Londoner rushed to St Thomas hospital and put in isolation after catching extremely rare Monkeypox virus May 9, 2022 UKHSA has confirmed to City A.M. that a Londoner has been diagnosed with monkeypox. “The patient has a recent travel history from Nigeria, which is where they are believed to have contracted the infection, before travelling to the UK,” the agency wrote in an email. “The patient is receiving care at the expert infectious disease [...]
British Airways owner IAG predicts bounce back to profitability on return of global travel May 6, 2022 British Airways owner International Airlines Group (IAG) today said it believes the easing of global restrictions and the return of global travel will see it bounce back to profitability. The firm – formed through the merger of Iberia and British Airways in 2011 – said its Q1 2022 passenger numbers were 65 per cent those [...]
Brits opt for last-minute holidays following post-Covid uncertainty May 2, 2022 Brits are booking their holidays later to avoid travel disruption, according to a report published yesterday. Data from Advantage, the UK’s largest consortium of travel agents, showed that 40 per cent of bookings are for the next 12 weeks, with reservations for May half-term holidays down by 5 per cent on 2019 levels. Before Covid, [...]
Passport delays could cost £1.1bn in cancelled summer trips May 2, 2022 Delays in the processing of UK passports could cost £1.1bn in cancelled summer trips, according to a research published today. Data from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) has forecast a 50 per cent probability of timely renewals, with around one million holiday goers facing cancellations. “Assuming that passport holders are somewhat more [...]
French firm handling passport application phone lines is called in by UK government over backlog chaos April 28, 2022 The head of a French firm tasked with handling help lines for passport applications has been called in by the UK government over its handling of the backlog chaos. Teleperformance is being urged to answer questions about lengthy delays on the phones and a failure to process applications, after millions of Brits were left in [...]
CAA urges travellers to use £85m of unspent vouchers before they expire April 26, 2022 The Civil Avation Authority (CAA) has urged travellers to use £85m of unspent vouchers before they expire at the end of September. Given by travel firms as refund during the pandemic, the vouchers were issued between March 2020 and December 2021 and are under the Atol scheme, which protects customers if their travel company goes [...]
Portugal scraps EU’s strict Brexit rules and rolls out red immigration carpet for Brits with Spain and Italy likely to follow soon April 25, 2022 Portugal has confirmed it plans to ignore EU rules that require British nationals to be treated as third country citizens at border checks and immigration points. The southern European nation will become the first EU member state to allow UK passport holders to be fast-tracked through electronic passport gates, thereby receiving the same treatment as [...]
Global travel and tourism to create 126m jobs by 2032 April 21, 2022 The global travel and tourism industry is set to create 126 million jobs within the next decade, according to a report published today. Data from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has reported the sector’s GDP will grow at an average rate of 5.8 per cent annually between 2022 and 2032 – 3.1 per [...]
Report warns Covid travel rules imposed without ‘overall assessment’ April 21, 2022 Covid-induced restrictions on international travel were imposed in England without an “overall assessment” of their impact, according to a report released today. The National Audit Office (NAO) said there was no system put in place by the government to measure the success of self-isolation, passenger control forms and the quarantine hotels. The watchdog also reported [...]
Aviation industry left in disarray after US judge overthrows Biden’s mask mandate on planes and trains April 19, 2022 The US aviation industry was left in disarray after a US federal judge overthrew President Biden’s mask mandate on public transportation, creating confusion among passengers and operators. The ruling, which was made yesterday by Florida judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, gives public transport operators the power to keep masks on or scrap them entirely forcing travellers [...]