British Airways boss Alex Cruz steps down amid industry’s ‘worst crisis’ October 12, 2020 Alex Cruz will step down as chief executive and chairman of British Airways with immediate effect, owner International Airlines Group said. IAG chief Luis Gallego said the management shake-up came as the firm navigated “the worst crisis faced in our industry” in his first major announcement since taking over from Willie Walsh. The pandemic has [...]
London City boss: Airport testing can be ‘shot in the arm’ for economy October 12, 2020 The boss of London City airport has urged the government’s new travel taskforce to lay out how it will implement a coronavirus testing regime. Robert Sinclair said that doing so would “deliver a much-needed shot in the arm for business air travel, boosting economic growth across every region and every sector.” “We know the demand [...]
Opinion: Why net-zero needs a gear change in STEM education October 10, 2020 National Grid have announced a major new investment in London – and now they’re looking for the right people to fill jobs in the future. Today Gareth Burden – Project Director, London Power Tunnels – tells City A.M. why they’re doing it. For this country to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 we require the development [...]
Norwegian Air set to close Gatwick short-haul base October 9, 2020 Norwegian Air has today begun proceedings to shut its short-haul base at Gatwick Airport, with 259 jobs at risk of being lost. The airline said the move would not affect its flight schedule out of the airport. The low-cost carrier employs 1,142 people at the Sussex airport, which is the UK’s second largest. Most of [...]
Tory mayoral candidate vows ‘mental health covenant’ for TfL staff October 9, 2020 Tory mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey has pledged to offer more mental health support to Transport for London (TfL) staff if elected mayor as figures show increasing levels of psychological distress among the workforce. Bailey told City A.M. that he would create a “mental health covenant” for TfL workers in a similar vein to existing programmes [...]
TfL boss that oversaw Crossrail and Garden Bridge fiascos set for an honour October 9, 2020 A controversial former TfL boss appears to be in line for an honour, after Sadiq Khan tweeted his congratulations before the tweet was hastily removed. The Queen’s birthday honours list will be be announced tonight, however it appears the mayor of London jumped the gun this morning by announcing that former TfL commissioner Mike Brown [...]
Stagecoach sees bus revenues at 60 per cent of pre-pandemic levels October 9, 2020 Bus operator Stagecoach said that revenue on its regional bus services had recovered to up to 60 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. However, due to the continued uncertainty over new coronavirus restrictions in the UK, it said that its full year outlook was unchanged from June. The announcement sent shares down four per cent in [...]
Time running out for TfL to secure emergency government funding October 9, 2020 Time is running out for Transport for London (TfL) to secure emergency central government funding, with cash from its last bailout set to dry up in nine days. TfL is in negotiations with the Department for Transport over the funding settlement, with mayor of London Sadiq Khan asking for £5.65bn over the next 18 months [...]
Railway passenger numbers fall to lowest levels since mid-1800s October 8, 2020 The number of people using the UK’s railways fell to the lowest levels in almost 200 years between April and June as the coronavirus lockdown decimated passenger demand. Just 35m journeys were made in the three month period, down more than 400m on the same quarter in 2019. According to the Office of Road and [...]
Uh-oh, spaghettio: Could Italy be next in line on UK quarantine list? October 8, 2020 Italy could be the next country to be added to the quarantine list after the number of coronavirus cases surged past the UK’s threshold for reimposing restrictions. Over the last seven days, the number of cases per 100,000 has ticked up to 31.0, according to travel consultancy the PC Agency. Transport secretary Grant Shapps has [...]