This week Ryanair has revealed it is to open new routes from the Esat Midlands, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Gatwick and also cut it’s flights from Manchester.

On 3rd November the flight from Edinburgh to Brussels Charleroi open and will be of particular interest to business travellers. Brussels Charleroi is situated just 46km from central Brussels and now offers a low cost business travel option between the Begian and Scottish capitals. The flights will depart from Edinburgh each Tuesday and Saturday at 1745 and on Thursdays at 1110. Returning flights will be Tuesdays and Saturdays at 2100 and Thursdays at 1425.

Flights from Edinburgh to Girona Airport, Memmingen Airport and Oslo Torp Airport will commence also. Other new destinations from Edinburgh will include Tenerife, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria in Spain and Gdansk in Poland.

Derby’s East Midland Airport will have an extra three flights to Poland plus additional direct flights to Morrocco. On 28th October flights to Lodz, Poland will start and those to Rzeszow and Bydgoszcz will commence on 3rd and 4th November. On 5th November a new flight to Marrakesh will start.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport will have extra flights to Morocco and Bremen and flights from Gatwick to Sweden will be added in November.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Qantas have reported losses of 87 per cent on their full-year profits as of the end of June this year. That equates to AUS $181 million losses reasons for which have been cited as industrial action, the economic downturn, A380 introduction costs and also the Swine Flu pandemic.

The CEO of Qantas, Alan Joyce, is quoted to have said that despite the credit crunch:

“the diversity of the Qantas Group’s operations had contributed to it being one of the few airline operators worldwide to produce a full-year profit”

He went on to say that the 2008/09 financial year was a year of two contrasting halves for the airline with the initial half being largely favourable with high demand and a good operating environment. However commenting about the latter end of the year Joyce said:

“During the second half, the environment deteriorated, with domestic and international competitor capacity continuing to grow and demand in key markets softening quickly as the global slowdown hit. This was compounded by one-off events during the year, including protracted industrial action, H1N1 influenza and the costs associated with introducing the new Qantas A380.”

The profits had slumped to AUS$181 million from the previous year’s AUS $1,408 million. Demand for both business travel and domestic flights were to blame.

Popularity: 7% [?]

This week any passengers travelling through Heathrow airport may find themselves immortalised in a book to be written about the famous airport following a collaboration between Alain de Botton, the Swiss philosopher, and BAA.

De Botton was commissioned by the airline to write about a week of life at Heathrow airport for a book using characters based on business travellers, domestic passengers and staff within the story.

De Botton is carrying out his research for the book sat at a desk in T5 and during his stay will have access to all areas of the airport. The book will be entitled A Week At The Airport: A Heathrow Diary and will be published this September when 10,000 copies will be handed out free to Heathrow passengers.

De Botton has featured travel in his work before when in 2003 The Art of Travel was published which was a look at the philosophy of travel. When commenting on his latest book de Botton said:

“I have always found airports mesmerising. If you wanted to take a Martian to a single place that best captures everything that is distinctive and particular to modern civilisation, in its highs and lows, you would undoubtedly take them to the airport. This is where you can see in action all the big themes that we otherwise know just as abstractions: the power of technology, globalisation, the environmental debate, consumerism, the frenzy of the modern workplace and the dreams of travel.”

Popularity: 5% [?]

Icelandair has launched a triangular service offering which aims to link Rejkjavik to both Glasgow and Manchester. The Glasgow route will be launched next month starting off with a twice-weekly service running on both Thursdays and Sundays. This will then increase to four times per week from 25th September 2009.

From 25th September 2009 there will be an increase in flights to Manchester and another two flights will be added to coincide with connecting flights to the airline’s North American destinations. These will include Halifax, Boston, New York JFK, Minneapolis, Toronto and Seattle.

Flights will run Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday departing from Reykjavik at 0800 and arriving at Manchester at 1135. The flight will then depart from Manchester at 1225 to arrive in Glasgow at 1330. The next flight from Glasgow will then be 1420 to arrive at Reykjavik at 1540.

Those travelling from Manchester to Reykjavik will have to travel via Glasgow but returning passengers can travel direct. The same applies to outbound business travel from Glasgow but the returning flight will be routed via Manchester.

There are also opportunities to connect to the US and Canadian destinations offered by Icelandair. These extra flight will be of great value to Manchester and Glasgow travelers although some may find the extra time on the triangular flight a drawback.

Popularity: 14% [?]

The airline’s first luxury lounge in Europe has been opened by Etihad Airways at Germany’s Frankfurt Airport. This lounge of 275 square metres can hold up to fifty passengers.

The lounge is situated in Transit Area E which is ideally located next to the gate used most often by Etihad. Business travelers on First class and business class flights have access to this facility up to three hours before they depart on their flight.

There is a wide selection of foods available at various dining facilities which will cater to most world tastes and a wooden paneled business centre caters for those who want to keep productive with workstations and telephone facilities available with free calls within the Frankfurt region.

There is also a prayer room, a plush seating area cover in luxurious Italian leather and shower amenities for passengers to use when they need to freshen up.

The chief commercial officer of the airline, Peter Baumgartner said:

“Our new facility offers a luxurious lounge area in a truly superb environment that will provide Etihad’s premium customers with a range of entertainment options if they want them, or plenty of other ways to simply sit back and enjoy some relaxation prior to boarding their flight.”

There will be another premium lounge opening at London Heathrow Airport at Terminal 4.

