NEWS: THIS WEEK IN TRAVEL

Accommodation website LateRooms.com has launched a promotional set of prize draws during the summer with the chance to stay in some unusual locations for one night only.

Their 'Greatrooms' promo is based on a survey of over 1400 visitors to the Laterooms.com site at the end of last month. Three quarters of those questioned said they look for unique places to stay when booking accommodation, and from their answers, LateRooms.com was able to compile a list of the top most wanted locations

LateRooms.com has contacted all destinations, asking permission to set up a bespoke hotel suite on site. The ones they have so far include:

During their stay, the winners of the London Dungeon sleepover will be given a private tour of the Dungeons, a private ride on brand new attraction, Extremis, and an evening meal before being escorted to their resting place armed with a night vision camera.

Nikki Ratcliffe, manager of The London Dungeon, said: "No one has ever stayed for a full night in the Jack The Ripper 'bodies' chamber, and it will be interesting to see if guests will last the whole night."

To enter the prize draws, visit www.laterooms.com/greatrooms

British Airways has added a value calculator to its website (ba.com) in order to demonstrate to customers the true cost of Ryanair and EasyJet’s added charges versus the value of BA’s full service.

Richard Tams, head of UK & Ireland sales at British Airways, said:

Two Spanish low-cost airlines - Clickair, which currently flies to Spain from Gatwick and Heathrow, and Vueling which has a continental Europe network stretching to Moscow and Athens in the east - are set to merge next month. The new airline will operate under the Vueling brand (pron: "welling").

The merger, which was given the go-ahead in Jan by the EU, will result in a single airline with a modern fleet of 35 aircraft operating 92 routes to 46 airports in 18 countries. Although Clickair's aircraft won't start appearing in the Vueling livery till the autumn, passengers at Heathrow & Gatwick will see Clickair branding and uniforms on the ground replaced by Vueling colours in the second week of July.

Vueling's new CEO, Alex Cruz, says that one of the airline's most important advantages is that it flies from 'main' airports, not subsidiary airports many miles away, and in most cases from the 'main' terminal at those airports. At Heathrow they will be sharing Terminal 3 with the Oneworld alliance.

Yesterday the third and final bit of high-speed rail track in Belgium became operational, linking Paris and Brussels with Cologne.

The new link, running from the brand new 9-track station at Liège to the German border, puts Brussels at the heart of a pan-European high-speed rail network with direct links to London, Paris (&most major French cities), Cologne, Frankfurt, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Trains will now travel from Brussels to Cologne in 1h 39mins - it used to take them 2h 35mins - and last week's 3h 50mim journey from Paris to Cologne is now reduced to 3h 15mins. Extrapolated, it means passengers from London will be able to reach Cologne in 4h 45mins (changing at Paris).

Two train companies will compete on the new network. Deutche Bahn's ICE high-speed trains are already using it. Soon they will be joined by Thalys. It's a slightly odd form of competition though as DB are partners in Thalys with SNCF, SNCB (Belgium) and Dutch Railways.

Since January, Thalys has been renovating and upgrading its high-speed trains in preparation for the completion of the network. As well as improved interiors the new service also offers ticketless travel, with emailed confirmation of your reservation and a reminder of your seat number sent by SMS to your mobile 1 hour prior to the train's departure.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have posted very contrasting year end reports on their financial performance.

For British Airways it has been an 'annus horribilis' with a record pre-tax loss of £401 million, compared with a profit of £922m the previous year.

On Friday British Airways' chief executive Willie Walsh, said:

"The prolonged nature of the global downturn makes this the harshest trading environment we have ever faced and, with no immediate improvement visible, market conditions remain challenging."

Today, Sir Richard Branson is reporting a doubling of pretax profits for the financial year to £68.4 million, up from £34.8 million the year before.

"The last financial year has proven to be the most volatile yet in our 25-year history. To increase profits against a backdrop of such a severe recession is an excellent achievement by all of our staff at Virgin Atlantic", he said.

Ryanair starts their new online check-in system today. Passengers are be expected to print our their own boarding passes on their home/office computer and charged £5 for the privilage. Those passengers who turn up at the airport without a boarding pass will be fined £40, or rather charged a £40 "boarding card re-issue fee".

All new passenger bookings, including those travelling with infants and checked in bags, will move to online check-in and 'bag-drop' only as Ryanair phases out the use airport of check-in desks from its 146 airports by 1st October next.

