Wizz Air cancels Italian flights as airline warns demand could drop 10 per cent on coronavirus fears March 4, 2020 Budget airline Wizz Air has warned that it could cut capacity by as much as 10 per cent from next month as fears over the coronavirus impact hit passenger demand. The Hungarian carrier said that due to the impact on European air travel, it had adjusted its flight schedule to Italian destinations between 11 March [...]
Driverless car startup Five raises $41m investment from Direct Line and Airbnb backer March 4, 2020 London tech firm Five has today closed $41m in funding from a slew of new investors, including Trustbridge Partners, Direct Line and Sistema VC. The series B fundraising was supported by existing backers Lakestar, Amadeus Capital Partners, Kindred Capital and Notion Capital — which between them have backed the likes of Airbnb, Klarna, Graphcore and [...]
Decision won’t be made on future of Ellesmere Port car plant until state of EU trading relationship becomes clear March 3, 2020 A final decision on the future of Ellesmere Port’s car plant will likely not be made until the end of the year. The car industry has been one of many saying it could be adversely affected if a trade deal is not struck. PSA, which is currently merging with Italy’s Fiat Chrysler, makes its Vauxhall [...]
McLaren confident despite coronavirus sales hit in China March 3, 2020 McLaren boss Mike Flewitt has told City A.M. that the supercar manufacturer “probably won’t achieve [its] yearly goal for sales in China” due to the coronavirus impact. However, despite the knock-on effect, he said that the luxury car maker would “still achieve a reasonable level of sales”. Flewitt added that he was more concerned about [...]
Crossrail 2 business case passes major Department for Transport hurdle March 3, 2020 The business case for Crossrail 2 has been given preliminary approval by the Department for Transport (DfT), bringing the project closer to a decision on its final fate. The latest business case for the new north-south Tube line was submitted to the government by Transport for London (TfL) in June last year. It includes details [...]
Aggreko results in line with last year with a good outlook going forward March 3, 2020 Shares in back-up power generator company Aggreko jumped more than seven per cent this afternoon after it said it’s on track to meet targets for 2020. Although group revenue fell eight per cent from £1.7bn in 2018 to £1.6bn in 2019, profit after tax increased from £125m to £129m for the 2019 financial year. Final [...]
RMT suspends next week’s South Western Railway strike action March 3, 2020 Rail workers union RMT has suspended strike action on South Western Railway that was due for next week to allow talks to take place this Friday. The action was due to take place between for 24 hours on 9 March from 10am and the same period on 12 March. Guards and drivers on the service [...]
Chris Packham to challenge HS2 decision on climate change grounds March 3, 2020 Renowned broadcaster and naturalist Chris Packham has launched a legal challenge against Boris Johnson’s decision to green light the controversial HS2 rail project on climate grounds. According to Packham, the climate impact of HS2 is “incompatible” with the UK’s net zero target, and will damage or destroy almost 700 wildlife sites, including over 100 ancient [...]
TfL rolls out new trains on the London Overground March 3, 2020 A raft of new trains will be rolled out on the London Overground from today. Transport for London (TfL) announced today that the new electric trains will increase capacity by 10 per cent and replace the oldest rolling stock on the network. The new trains are on overground routes from Cheshunt, Chingford and Enfield Town [...]
Airline bosses say worst is yet to come as more flights cancelled on coronavirus fears March 3, 2020 Airline bosses have warned that the worst is yet to come for the industry after coronavirus fears saw passenger demand slump, with carriers cutting flights to locations round the world. Speaking at an industry conference in Brussels, outgoing IAG boss Willie Walsh said that there had been “a very significant fall-off in demand” in Italian [...]