In a recent announcement, British Airways has announced that it would resume its flight services between Heathrow and Saudi Arabia with effect from 29th March next year.

Following the start of the service, the carrier will offer five flights a week from Terminal 5 to Saudi Arabian cities including Jeddah and Riyadh. The airline has stated that the tickets are already put on sale from Wednesday, 26th November.

While stating the rationale behind reinstating the route once again, a statement published on the BA website observed, "We are able to restart flights because the aviation market between the UK and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has recently been liberalised.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has said that families and individual passengers looking to carry liquid medicines onboard could now benefit from a new security lane at airports this holiday season.

The new lanes are part of the TSA Diamond Self-Select program that has been launched at about 48 airports across the U.S., which enables families and individual passengers who are not familiar with security procedures, and those passengers who have exclusive needs to move through security at a more leisurely pace.

TSA administrator, Kip Hawley said, "Passengers have clearly demonstrated their preference to go at their own pace. Expanding these lanes to all other airports and directing families and passengers with medically necessary liquids to them increases passenger convenience and security.

Two trend-setting pieces of legislation expected to significantly cut down green house emissions have been enacted into UK law.

Friends of the Earth took the initiative to urge the government to enact a climate change law, which will direct the UK to bring down its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050.   It is said that the new legislation is the first law of its kind reported anywhere in the world. Analysts state that this would take Britain to the forefront of the global efforts to combat climate change.

Along with Friends of the Earth, the environmental campaign group also joined the campaign, in addition to the Renewable Energy Association, urging the government to feature the Energy Bill to give room for a feed-in tariff - which will offer a financial incentive to homes, businesses and communities for installing small-scale renewable energy systems, including solar panels and water turbines.

Anti-government protesters caused chaos in the terminal triggering assumptions of impending military intervention after tightening their grip over Bangkok"s Suvarnabhumi Airport on Wednesday.

It was stated that army chief Anupong Paochinda would hold a news conference after discussing protests by the People"s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) with security officials and business leaders.

Several times Anupong had insisted he would not launch a coup after the military"s removal of Thaksin Shinawatra as prime minister, although he had publicly urged Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to step down.

The results of a new survey have revealed that good service, edible food and departures on time are some of the top concerns in a list of what business travellers in Asia were seeking from air travel. However, the whole travel experience was voted as less pleasant this year.

About half of the passengers surveyed by Finance Asia magazine"s 2008 business travel survey stated that business travel was rather less pleasant this year, with the number up from 48 percent in 2007.

The major number respondents travelled in either first or business class. However, with 60 percent of them stating that they were under the constraint of shrinking travel budgets, more than a third said they were squeezed into economy class too often.

In a recent statement, Weerasak Kohsurat, the country"s Tourism and Sports Minister, announced that tourism in Thailand has reported a significant growth of about 3.49 percent during the first three quarters of the year. Weerasak stressed that unlike several countries that reported a negative growth in tourism, so far Thailand only saw a positive trend during this year. He added that the results are more encouraging since they are reported at a time when Thailand was not spared by the credit crunch in addition to the anti-government demonstrations that had been dominating the news in the recent past.

Weerasak added that a number of countries including China, the UK and the US, voted Thailand as one of the most attractive tourism destinations in the world, even during the global economic downturn.

Weerasak also observed that the government would extend its support to the launch of a variety of campaigns intended to promote international tourist arrivals. One such highlight in a series of events is called the "Iron Chef Nationwide," which will be organized in the country to promote Thai food. According to the tourism official, the Thai government has sanctioned about 374 million baht for empowering the Tourism and Sports Ministry to undertake special developmental projects during next year.

Work on a £40 million refurbishment project is to be given a start shortly at Edinburgh Airport. The project would see an extension to the main departure lounge of the facility, which the airport said would enhance passenger comfort.

Scotland"s busiest airport has recently reported that it witnessed an 11.5 percent increase in international traffic this year. The airport has recently completed a multi-million pound project to resurface its runway, on budget well ahead of the schedule proposed earlier. The airport said that the resurfacing project involved workers laying about 25,000 tonnes of asphalt. The project commenced in April 2008 involving a total cost of £16 million.

Gordon Dewar, Edinburgh Airport"s managing director, has stated that the forthcoming investment in the departure lounge "augers well for the future".

In a recent development, EasyJet and Virgin Atlantic are exploring the possibility of coming together in order to buy Gatwick airport. A report published in The Times stated that the two airlines have been holding discussions with financial backers over forming a consortium to propose a bid on the airport worth £2.5 billion. Provided their bid is successful, both the airlines have guaranteed to base a considerable number of their aircraft at Gatwick Airport. It is said that this move would significantly improve the revenue of the airport in future.  
 
At present, Easyjet and Virgin partly own the National Air Traffic Control Service (NATS) with five other airlines - bmi, British Airways, Monarch, MyTravel and Thompsonfly. It is most likely that some of them or all of these carriers would form part of the new consortium. When asked about the deal, a Virgin Atlantic spokesman neither confirmed nor denied the report.

He observed, "We have always been interested in bringing together a consortium to buy the airport. We are talking to lots of different parties at present and those talks continue."

BAA, the owner of the airport put up Gatwick for sale following the directives issued by the by the Competition Commission in September suggesting the break-up of the holdings by the operator. It is expected that next year the government will issue a ruling that would break the ownership of seven UK airports, which the commission claims to have created a monopoly in the region.

New figures released recently state that the number of foreign visitors to Britain dropped during the peak summer season in addition to the amount of tourist spending. The number of foreign visitors came down by three percent, down to about 9.3 million, compared with the figures reported for the July - September period last year. In addition, overall visitor spending was down by two percent to £5.1 billion.