Also from today, as part of the move to drop check-in desks, Ryanair will no longer accept bookings for unaccompanied minors (under 16 years old) while all new bookings will require passengers (including infants and domestic flight passengers) to hold a valid passport or valid national identity card.

Hard luck if you don't have a computer or your printer runs out of ink at the vital moment.

British Airways is launching new services from London Heathrow to Las Vegas on October 25, 2009.

The daily service will be operated by a three class Boeing 777 offering new Club World with fully flat beds. Tickets are on sale (from £467 inc taxes, fees and charges) from today.

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) travel warning against all but essential travel to Mexico was withdrawn on Friday, in the light of "a decline in the number of reported new swine influenza cases in Mexico since its peak on 26 April 2009".

The FCO advises that British Nationals should continue to follow local advice on precautions to take to avoid exposure to the influenza.

A Mexican hotel chain with luxury resorts on the Caribbean and Pacific coasts, is hoping to counter the slump in bookings triggered by the outbreak of H1N1 swine flu by offering a 'Flu Free guarantee'.

Real Resorts is offering any guest who contracts the H1N1 flu virus within 14 days of visiting any of its resorts in Cancun or Playa del Carmen, a three year package of complimentary replacement holidays.

The holidays, with companion, would be the same length of stay as the original vacation package and would have to be taken one per year. As there are many strands of H1N1, a guest who makes the claim must have it qualified as Influenza (H1N1), and the guest would need to provide a positive blood result for (H1N1) in addition to the certification of the doctor who performed the test in order to redeem the free holidays. The Flu Free Guarantee applies to guests that booked May 11 through June 30 for travel May 11 through October 31, 2009, and is for the original traveller making the claim and one additional guest. It does not include airfare.

At least two other hotels groups in the area are reported to be making similar offers.

Mexico's Health Minister, Jose Angel Cordova, said yesterday that while more than 2,000 cases of swine flu had been identified in Mexico, popular east and west coast areas such as Cozumel and Puerto Vallarta had not registered any cases.

Six people were injured today when a lift in the north tower of London Bridge collapsed. A total of nine people, thought to be tourists, were travelling up in the lift to see the exhibition in the upper corridors sections.

The fares comparison site, Skyscanner.net, has published figures showing the destinations with the largest growth or decline of interest from British travellers compared to the same period last year - and it's not good news for European destinations.

Winners

The biggest rises in flight searches (looking for flights from UK airports) for summer 09 (May 1st-Aug 30th) compared to summer 08, were...

1. Bangkok, Thailand (+271%)
2. Los Angeles, USA (+170%)
3. Porto, Portugal (+163%)
4. Dalaman, Turkey (+160%)
5. Orlando, USA (+158%)
6. Istanbul, Turkey (+157%)
7. Sharm El Sheik, Egypt (+156%)
8. Bodrum, Turkey (+153%)
9. Burgas, Bulgaria (+152%)
10. Oslo, Norway (+143%)

Losers

The biggest falls were...

1. Prague, Czech Republic (-15%)
2. Cork, Republic of Ireland (-13%)
3. Paphos, Cyprus (-11%)
4. Geneva, Switzerland (-6.5%)
5. Palma, Spain (-6%)
6. Pisa, Italy (-5.5%)
7. Nice, France (-5%)
8. Bordeaux, France (-4.5%)
9. Menorca, Spain (-4%)
10. Venice, Italy (-3%)

Skyscanner co-founder, Barry Smith, said: "Turkey is clearly benefiting from this enormously with three destinations in the top 10 climbers list. It's already an established tourist destination, and has the sun, sea and sand that Greece and Spain offer, with the added buzzword of being non-euro".

A team of security guards on board the cruise ship, MSC Melody, fought off a pirate attack on Saturday evening a few hundred miles north of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.

The MSC Cruises ship, which was carrying almost 1,000 passengers took evasive manoeuvres to keep the pirate launch at bay, but when the pirates opened fire with automatic weapons and attempted to board the cruise liner her security team turned firehoses on them and fired warning shots into the air using handguns from the ship's safe, causing the pirates to withdraw.

No casualties are reported but the ship sustained minor damage from small arms fire.

Boeing has just delivered its 6,000th B737, to Norwegian Air Shuttle.

