, after the UK consumer watchdog said it will not review the proposed deal. The Office of Fair Trading said there was no need for a fresh investigation, given that the European Commission is already looking into the acquisition, worth up to [...]
British Airways owner and Ryanair post increase in passenger traffic August 3, 2011 BRITISH Airways parent company IAG yesterday reported a 3.5 per cent jump in traffic for July. The figure, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, grew to 16.1bn. However, the actual number of passengers decreased 2.7 per cent to 5m. IAG, which was formed by the merger between Spanish carrier Iberia and BA, was boosted by a [...]
All aboard the magnificent Orient Express August 19, 2012 ITALY’S in debt, you say? Well, I’m on the Orient Express headed straight to Venice – fiddling while Rome burns, you might say – and there’s no sign of the Italian economy crashing here. As if to prove my point, the flamboyant Massimo shows me another popular purchase from the train’s on-board shop. “These diamond [...]
An alternative paradise August 5, 2012 IT is raining on Dominica, and this is no passing shower. I’m soaked to the skin, I’ve lost the sole from my shoe and I’m covered in a reddy brown mud. Dominica, known as the “nature island”, is already turning all my preconceptions about a Caribbean “paradise” on their head. Not famous for its white [...]
Heathrow at its busiest thanks to new markets April 11, 2012 MORE THAN 70m people travelled through Heathrow in the last year, the airport’s busiest ever, according to figures from owner BAA out yesterday. Traffic at Britain’s busiest airport was up six per cent in the year to March, which BAA credited to the soaring popularity of its routes to newer markets such as China. Its [...]
Heathrow at its busiest thanks to new markets April 11, 2012 MORE THAN 70m people travelled through Heathrow in the last year, the airport’s busiest ever, according to figures from owner BAA out yesterday. Traffic at Britain’s busiest airport was up six per cent in the year to March, which BAA credited to the soaring popularity of its routes to newer markets such as China. Its [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 25, 2012 Priority boarding [Re: A third runway at Heathrow is essential if London is to be a globally competitive city, Friday] Paul Willis is right that Boris Island is imaginative but twenty years away. The short-term answer is for government to dictate that only strategic business routes are served by Heathrow. New routes to China and [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 25, 2012 Priority boarding [Re: A third runway at Heathrow is essential if London is to be a globally competitive city, Friday] Paul Willis is right that Boris Island is imaginative but twenty years away. The short-term answer is for government to dictate that only strategic business routes are served by Heathrow. New routes to China and [...]
IAG profits rise February 29, 2012 British Airways’ parent group IAG has reported a jump in annual profits. The company, which also owns Spain’s iberia, reported pre-tax profits of £425.6 in the year to December 2011. The company said the improvement was against the backdrop of a particularly difficult year in 2010. “BA is making money and Iberia is losing money. [...]
India 10 years on: The rise of a tourism superpower November 11, 2012 INDIA DRAMATICALLY straddles the ancient and modern worlds: as well as having a space programme, it is home to layers of ancient civilisations, leaving an intricate cultural legacy. But an under-developed service sector used to make it difficult to enjoy India as a holidaymaker. I wanted to find out if the tourist industry was keeping [...]