British Airways and Ryanair cancel all flights to Italy as travel lockdown extended to whole country March 10, 2020 British Airways (BA) and Ryanair have cancelled all of their flights to and from Italy today after the entire country was placed into travel lockdown as coronavirus continued to ravage its population. BA, which operates 60 routes to the country, had previously cancelled a raft of flights to the north of the country, but has [...]
Ultra’s profits soar after increase in defence spending at home and abroad March 10, 2020 Electronics group Ultra has posted a 113 per cent increase in profits due to new orders. Shares in the company have risen 10.81 per cent as a result to 2,112p. The FTSE 250 listed company released its results for year ending 2019 showing profit before tax had risen to £91m in 2019 from £42.6m in [...]
Ryanair makes further cuts to Italian flights as travel lockdown begins March 9, 2020 Ryanair has announced more cuts to its flight schedules to and from Italy today after the Italian government put the north of the country into lockdown yesterday. As of tomorrow, the budget airline is suspending all Italian domestic flights to and from Milan’s Bergamo and Malpensa airports, as well as those from Parma and Treviso, [...]
UK aviation industry rejects decision to leave EU Aviation Safety Agency March 9, 2020 The UK aviation industry has hit back at plans to leave the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) by the end of the year, saying that the move posed a risk to highly skilled jobs in the UK. The calls come after US magazine Aviation Week reported that transport secretary Grant Shapps had confirmed that [...]
Flybe’s last flight: How Europe’s biggest regional airline met its demise March 9, 2020 At 8.30pm on Wednesday evening, passengers were still being ushered onto planes bearing the indigo livery of Flybe. Half an hour later, members of the cabin crew on one of its last ever flights, from Manchester to Belfast, were crying, having just lost their jobs. “Staff in tears. This is so grim,” tweeted Holly Hamilton, [...]
Coronavirus: Foreign Office changes travel advice after lockdown in Italy March 8, 2020 The Foreign Office has changed its travel advice stating that it advises against all but essential travel to parts of the country. Following the lockdown in northern regions, the government has advised against travel to the Lombardy region, which includes the city of Milan, and other regions in lockdown. It faced backlash after advising against [...]
Budget 2020: Pilots call for air passenger duty tax suspension March 6, 2020 The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) has called on chancellor Rishi Sunak to suspend air passenger duty in next week’s budget to protect the struggling aviation industry and avoid another airline collapsing like Flybe. Global airlines have been severely damaged by the coronavirus outbreak, with international trade body IATA predicting a 24 per cent reduction [...]
Coronavirus live: Second Brit ‘dies from Covid-19’ as UK cases number 163 March 6, 2020 UK coronavirus cases have hit 163, the government confirmed today, as reports emerged of a second Brit who has died from Covid-19. London’s total number of cases has climbed to 29, up four from yesterday’s 25. England has 147 cases overall, with 13 in the north east and Yokshire, 21 in the north west. There [...]
Flybe infected by aviation sector’s malaise March 6, 2020 As ministerial tweets go, the mid-January proclamation by the business and transport secretaries that Flybe’s future had been salvaged will surely endure as among the most ill-judged of Boris Johnson’s government. Barely 54 days later, Flybe has become just another corporate carcass, joining Monarch and Thomas Cook among the airlines which failed to cope with [...]
Flybe collapse: Passengers told not to travel as 2,000 jobs at risk March 5, 2020 British airline Flybe has collapsed into administration to leave 2,000 jobs at risk after it failed in its bid to secure a £100m government loan. The budget regional carrier blamed 2020’s coronavirus outbreak for draining customer demand for flights, and warned passengers not to travel to airports. Administrator EY has taken charge of the business [...]