The 'Ford Escort' of the skies was designed as a short/medium-haul workhorse. It first entered service with Lufthansa in 1968 carrying 118 passengers for distances up to 1860 nautical miles. The latest b737-900 series can carry up to 215 passengers for 2,700 nm.

Newcastle-based Freedom Direct Holidays Ltd has ceased trading (as of 16 April 2009).

The company, which has been trading for 12 years, operated a number of online brands as a full member of ABTA (F5038), and ATOL (9740)...

Freedomdirect.co.uk
Freedom-direct.co.uk
Snowdeals.co.uk
Holidaysyoulike.co.uk

Tensions may have eased in the Thai capitol, Bangkok, but UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) Travel Advice to British travellers is still to avoid travelling to Bangkok unless necessary.

"We advise against all but essential travel to Bangkok. British nationals should also review travel plans to other parts of Thailand."

Although "Transit through Bangkok airport has so far been unaffected" and "Foreigners have not been targeted by the protestors and there are no reports of British citizens being caught up directly in the violence" officials are still wary about travel to resorts in the north of Thailand. The FCO reports that "Red-shirt leaders have threatened major protests in 50 cities throughout Thailand in the next few days".

UPDATE (16/04/09): FCO advice has now been revised following the end of the violent polital protests in the city. The FCO is no longer advising against travel to Bangkok.

The specialist cruise line, Hebridean International Cruises, has been forced to call in the administrators.

The cruise line, which operated luxury small ship cruises around the Scottish Islands, sold one of its two ships a week ago, and called in Ernst & Young LLP the day after the sale of Hebridean Spirit was completed.

The cruise line still has bookings for their remaining ship, Hebridean Princess, and the administrators are continuing to operate its sailing schedule as planned, while seeling to sell the cruise line as a going concern.

The Companies will continue to take booking enquiries.

Ski Republic, who operate 27 ski equipment rental shops in the Alps, say they have received a huge increase in the numbers of enquiries to rent or buy ski helmets since the untimely death of Natasha Richardson on 18th March. The company, who include free helmet rental with their ski equipment packages, say the actress’s unfortunate accident has massively raised awareness of the importance of head protection for skiers and snowboarders.

Mark Warnes, sales & marketing director for Ski Republic, says "Because the British may only ski for a few days each year, we’re way behind the Europeans in our awareness of the importance of head protection. We find a far higher percentage of European skiers wearing helmets while the Brits often forgo them in favour of woolly hats. Helmets are essential in any sport where there is a possibility that the head may come into contact with a solid object".

Around 30% of skiers wear helmets, according to Betony Garner, a spokesperson for the Ski Club of Great Britain, a number that has grown significantly in the last five years.

Costa Cruises's latest ships Costa Luminosa and Costa Pacifica have successfully completed their official sea trials. They will go into service in April & May respectively and will enjoy a double christening ceremony on 5 June.

Costa Luminosa will carry 2,828 guests and will feature a number of facilities including a 4D cinema with multi-sensorial effects; a golf simulator with 37 virtual courses; a Playstation zone, a jogging and roller skating track; and Samsara Spa wellness centre. During the summer season of 2009, she will offer cruises in North Europe to the Norwegian fjords and the Baltic capitals. In the autumn, she will offer 11-day cruises to the Canary Islands, while in winter 2009-2010 she will be deployed in Dubai for seven day cruises to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain.

Costa's current fleet expansion plan will add five new ships (including Costa Luminosa & Costa Pacifica) to be delivered by 2012. The next ship, Costa Deliziosa, the sister ship of Costa Luminosa, will be delivered at the end of January 2010.

Dive holiday specialist, Regaldive is offering a Deposit Back Redundancy Guarantee on its holidays.

Any clients who book a holiday to the Red Sea at least eight weeks prior to departure (May - October 2009), are entitled to a deposit refund for themselves and their family members if they have been made redundant before the full payment is due (60 days before departure).

Regaldive offers diving holidays in The Red Sea, The Maldives, Oman, Thailand, South Africa and Bonaire.

Deposits are £100 per person for tours travelling to the Red Sea (£150 per person for Fastrack courses). £200 per person travelling Worldwide (£500 per person for Worldwide liveaboards).

Norwegian Cruise Lines have unveiled their latest, largest, and possibly ugliest, cruise ship to date.

The 153,000-gross ton Norwegian Epic, currently under construction at St Nazaire in France, will carry an astonishing 4,200 passengers when it is completed in May next year.