Popularity: 12% [?]

UK domestic and business travellers are throwing away on average £60 million worth of belongings confiscated at airport security points every year according to a report published recently. Unwitting passengers are being pulled up at check points and found carrying banned objects such as curling tongs, deodorant cans and manicure kits it was revealed.

The survey was carried out by G4S Aviation Services and also found that 110,000 of British travellers admitted to lying to security staff when asked if they had packed their own case, a criminal offence in the UK. Another 122,000 passengers had left their luggage unattended when visiting duty free shops, airport bars or going the toilet.

The managing director of G4S Aviation Services, Mr Gavin Windsor said:

“Each year we face a summer of security alerts and delays at airports as a result of irresponsible travellers leaving bags unattended and putting restricted items in their hand luggage.”

A fifth of British travellers had had items confiscated by airport security within the last five years and a tenth of passengers failed to check flying regulations before travelling. Along with sharp objects and liquids, a staggering 22,400 toy guns were confiscated last year and 17,000 poisons. For information before travelling by domestic or business flights check with your airline for regulations.

Popularity: 17% [?]

This September the airline Emirates will launch its luxurious 489 seater A380 to its Birmingham to Dubai route. This launch coincides with celebrations for the Birmingham based airport’s 70th anniversary and it will be the first time that the super jumbo has been used in a scheduled service at Midlands airport.

On 9th September First Class, Business Travel and Economy Class A380 will take over from the B777-300 aircraft on the 0805 flight from Dubai to Birmingham and the 1415 flight from Birmingham to Dubai. You can book flights for this day now at the Emirates website.

Passengers will be able to make use of the latest in flight amenities and accommodation which includes flat bed seats for business travellers.

This one-off chance to fly the A380 on 9th September is hoped to attract not only Brummies and Midland passengers but also passengers from surrounding areas such as Manchester, Bristol and northern Home Counties.

However there is a downside and the A380 is usually deployed on flights between Heathrow and Dubai. This means these popular flights will be operating using a smaller aircraft on that day.

To fly on the A380 from Birmingham that day will cost you anything from £361 on economy to £1965 on business class to £2867 on first class.

Popularity: 43% [?]

The London Heathrow to Bangalore flight by Kingfisher Airlines is set to be scrapped from September onwards it has been announced. However there are plans to start new flights from London to Delhi.

The Indian airline announced “with a view to ensuring optimal and efficient utilization of its fleet and looking at loads and yields during the period September to November 2009”, that after only twelve months in operation it had decided to suspend the Heathrow-Bangalore route commencing on 15th September 2009.

The announcement comes as Kingfisher Airlines launches its new roadmap for international domestic and business travel. There are a further two flights to be launched from Mumbai to Singapore and Mumbai to Hong Kong in September. These flights will operate using the Airbus A330-200. There will be another six international flights from Mumbai and Delhi.

The flights of most interest to UK business travellers are the planned flights from London to Delhi. The Kingfisher Airlines spokespeople have said they are awaiting confirmation from the Ministry of Civil Aviation to begin flights on this route and the launch date will be announced when all the regulations and approvals have been met. Again this flight will use the new A330-200 aircraft.

Popularity: 13% [?]

SITA a provider of air transport IT solutions has recently published a survey that highlights that above one third of airlines still fail to provide mobile services to business travellers and a mere fifth of airlines surveyed offer a mobile check-in service.

The 2009 Airline IT Trends Survey revealed that the reason for this lack of mobile services is due to thirty eight percent of airlines believing there is no business need as yet. Only fifteen percent have updated their website to include mobile services.

However there was a glimmer of hope as seventy eight per cent of airlines do have plans to update their websites so that they can be viewed on mobile phones by 2012.

SITA is working at moment with Malaysia Airlines developing a mobile web application which will provide check-in and other information to mobile phones.

The chief technology officer of SITA, Jim Peters commented that:

“The Airline IT Trends Survey shows that only 15 per cent of airlines have optimised their websites for mobile phones. Our approach in SITA Labs is to develop a common platform to maximise the use of mobile phones as a travel tool. Our prototype interface works via the mobile device’s web browser, and we ‘mobilise’ rather than simply miniaturise the airline website for the convenience of the passenger eliminating unnecessary content.”

Popularity: 7% [?]

BMI has launched a new pre-flight lounge for its business travel customers who use BMI to fly to Tel Aviv and Moscow starting this month. Customers on business flights can indulge in a three course meal in the new BMI swanky international lounge. This means business travelers can eat before they board and spend the flight sleeping or relaxing without being interrupted for meals mid flight. On board light meals or night caps from BMI’s Night Time Supper menu if they get peckish.

This follows BMI’s initiative to improve benefits and services fr their customer traveling in business class whether for pleasure or work. Last month BMI opened its international lounge at Number One Heathrow which aims to provide a quintessentially British atmosphere for passengers to relax, work, refresh and dine in.

Dining will be available in the lounge every day from 8.30pm and is a great benefit to those passengers flying to Moscow and Tel Aviv at night. Meals on the menu include hot soup prepared fresh on BMI’s AGA, macaroni cheese, a variety of salads and hot bagels with salt beef.

To round off the perfect meal choose from a selection of exclusive Mark Hix ice creams. The BMI also have their own pub, The Local, which is open to serve champagne, Pimms, rosé wine and a selections of whiskies and brandies.

Popularity: 7% [?]