The figures reveal that for the first nine months of 2008, the country could not attract foreign visitors, says VisitBritain, the national tourism organisation. During the period, about 24.9 million overseas visitors travelled to Britain. There was no growth in the number of arrivals when compared to the same period in 2007. However, the total visitor-spend for the period was £12.5 billion, up by four per cent.

During the first nine months of the year, visitors from North America came down by nine percent down to 3.2 million. Analysts attribute this to the tough economic scenario in the US in addition to low consumer confidence and the rising cost of air travel. Until early summer months, the weakness of the dollar was a factor. However, Britain has not yet seen the benefits from the strengthening of the dollar against the pound, observes Visit Britain.

In a recent statement, Qantas has confirmed its decision to commence flight services from Heathrow using its newly purchased Airbus A380 superjumbo. As per the announcement, flights would start on 17th January between Heathrow and Sydney via Singapore served by the giant plane, the third A380 purchased by the airline.

Deploying the double-decker aircraft, Qantas will offer three return flights a week. Commenting on the launch, Stephen Thompson, the regional manager remarked, "For our customers travelling to both Singapore and beyond to Australia, the A380 means extra space and comfort in every class. Qantas offers an all-new suite in first class and a fully flat Sky-bed sleeper seat in business class. The aircraft features a 32 seat Premium Economy cabin and an all new Economy Class seat featuring a sliding base that moves with the seat back to create a more comfortable, ergonomically tested position to aid sleep."

Listing some of the interesting highlights of this service, the airline said it would offer its passengers over 100 on demand films, 500 audio CDs and 350 television selections in addition to 30 PC-style games. The passengers can also enjoy a select range of audio books, destination information, language tutorials, business education and radio channels during their journey.

In a recent development with respect to the highly controversial proposal, an expert engineer has been appointed to coordinate an investigation to decide whether a new airport could be constructed in the Thames Estuary. Recently, the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the mayor Boris Johnson have recruited Doug Oakervee, the executive chair of Crossrail, to help them decide whether the proposal to build a new airport in the area should be given a go ahead, despite the dismissal of the project by the government on claims that it is unrealistic.

Early findings published following the research by GLA suggested that the construction of the airport was "technically feasible" and said once completed, it would contribute to the regeneration of the Thames Gateway.

Commenting on the importance of appointing Doug Oakervee to decide upon the feasibility of the project, Kit Malthouse, deputy mayor, remarked, "To have such a colossal figure from the engineering world bringing his extensive skills and judgement to this unique and important project is great news.”

If new proposals are approved, the terminal at Bristol Airport could nearly double in size. The airport said recently that it has planned to submit a planning application in March seeking permission to expand the terminal to enable it handle about 10 million passengers by the year 2016. The extension with a glass-front would be located to the east and west of the present terminal. Further developments would be on the north side of the airport site.

New facilities for parking cars would feature spaces for about 3,600 cars. The plans also include establishing an overflow car park on the land to the east of the A38. This land is located under the flight path and would be in use for 13 weeks in a year during the peak season and would remain grassed. There is likelihood that a developer would submit a separate planning application for constructing a new airport hotel. The size and the brand of this hotel are yet to be confirmed.

The aircraft stands at the site would go up by 9, taking the total number of stands to 33. The other proposals for the extension include enhancing the aircraft parking areas connected to the enlarged terminal building by constructing walkways, which will eliminate the use of airside buses for boarding the majority of flights. There will also be an exclusively dedicated zone for passenger pick-up and drop besides a new fuel storage facility and new office accommodation.

An all-inclusive holiday operator based in Jamaica has warned that there would not be enough services to cater to the demands for the Caribbean and South America next summer.

SuperClubs has stated that some exclusive destinations including Panama and the Bahamas need more aircraft capacity to balance the "explosion" in demand for resort accommodation, a report by TTG Live said.

Paul Pennicook, the president of international lifestyles for SuperClubs has expressed his fears that there would not be enough flights from the UK next year.

With a recent report stating that the red tape is hampering efforts to enhance the holiday experience in Britain, the government has been urged to increase its support to the country"s tourism industry.

Commenting on the present scenario in the industry, VisitBritain"s chief executive, Christopher Rodrigues, remarked, "The recent fall in sterling and the approaching Olympics in 2012 give us a tremendous opportunity to promote Britain as a holiday destination, provided we are given the appropriate financial tools and policy support." VisitBritain is the organization entrusted with the responsibility of promoting tourism in UK.

Since there were problems with the public transport system of the capital city, thousands of attendees who represented important tourism markets across the globe found it very difficult to get to the event venue in Docklands during the World Travel Market in London this week. Barbara Follett, the Minister for Culture, Creative Industries & Tourism, conveyed her apologies for the transport problems.

A leading travel expert says that airline passengers in the UK are increasingly resorting to booking flights online since they claim that the levels of mobile phone customer service needs to improve.

Industry sources have quoted Gerry Samuels, founder and executive director at Mobile Travel Technologies, who made a remark that UK travellers still considered their mobiles primarily as a search device while organising their trip abroad.

While addressing delegates at a conference, Gerry Samuels said, "If you look at Japan, which is accepted as being a few years ahead of us, in 2006 it reached a tipping point where there are more people accessing the internet through mobiles than PCs."

Boeing said recently that it was confident of offering a final work contract to its white-collar engineers union by the end of this week, well before the existing contract terminates. The move by the plane maker follows in an attempt to avoid a second crippling strike at its Seattle-area plants. Industry sources have said that the present three-year works contract for about 20,000 members of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) will expire on 1st December.

Late on Wednesday, Boeing said that it had already reached a tentative agreement with the union over all the non-economic issues forming part of a new four-year contract. It also conveyed its hopes of wrapping up negotiations during this week.

However, the firm said "substantial differences remain" over the economic issues, stating that the two sides would hammer them out on Thursday.