The 19-deck ship, which is designed to maximise the ratio of cabins with balconies, will feature some innovative cabin space with curved walls - very usual in the normally modular box-shaped design of cruise ships.

Cruises are scheduled to go on sale this spring.

Spanish low fare carriers clickair and Vueling have begun cross-selling seats online on all their domestic and international flights in what is the first step toward a joint marketing initiative of the two merging airlines.

The cross-selling agreement gives customers of both airlines access to more than 10 million seats on a combined 89 routes and 45 destinations. Clickair’s bases in Barcelona, Bilbao, Malaga, Seville and Valencia will be complemented by Vueling’s. The new arrangement will also allow clickair passengers to access the latter’s routes originating from Madrid. The combined timetables went live last Friday.

Bmi is closing its regional flights from Leeds/Bradford and Durham Tees Valley to Heathrow when the summer schedule starts at the end of March.

The airline blames the cuts on increasing costs at Heathrow and low demand.

John Parkin, Chief Executive of Leeds Bradford International Airport said: "This announcement by bmi mainline is of course disappointing news. We are well aware of the importance to our region of regular air links to London and we expect to be in a position to announce new services to the capital shortly."

Hugh Lang, Group Airports Director of the Durham Tees Valley operator, said: "It’s a reflection of the major problems facing many airlines but he says there is still a substantial demand, and need, for links between regions such as the North of England and London and the wider international air network."

China Daily reports a major fire last night at the 241-room Manderin Oriental hotel in Beijing's central business district. Police fear the tower could collapse.

The fire began mid-evening as people all over the capital were letting off fireworks in celebration of the Lantern Festival. Early reports indicate the fire may have been started by sparks from fireworks.

No workers appear to have been injured, but the Mandarin Oriental website confirms that one firefighter died and several others were injured trying to bring the blaze, which engulfed the building, under control.

The luxury hotel was due to open later this year.

The all-new Lily Beach Resort & Spa opens in the Maldives on 1st April 09.

The premium-class all-inclusive resort is located on Huvahendhoo island on the south east of Ari Atoll, around 25 mins flying time from Mahe. It has 119 luxury suites in beachfront locations, on the water's edge, and out over the lagoon.

Brittany Ferries’ (0871 244 1400) new cruise-ferry, Armorique commences service between Plymouth and Roscoff on Tuesday (10 Feb).

The £100 million ship will offer up to 1,500 passengers a choice of bars, boutiques, lounges and restaurants as well as two cinemas and dedicated areas for teenagers and children. 248 en suite cabins are available, with a total of 788 beds.

Armorique was designed specifically for the Plymouth - Roscoff route, and substantially increases capacity on the route for both freight and holidaymakers, with garage space for 60 articulated lorries and up to 500 cars.

SWISS says it will be gradually introducing a new First Class cabin from this spring onwards in parallel with its fleet renewal programme.

The centrepiece of the new cabin their new SWISS First Seat, which can be reclined into a totally lie-flat bed over two metres long. It comes with a down-filled duvet, and a pneumatic air cushion whose softness can be adjusted. Further extras include a 23-inch (currently the world’s biggest) inflight entertainment screen and a guest seat, complete with backrest and armrests, that enables the First Class customer to dine or work with a fellow traveller.

Beyond (0844 499 5151) will offer private first class and luxury tailor made journeys worldwide. It's the brainchild of Mark Robson, who has been specialising in longhaul travel with leading longhaul operators for 16 years.

"My ultimate ambition has been to run my own travel company and staff it with knowledgeable, enthusiastic experts who together restore the personal touch to luxury travel", he says.

"We offer authenticity and amazement, rather than the obvious tourist trails, with hand picked hotels of exceptional quality instead of mass market accommodation, the best local guides who bring a destination to life and imaginative journeys."

The company is launching with a collection of unique itinerary suggestions, from voyages through the mystical rock hewn churches of Lalibela combined with a Tanzanian safari, to opulent journeys through South East Asia from Angkor to Penang, or fly & flop breaks at the finest beach hideaways.

British Airways' inaugural flight to the Caribbean island of St Kitts was greeted by the Prime Minister as it touched down at Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport on Saturday (10 Jan) from Gatwick via Antigua.

Prime Minister the Hon. Denzil L. Douglas, who is also the Minister of Tourism, said:"By this historic and momentous occasion, our Federation is signalling to our tourism industry partners and the rest of the world, our serious commitment and our willingness to redefine ourselves as a tourist destination and to find the most profound ways to build and expand this very vital sector of our economy."

