Eurostar may need state support as passenger numbers collapse October 11, 2020 The government may need to put its hands in its pockets to prop up the cross-Channel Eurostar service, the boss of the HS1 line has warned. Dyan Crowther, who runs the rail link between London and the Channel Tunnel, said that the operator had slashed the number of services it was running due to the [...]
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 [...]
Agriculture bill returns to Commons for crunch food standards vote October 9, 2020 The controversial agriculture bill returns to the House of Commons on Monday for a key vote on the future of the UK’s food standards. It goes back to the lower chamber after being amended in the House of Lords to include the requirement that any food products imported under future trade deals meet UK standards. [...]
Gold miner Petropavlovsk slashes production forecasts October 9, 2020 Petropavlovsk drastically slashed its production forecasts this morning in its first market update since the summer’s bloody boardroom struggle. In a trading update, the Russia-focused gold miner said that production volumes would now come in between 560,000 to 600,000 ounces, down from previous estimates of up to 720,000 ounces. The FTSE 250 firm said the [...]
Marston’s and Carlsberg get green light for £780m brewing JV October 9, 2020 Brewers Marston’s and Carlsberg have been given the go-ahead to complete a £780m joint venture after a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation. Shares in London-listed Marston’s rose 16.7 per cent as markets cheered the decision. The UK’s competition watchdog said that as the two firms had different areas of focus, competition between the two [...]
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 [...]
Coronavirus recovery stalls as UK economy grows just 2.1 per cent in August October 9, 2020 The UK economy grew at just 2.1 per cent in August as the country’s economic recovery showed signs of stalling. Although the figure marked the fourth straight month of growth, it was considerably lower than had been expected. As a result, GDP remains 9.2 per cent lower than it was before the pandemic struck in [...]
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 [...]
Stelios slams Easyjet ‘scoundrels’ over Airbus plane deal October 8, 2020 Easyjet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has relaunched his crusade against the airline’s board on the back of today’s warning that the carrier might record its first ever annual loss. Back in May, shareholders voted down a set of proposals from the Greek-Cypriot businessman that would have ousted the airline’s management. The spat emerged over Easyjet’s [...]