Chris Gray Virgin Atlantic has become the first airline to offer the customers the ability to book Eurostar tickets at the same time as they buy their flight.
It has signed an e-ticketing agreement with Eurostar that will let passengers book train travel between London, Paris or Brussels when they buy their ticket with an agent or through the Virgin Atlantic call centre.
The move is possible because Eurostar is the only rail operator in the world to be registered on global distribution systems. Emma Harris, director of sales and marketing at Eurostar, said: “Many of our customers making corporate bookings can now take full advantage of these through fares, opening up a host of new travel opportunities.
“The vast majority of people travelling between London and Paris and Brussels use Eurostar and it’s fantastic news that our overseas travellers will now have greater access to the ease and comfort of high speed rail journeys.”
Chris Gray Jet2.com is to start five new routes from its Newcastle base, to Dalaman, Crete, Gran Canaria, Paphos and Sharmel Sheikh, from next May.
Jet2 said the routes would create 450 jobs in the Newcastle area either directly with the airline or in supporting industries.
Chief executive Philip Meesonsaid: “We see the north-east as having real growth potential for our leisure business.
“The new routes are in response to that demand and the new jobs will also hopefully show our renewed commitment to this great region. We will be working closely with the airport to deliver this enhanced service.” David Laws, chief executive of Newcastle International, said: “With the launch of these new routes, Jet2.com will be providing our customers with additional choice and flexibility for holidays to some of our most popular sunshine destinations.”
Jet2 will also continue its summer routes to Corfu, Cork, Pisa, Rhodes and Split next year, and increase its summer Tenerife and Lanzarote services.
P&O Cruises’ 2010/11 programme of world cruise sectors, for passengers who do not have the time to go all the way around the globe, goes on sale next week.
The programme offers 57 cruise-only holidays ranging from 13 to 37 nights. There are also prices for flights, transfers and pre- or post-cruise hotels. It also has details of the four full world cruises on offer, on Arcadia, Artemis, Aurora and Oriana, which are all sailing round-trip from Southampton.
A 16-night San Francisco to Auckland cruise on Oriana, from October 13 to 29 2010, costs from £1,399 per person cruise only. An 18-night voyage from Sydney to Bangkok on Arcadia, from February 13 to March 3 2011, costs from £1,699 per person cruise only.
A cruise from Southampton to Sydney on Aurora, between January 9 January and March 2 2011, costs from £4,449 per person cruise only and will include visits to Madeira, Brazil, Argentina, the Falkland Islands, Chile and Tahiti.
The programme will be on sale from September 1. Discounts of up to 45% and on-board credit of up to £500 per person are available for bookings made before the end of November.
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Airport operator BAA’s July traffic figures suggest passenger numbers may have stabilised following the downturn up to June.
Heathrow recorded its busiest July since 2006 and its third-highest monthly traffic on record. Passenger numbers were 0.9% up on a year ago at 6.5 million despite the airport handling 3% fewer flights. That compares with a 3.8% decline in passengers in the first half of the year.
The average number of passengers per flight at Heathrow in July was the highest ever at 162.
Traffic was down at BAA’s other major airports, but by less than in June. Gatwick recorded 4.8% fewer passengers compared with a 7.6% shortfall in June, while Stansted was down 5.7% last month – an improvement from 11.5% in June.
Edinburgh bucked the trend by recording a fourth consecutive month of growth, with 5.6% more passengers than a year ago. Glasgow traffic was down 12.9% and Aberdeen 9%.
The 2.4% fall in passengers across the group was chiefly due to declines in charter, US and domestic traffic.
But long-haul traffic, excluding the North Atlantic, was up 4.8% on a year ago and European scheduled traffic up 1.2%.
BAA handled 18.6% fewer charter passengers than last year – in line with the capacity taken out by TUI Travel and Thomas Cook and lost through the failure of XL Airways.
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