BA are now the only carrier to offer a weekly scheduled service from the UK to St. Kitts. It departs Gatwick at 10.30 a.m., arriving at RLB International at 16.45. The return flight leaves St. Kitts at 18.45, arriving at London (Gatwick) at 07.50 the next day.

Sister airline, bmibaby will continue to operate the daily flight from Birmingham to Aberdeen until 27 March 2009. bmi says the new schedule will give business and leisure travellers maximum flexibility and choice with a number of day return options.

The new ESTA requirements for pre-authorising travellers to the USA come into force on Monday 12 January.

Under the new Homeland Security rules, all UK passport holders travelling to the States on the Visa Waiver Program (WVP) have to register online and be pre-cleared to travel.

Applying for Esta approval is free and can be carried out on the scheme's dedicated website or via travel providers (ask your airline or travel agent). Travellers should apply well in advance to avoid delays, but once awarded, travel authorisation is valid for two years.

A new interactive travel website has launched, aiming to bring together a wide range of authentic and local tour operators from around the world with independent travellers that are looking for ‘off the beaten track’ travel experiences.

www.Tourdust.com was launched quietly in beta mode last month and announced today. Users can navigate around the website by selecting the region they wish to travel (Africa, Asia, Europe, South Pacific) or the activities they are interested in such as wildlife, culture, food, cycling or snorkelling. Nothing un-usual there, but the selection/search results also display tangential activities and locations. Experienced providers are encouraged to link up with each other to offer complimentary products to interested travellers. The site also encourages travellers to post their own local finds, review products on the site and add their own photos.

PeoplesTravel says it will revolutionise the high street travel agency when it opens its new flagship travel 'venue' in London next month.

The 2,000 sq feet open-plan venue at 56 Baker Street will not have walls of brochure racks, cluttered windows and impersonal desk structures. Instead, the emphasis is on people, with comfortable discussion nooks and interactive touch-screens. The white walls will act as large-scale movie screens featuring images from a wide range of destinations.

The agency aims to cover a wide range of destinations and activities with sales staff coming from a wide range of backgrounds with expertise in everything from cruising through to honeymoon and gay and lesbian travel.

Sophia Loren christened MSC Cruises' latest and largest ship MSC Fantasia yesterday.

The ship, which will carry 3,959 passengers and 1,325 crew, is being promoted as 'the most beautiful ship in the world' by the Italian cruise line. 80% of MSC Fantasia's cabins have balconies or windows and she is the first in the MSC fleet to feature an exclusive Yacht Club area with 99 upgraded suites and butler service.

Like London buses, snow these day seems to either arrive in desultory sporadic sprinklings, or en masse.

After years of anxious concerns about too little snow in the Alps, this year resorts have been rejoicing in the early arrival a bumper crop of the white stuff. The trouble is, it keeps coming and now the problem is too much snow.

Snowstorms over last weekend brought chaos to the Alps with avalanche warnings closing roads, lifts and pistes at resorts in France, Italy and Switzerland.

Most significantly, road closures triggered by the sudden deluge of snow trapped skiers in several resorts across the Alps, including Saas Fee (3 days), Val d'Isere (24 hrs) and Alagna in Italy where upper slopes are groaning under 4.2 metres of snow.

The Pyrenees too have experienced exceptional snowfalls with resorts in France, Andorra and Spain enjoying almost 2 metres of powder snow.

The unusual weather, which, according to the Ski Club of Great Britain, has brought the heaviest December snowfall in 10 years to Europe, is not restricted to the continent. Resort operators in the Scottish Highlands are for once anticipating a busy season - although hopes could be dashed if warmer Atlantic air triggers a thaw - while in Nevada, Las Vegas casinos have had to adjust their air-conditioning now that 6 inches of snow is lying outside.

Ryanair is making a takeover bid for the Irish flag-carrier, Aer Lingus.

The low-cost airline, which already owns almost 30% of Aer Lingus, is offering to buy Aer Lingus shares for €1.40 each - half the price it offered in a similar attempt two years ago when the move was blocked by the Irish government.

This time, Ryanair's boss Michael O'Leary is hoping that prospects of stability for Aer Lingus and increased employment opportunities will soften the government's opposition in the worsening economic climate.

