Business Traveller magazine: November 2006 stories

[QF WP]

New Heathrow lounge and Latin American route for Emirates
Emirates has spent £19.5 million on its first dedicated lounge at London Heathrow.
Full report

Finnair launches Helsinki to Delhi route
Finnair began its three-times weekly flights from Helsinki to Delhi this week, with plans to increase this to five times a week by the summer of 2007.
Full report

Air Berlin to serve Moscow and St Petersburg
Until recently Russia was considered a niche destination and not one likely to feature in any budget airline's schedule, thanks to visa restrictions and so on.
Full report

New Hilton property set to open in Venice
Venice is set to gain its largest hotel to date when the Hilton Molino Stucky opens in June next year. Full report

BA Connect faces competition from Easyjet on Bristol-Paris CDG
As we predicted earlier this year (see Online news, April 6) Easyjet has decided to compete with former incumbent BA Connect on the Bristol-Paris route.
Full report

Blue 1 goes one-class on London-Helsinki
Finnish-based airline Blue 1 has scrapped business class from its daily London Stansted to Helsinki service in favour of an all-economy configuration.
Full report

Liquid ban lifted at UK airports
The strict UK airport security measures will be partially relaxed from next Monday.
Full report

 

[QF WP]

9 November 2006 stories


Should British Airways rename itself London Airways ?
By next spring BA's network will be cut back to a London-centric operation with any remaining regional services reduced to Heathrow and Gatwick feeder services
Full story...

Emirates set to offer in-flight mobile phone service
Emirates looks set to become the first airline to offer in-flight mobile phone calls for passengers from early next year
Full story...

Austrian to serve Iraq from December 11
Austrian Airlines is expected to be the first international scheduled airline to serve Iraq since the US-led invasion
Full story...

T-Mobile to provide wifi on Heathrow Express
Passengers on the Heathrow Express will soon have access to wifi internet services through T-Mobile
Full story...

Oasis Hong Kong flight times extended by longer routing
Budget airline Oasis has retimed one of its London to Hong Kong services because its flights are taking a more circuitous routing
Full story...

New Concorde hotel for Paris and a luxury brand for Starwood Capital Group
Concorde Hotels and Resorts has added a seventh property to its Paris portfolio with the opening of the Hotel Concorde Montparnasse
Full story...

End of year FFP bonuses
British Airways and Emirates are currently providing frequent flyer bonuses
Full story...

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Re: 9 November 2006 stories

Austrian to serve Iraq from December 11
Austrian Airlines is expected to be the first international scheduled airline to serve Iraq since the US-led invasion
Full story...

I thought VIE-EBL flights started months ago? Its been in my routing data for a long time, and I recall looking into fares and awards last year.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Re: 9 November 2006 stories

I thought VIE-EBL flights started months ago? Its been in my routing data for a long time, and I recall looking into fares and awards last year.

Found the thread on FT

 

[QF WP]

17 November 2006 stories

BA launches new Club World product
Look upon British Airways' £100 million upgrade of Club World as an evolution rather than a revolution
Full story...

Winners and losers when Eurostar moves to St Pancras
Eurostar has announced it will move its cross-Channel rail services from London Waterloo to St Pancras on November 14 next year
Full story...

Apple to offer iPod integration on aircraft
Apple has announced plans to offer integration between iPods and the in-flight entertainment systems of several major airlines from next year
Full story...

CSA quits Edinburgh
As forecast in Business Traveller CSA will soon discontinue another UK route
Full story...

Jet Airways to offer chauffeur-driven cars
Business class passengers flying Jet Airways from the UK now qualify for a complimentary chauffeur-driven car to and from Heathrow
Full story...

Austrian brings back free economy class food from today
Austrian Airlines has reversed a decision taken a couple of years ago to charge short-haul economy class passengers for in-flight food and drink
Full story...

 

[browski]

New Heathrow lounge and Latin American route for Emirates
Emirates has spent £19.5 million on its first dedicated lounge at London Heathrow.
Full report

So jealous that Dubai and Doha can get direct flights to South America, but we cannot get any from Oz.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

So jealous that Dubai and Doha can get direct flights to South America, but we cannot get any from Oz.

What about LAN (LA) SYD-AKL-SCL?
And Aerolineas Argentinas (AR) SYD-AKL-EZE?

Those are both direct flights, albeit not non-stop (there is a difference between direct and non-stop) with a transit in AKL.

 

[clifford]

So jealous that Dubai and Doha can get direct flights to South America, but we cannot get any from Oz.

But why are you jealous?

 

[QF WP]

24 November 2006 stories

Grand Central launch delayed
New train firm Grand Central has had to postpone the launch date of its service linking London with the northeast
Full story...

Gatwick's North Terminal short-stay car park now closed until March
Passengers intending to use the short-term car park at London Gatwick's North Terminal must bear in mind that it is now closed for refurbishment until late March 2007
Full story...

Birmingham Airport goes wifi
Birmingham International Airport has become the latest airport with wifi access
Full story...

Swings and roundabouts at Gatwick
Next summer British Airways will drop four routes from Gatwick in favour of two new services
Full story...

Lufthansa extends Frankfurt connection times
UK passengers changing planes in Frankfurt with Lufthansa must allow more time to make the connection
Full story...

Iberia to serve the Rock
Iberia will make history on December 16 when it launches a daily service linking Spain with Gibraltar
Full story...

 

[browski]

What about LAN (LA) SYD-AKL-SCL?
And Aerolineas Argentinas (AR) SYD-AKL-EZE?

Those are both direct flights, albeit not non-stop (there is a difference between direct and non-stop) with a transit in AKL.

Hi KF

Yeah I'm aware of the diff, I've flown the LAN Chile route a couple of times.

I was just surprised that Qatar Airways felt confident enough to have sufficients loads for that route; but from Oz (Qantas) there is not enough demand for even 1 non-stop flight (even weekly) to anywhere in South America.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Difference is that QR and EK both aggressively expanding, QF is much more conservative.