Thomson and First Choice, both part of TUI Travel, have been forced to delay expansion plans for flights and holidays to long haul destinations due to the delayed delivery of the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft it has on firm order.
TUI Travel have 23 of the new Boeing aircraft on firm order and Boeing have pushed the entire delivery schedule back. The introduction of new long haul destinations for both Thomson and First Choice is now no longer possible.
The delay in the delivery of the 787 aircraft is quite significant. First Choice Airways (which became part of the TUI group in 2007) was due to receive the first of the 23 787 Dreamliner aircraft in February 2009. This date has been put back to at least March 2011.
First Choice and Thomson are both now taking bookings for long haul holidays departing in 2010. These holidays can be secured with a deposit of just £100 and include destinations such as Sri Lanka, Cuba and the Maldives.
First Choice boasts some of the best long haul cabins in the UK, with economy customers receiving a generous 33” seat pitch, leather seats and a free pampering pack.
On-line travel agent Opodo currently have some great deals available to destinations in Latin America with Iberia Airlines.
You could jet off with Iberia to the Caribbean island of Cuba with a return flight from Heathrow to Havana from just £382 or perhaps grab a cheap flight to Rio De Janeiro from just £496, again from Heathrow.
All flights to Latin America from Heathrow with Iberia operate via Madrid.
Iberia is Spain’s largest airline and has one of the most modern fleets in Europe. Offering offer flights to over 175 destinations in 70 countries around the world Iberia is also a member of the oneworld alliance which is a partnership and code sharing scheme between seven of the major world airlines. This opens up over 576 global destinations to passengers with the possibility of carrying out a single check-in for journeys which involve flying with several airlines within the alliance.
Visit www.opodo.co.uk
Manchester Airport now offers passengers the chance to jet off the sun on a cheap flight with a number of budget airlines.
BMI have launched new routes, which are now fully operational from Manchester Airport to Amsterdam, Toulouse and Lisbon.
EasyJet are soon to provide cheap flights on new routes to the popular holiday hotspots of Corfu, Athens, Dalaman and Bastia, and these routes will be operational from 22nd May ’09.
Ryanair expanded its flight network from Manchester with the introduction of new routes to Frankfurt Hahn, Brussels, Düsseldorf and Calgary – all of which should delight the business traveller.
For those looking to travel further afield Virgin Atlantic has increased its flight frequency from Manchester to Barbados and Orlando. The once weekly flight with Virgin Atlantic to Barbados now operates two times per week.
The current economic climate is forcing all airlines to closely examine their existing business plans and growth strategies. Air Jamaica has unveiled their new business plan for 2009, and in order for them to weather the current economical storm they plan to withdraw from loss making routes and improve aircraft utilisation by more than 25% by the end of the year.
The route reduction will affect people looking for flights to the Caribbean and the US as services to Atlanta, Los Angeles, Grand Cayman, Miami, Barbados and Grenada have all been withdrawn. The withdrawal means the fleet of Air Jamaica aircraft has been reduced to 9.
Passengers in the North of England who travel to America are set to see their journey times increase as BMI have announced that all its long haul flights to the USA and the Caribbean will be terminated in the first half of 2009.
The Airbus A330 aircraft, which operated these routes, will be moved to London.
The first route to be terminated is the Manchester – Chicago flight. This will end on 14th January 2009. Other flights to Las Vegas and the Caribbean will be terminated from April onwards.
According to BMI the routes “have never performed to the revenue levels expected”.
The arrival of the BMI A330 aircraft will allow the airline to upgrade its Heathrow – Riyadh service to 6 per week from January 15th. Three of these flights will then continue to Jeddah and three will continue to Dammam.
The other aircraft transfers will be used from Spring 09 on the Heathrow – Amman and Heathrow – Cairo routes.