The Ryanair offer document proposes to "merge the two airlines into one Irish airline group. Similar to previous European airline mergers such as Air France/KLM and Lufthansa/Swiss, both airlines will operate as separate companies, with distinctive brands, thereby preserving the best features of both, including Ryanair’s low fare, high punctuality operations, and Aer Lingus’ special brand, service culture as well as its long haul operations".

Speedferries, the single ship ferry company operating high-speed crossings between Dover - Boulogne has finally been closed down by its administrators who had been trying since 12 Nov to find a buyer for the business has not been found.

Travelmole.com reports that longstanding online events website, Whatsonwhen.com is changing its name. The site was bought two years ago by Frommers and is to become Frommers Unlimited.

While some travellers will be familiar with the Whatsonwhen website, the company's main business is providing "white label" content about worldwide events to websites such as British Airways.com, Lastminute.com, Hilton International and Eurostar.

Speedferries, the cross channel ferry company offering high-speed crossings between Dover - Boulogne whose single ship was arrested in Boulogne two weeks ago for no-payment of port fees, has gone into administration.

However the Administrators say they are hopeful that the business can be sold as a going concern, and for the moment, although sailings are still suspended, the directors and existing management structure will remain in place and be involved in the day-to-day operations.

Manchester Airport has lost more long-haul services. In the wake of British Airways' decision to drop transatlantic services, bmi has now announced the withdrawal of its long-haul routes from Manchester.

bmi's daily Chicago service will end on 14 January. Their Las Vegas service and Caribbean services (Antigua & Barbados) will end in April.

The airport is trying to put a brave face on the route downgrades, pointing out that bmi' routes are already served by other airlines at the airport so passengers wanting to travel to those are still able to do so with the exception of Antigua which is a once-a-week additional leg from Barbados. Even with the removal of these services, Manchester Airport still serves 52 long-haul destinations and 218 destinations worldwide.

They also point to the arrival of a new airline, Air Sylhet, at Manchester Airport, operating services to Dubai and an additional four new destinations in India through Brussels Airlines.

The German-owned discount supermarket chain, Aldi have announced that they are launching a new website, Aldi Travel, on 8 January 2009, offering holiday accommodation, flights and transfers to popular destinations worldwide including The Algarve, The Balearics and the Aegean Coast for beach holidays; Rome, Vienna, geneva & Paris for city breaks; and Chamonix, Val d'Isere & Courcheval for ski holidays.

Aldi Travel will also feature cruise deals, long haul destinations and 'lakes & mountains' holidays. Special deals will be promoted on a fortnightly basis in their shops.

Ocean Village cruise line whose strapline is "cruises for people who don't do cruises" is being closed down over the next two years by its parent, Carnival Corp.

One of Ocean Village's two ships will be transfered to P&O at the end of the 2009 season leaving the other to operate the brand's 09/10 Caribbean cruise programme and farewell summer 2010 programme in Europe.

Carnival UK CEO David Dingle explained that it disappointing to close Ocean Village but that the company had identified major growth potential in the Australian market and the opportunity to maximise profits from redeploying its assets.

Britain's second largest airline, BMI (formerly British Midland), is to become part of Lufthansa following an agreement with BMI's chairman Sir Maurice Bishop to buy his 51% shareholding. Lufthansa already has a 30% stake in the UK airline, and is expected to make a bid for the remaining 20% owned by SAS Airlines.

In the short term, the consolidation will almost certainly mean changes to some routes and frequencies, especially those on which BMI and Lufthansa were competing, but most analysts consider the deal to be a good fit for both airlines and unlikely to trigger sweeping changes.

Danish budget airline, Sterling Airlines A/S, has today filed for bankruptcy leaving passengers stranded at 40 airports in the UK, Scandinavia and Europe.

In common with other airlines, Sterling has been struggling with high fuel costs in recent months, but the economic downturn appeared to be the final straw when its Icelandic owner Palmi Haraldsson, revealed he was unable to continue supporting the airline. He had already pumped US$74m into the company since July.

A message on the website confirms that customers who have purchased tickets online would not be refunded, nor would return flights be honoured.

SAS airlines has stepped in to offer Sterling passengers free flights back to Denmark, and DFDS Seaways will offer free travel onboard the m.s. DANA SIRENA to Esbjerg.

The Secretary of State for Transport, Geoff Hoon, has given the go-ahead to expansion plans for Stansted Airport.

His ruling overturns the decision by Uttlesford District Council in November 2006, to restrict growth at London's third airport and opens the way for an increase in the number of flights to and from the airport in a year from 241,000 to 264,000 air traffic movements and an increase in the maximum number of passengers using the airport from 25 million to 35 million per annum.

The government has yet to decide on plans to build another runway at Stansted. Aviation Minister Jim Fitzpatrick said: "There is an urgent need for additional runway capacity in the South East. We were clear in the Aviation White Paper that the first priority was to make best use of the existing runways, including using the remaining capacity at Stansted."

A new specialist ski holiday operator is launching this month at the Metro Ski & Snowboard Show (22-26 Oct).

Enchanted Holidays (020 8538 3927) will be offering up-market tailormade ski & snowboard holidays in the Italian ski resort of Madonna di Campiglio, based on a wide selection of mostly 4-star hotels.

Dominic Cocozza, the company's founder, says that Enchanted Holidays will also offer a two-centre 'lakes & mountains' programme in the summer which is likely to combine a stay at Madonna di Campiglio with a hotel break in a choice of locations around Lake Garda. Details for the summer programme have yet to be finalised.

There is a launch promotion. Discounted rates are being offered as a one off deal at the BioHotel Hermitage. This offer is available as a 'white week' from 11th to 18th January 2009. The offer is limited by the availability of accommodation and on a first come first served basis.

LD Lines has received full approval from the Port of Dover for the introduction of its new Dover - Boulogne freight and passenger service in 2009.

Scheduled to start from 1st July 2009, the new service will operate four return sailings daily with a crossing time of one hour 45 minutes, and will make use of Boulogne’s new Ro Ro terminal.

LD Lines will use Norman Spirit, which currently operates their Portsmouth – Le Havre service. The ship has capacity for 1850 passengers, 700 cars and 110 freight vehicles.

LD Lines' Directeur Général, Christophe Santoni, said: "We are convinced that the service will undoubtedly attract new freight and tourist customers, which will benefit both Dover and Boulogne as departure and destination ports."

LD Lines has not published fares for the route yet.

Qantas is taking delivery of its first giant A380 aircraft at a ceremony tomorrow in Toulouse, after which the aircraft will depart for Sydney - although its first footfall (wheelfall?) in its new homeland will be a brief stopover in Adelaide.

Australian newspapers have been reporting that Qantas have dropped plans at the last minute for full in-flight Internet access on board the A380, and speculating that the reason may have more to do with a fear of passengers watching porn rather than the "logistical and regulatory" reasons quoted by Qantas. Instead Qantas will be offering a restricted selection of cached web pages.

Qantas' first commercial A380 flight will be from Melbourne to Los Angeles on 20 October.

The embattled airports operator BAA, which is under pressure from the Competition Commission to sell at least 3 of its 7 UK airports including 2 of its 3 London airports, has announced that it will sell Gatwick but will resist further attempts to force it to sell either Heathrow or Stansted.

Colin Matthews, BAA's chief executive, said:

"Gatwick has long been an important and valuable part of BAA and the decision to sell was not taken lightly. We believe that the airport's customers, staff and business will benefit from the earliest possible resolution of current uncertainty".

A number of other airport operators are thought to be interested by the sale, including the group that operates Manchester Airport, Fraport who operate Frankfurt Airport, and a possible consortium of airlines led by Virgin.

The XL Leisure Group, Britain's third largest tour operator group, went into administration last night leaving an estimated 85,000 holidaymakers stranded and 200,000 with now worthless future bookings.

The group comprises XL Airways UK Limited, Excel Aviation Limited, Explorer House Limited, Aspire Holidays Limited, Freedom Flights Limited, Freedom Flights (Aviation) Limited, The Really Great Holiday Company plc, Medlife Hotels Limited, Travel City Flights Limited, and Kosmar Villa Holidays plc.

XL customers - the large majority - who booked holidays & flights through The Really Great Holiday Company (Brands: Cruise City, Excel Holidays, The Florida Skytrain, Transatlantic Vacations, Travel City Direct and Travel City International), Kosmar Holidays, Freedom Flights, or Aspire Holidays, will be covered by the Civil Aviation Authority's ATOL scheme. If they are currently on holiday, they will be able to complete their holiday and be repatriated. Customers with forward bookings will be able to reclaim the cost of their booking from the CAA using a form downloadable from their website.

Customers who booked flights only with XL will be left unprotected unless they paid by credit card, in which case they may be able to claim from their credit card company.

Xl blames the collapse on volatile fuel prices, the economic downturn, and their inability to secure extra funding.

Firefighters from both France and England are still trying to put out the fire which started yesterday in Eurotunnel halting services and causing chaos for many travellers.

Eurotunnel officials say the fire, which started in a lorry carrying toxic chemicals on a freight train, took hold 7 miles from France in the south tunnel. It will mean restricted services and delays for months as all traffic will now have to pass through the north tunnel.

Eurostar passengers have been left stranded on both sides of the Channel by the incident and the company confirms it will not be running services - normally around 25 a day - today, Friday. Passengers due to travel with the company on the weekend should check bulletins.

The tunnel last suffered a major fire 12 years ago. On that occasion it was 6 months before services returned to normal.

Approximately 2,400 holidaymakers in Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands who were travelling with Kent Escapes or Seguro Holidays - both brand names for Macclesfield-based tour operator, Seguro Travel - will be repatriated under the Civil Aviation Authority's (CAA) ATOL scheme following an announcement yesterday that the company had ceased trading.

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) estimates that there are also just over 17,000 customers with future bookings up to summer 2009. They will be able to apply to ATOL for a reimbursement. There are downloadable forms on the ATOL website.

In a short statement on the Segura website, the directors blame the recent collapse of Futura Airlines for triggering their own demise.

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office has revised its travel advice on Cuba, warning against all but essential travel.

The latest warning says "Hurricane Ike is forecast to hit south east Cuba, in the provinces of Holguin and Las Tunas, in the early hours of Monday 8 September. The storm is predicted to be a strong category 4 hurricane. Windspeeds in excess of 130mph and extensive rainfall are likely. Ike is then forecast to move north west through the island and may affect all areas including the capital, Havana, in the following 24 hours. Travellers in country should listen to local weather forecasts and media reports and follow the advice of the local authorities and tour representatives."

Ryanair's latest monthly figures show the airline is defiantly resisting any economic downturn with passengers for August up by almost one fifth (19%) on the the same month last year.

In a short statement yesterday the board of Italian airline, Alitalia, announced they have applied for bankruptcy protection.

The move is part of a much-heralded plan to break up the struggling airline, discard the least profitable bits of the business, and probably merge what's left with a small private Italian airline (Air One), to create a new airline.

Flight schedules continue as normal.

The low-cost Polish airline Centralwings, which is a subsidiary of the state-owned LOT Polish Airlines, has announced that it will begin to cease operating low-cost scheduled flights around the third week of September with the final scheduled service ending on 30 Sept.

During this period the airline, which currently flies from Gatwick to Warsaw & Krakow, and Edinburgh to Warsaw & Gdansk, will switch to charter operations.

Yesterday's sudden collapse of the Canadian low-cost transatlantic airline Zoom left up to 4,500 holiday-makers stranded on both side of the Atlantic and as many as 60,000 passengers with forward bookings.

British travellers who booked their flights as part of a package are covered under ATOL scheme and will be able to finish their holiday and fly home with no loss, but many passengers booked the flights directly and will have to make their own arrangements for getting back home, and then apply for a refund from their credit card company.

In a statment on the company website, Hugh and John Boyle, the founders of Zoom - which operated scheduled services from Gatwick to New York, Fort Lauderdale, San Diego and Bermuda, flights to Canada from Gatwick, Bristol, Cardiff, Belfast, Manchester and Glasgow - blamed the catastophic rise in fuel prices for its problems.

The Slovak Tourist Board is launching its first UK tourist office. The new office, which opens in September 2008, will distribute information about Slovakia to the British public.

Martin Horvath, Director of the Slovak Tourist Board, said: "Slovakia has excellent flying links with the UK from several of its major cities and a varied tourist offer, including historic cities, spas, activity holidays and winter sports. We’re looking forward to welcoming an increased number of British visitors to Slovakia".

Slovakia is one of the youngest European countries and a new destination for many British travellers. A new 5-star Kempinski hotel opens in the High Tatras Mountains in October 2008, the country has good road and rail links throughout central Europe, three international airports and one of its best known resorts, AquaCity, was named the world's leading green resort in the 2007 World Travel Awards. It is also good value for tourists with prices around a third of the more mainstream European destinations.