On Monday Australia's Qantas Airways called off 6 flights and said that it might make use of strike-breakers after engineers went on a two day strike.

ALAEA (Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association) members walked off the work in three states, disturbing services in Sydney, Cairns and Melbourne, over the carrier's refusal to give a wage rise of five per cent for 1,500 engineers. The company is offering three per cent.

Kevin Brown, Qantas Executive General Manager for People, said, "I don't think that there is a settlement at hand here. Each time we go to meet the ALAEA they put on strike action, and we've been very clear about this, we're not going to meet with a gun to our head".

Tickets for the Qantas' new Airbus A380 flight went on sale today, before the carrier's first A380 operation between Los Angeles and Melbourne on the 20th of October.

The senior executive vice president of Qantas, the Americas and Pacific, Mr. Wally R. Mariani, said that the A380 would fly on selected routes from Los Angeles to Sydney and Melbourne, and would be gradually employed on selected services on the routes from Sydney to London and Singapore from early next year.

He said, "The first Qantas A380 will operate two round-trip services each week between Los Angeles and Australia - one to Melbourne, starting on October 20 and one to Sydney, starting on October 24, 2008.

The Crown of Melbourne is well on the path to turn out to be a world-famous gastro-temple, as Gordon Ramsay, the celebrity chef, is getting ready to start a signature restaurant at the vibrant casino complex, and make a reality TV series on the experience.

The TV series, set to air later this year, will focus on the hunt for a chef to operate the top-end location in Australia.

Gordon Ramsay is expected to be in Melbourne in the month of June to establish his new location at the grand Crown Complex. The new restaurant, which is supposed to open in the month of December this year, will be Ramsay's first in Australia and 13th outside the United Kingdom. To find out more, you can visit www.gordonramsay.com.

Hong Kong's premier carrier, Cathay Pacific, is welcoming flyers to fly in style by presenting best Business Class ticket prices on its flights from London Heathrow to New Zealand and Australia.

The destinations offered by the airline for the special fares include major cities in Australia such as Sydney and Melbourne, as well as Auckland-the largest metropolis in New Zealand. All the fees, taxes and surcharges are included in the deals.

For outbound travel until 20th March, and from 3rd November until 5th December, the available options include:

Qantas revealed it that would launch more flights between Sydney-Canberra and Melbourne-Canberra from the month of March 2008.

Allan Williams, Qantas Regional General Manager ACT, said that the carrier would introduce 15 additional return flights a week between Sydney and Canberra. With the addition of new flights, the number of return flights offered by the airline between these two destinations will become 157 per week.

The airline will also launch 11 additional return flights per week between Melbourne and Canberra in the month of March, and 4 extra return flights between these two destinations in the month of June. With the addition of these new flights, the number of return flights offered by the carrier between Melbourne and Canberra become 89 per week.

Book by 31st December and grab the opportunity to fly at a cheaper price. Emirates is offering a number of cheaper price flights to destinations around the globe. For travel between 1st January, 2008 and 12th March, 2008, the airline is offering the following discounted flights.

From Birmingham to: Dubai from £376; Bangkok at a price starting from just £525; Beijing at a price starting from just £423 and Johannesburg at a price starting from just £493.

From London Heathrow to: Dubai at a price starting from just £379; Bangkok at a price starting from just £528 and Kuala Lumpur at a price starting from just £494.

Due to the increasing demand from around the airline's network, Emirates has decided to grow its services to 70 a week. Destinations like Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney will see additional services, new aircrafts and the most luxurious aircrafts in the sky.

Addressing a press conference, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum observed, "Emirates has welcomed over six million passengers on their Australian flights since its first service to Melbourne in 1996 and today's announcement represents a strong commitment to build on that growth. The Emirates-Australian partnership has been a tourism and trade success story. Emirates has been fortunate to have received bi-partisan support at both a Federal and state level over many years. We are committing the latest technology to our Australian routes - the aircraft will be more efficient to operate and better for the environment. At the same time, these aircraft will enable Emirates to continue setting the gold standard in service."

With effect from October 2008, Brisbane will see the second daily service with the state of the art Airbus A340-500. In addition, the third daily service to Melbourne will begin in February 2009. Also, a triple daily service to Sydney will commence in late 2009. All these additional services will be non-stop from Dubai. 

The newest icon of Melbourne, Eureka Tower, has become the latest tourist attraction, after its gates have been opened for the local people officially. Placed close to the Yarra River in the heart of the Southgate Precinct, Eureka Skydeck 88 is known to be the highest public view point in the Southern Hemisphere giving unparalleled views of Melbourne and its surrounds.

Attributing the 'Edge' experience, Eureka Skydeck 88, will have a moving glass cube performing as a huge matchbox having passengers from the inside of Eureka Tower all the way outside of the building. This is fast becoming one of the striking features of Australian tourism, and especially for Melbourne, which is of course experiencing increased number of tourists from around the world.

Besides down the Yarra, the revival of Central Pier follows the development of Melbourne's Docklands precinct. Beneath the management of the Atlantic Group, Shed 14 is being changed and event organisers will select from the four new state-of-the-art venues. So, there is a great deal of enhancement that is being done for tourism of Melbourne, and tourists can expect a real treat for enjoyment.

Not satisfied with building the world's biggest golf course, Australia has turned up with one more wacky plan to attract visitors down-under. In a recent survey by a travel magazine, Sydney has been chosen as the preferred city, and no wonder that more visitors attraction could further boost the interest of tourists and visitors in Australian tours. Seemingly, Neighbours' sun drenched streets have been drawing fans from the UK so successfully that Tourism Australia is willing to film a Japanese Soap Opera in Australia, in a bit to lure Japanese fans.

The establishment now has one renowned Japanese actor signed up for the plan and is expecting to get the cameras reeling in the coming months. This could be a real enjoying item for the visitors.

Broadgate EC2 is the host the first London City Airport Winter Expo. On Wednesday, the 10th October and Thursday, the 11th October. Quite interestingly, Broadgate is a wonderfully live and thriving location offering an exhilarating experience. Thousands of people pass through Liverpool Street station everyday with more than 35,000 employed within Broadgate and over 150,000 working in locations just a short walk away.

The whole of Broadgate area is crammed to its potentials with a number of well-paid professionals with sizeable amount of disposable income with multifarious interests in arts, travel, fashion and technology. This is a one-of-its-kind opportunity for travellers and local people to enjoy the ski holidays with the families and friends.

London City Airport is to assume its presence across the entire Broadgate region comprising the Exchange Square, the Arena and Finsbury Avenue Square, together with its partners like CityJet for Air France, British Airways and Swiss International Air Lines. You can join them on either of these two days and check out the pleasure of hitting the slopes faster with London City Airport. For further details, log into Londoncityairport.com/winterexpo

A new hotel shuttle bus service has been started at London City Airport. From Monday, October 8, Snowdrop Travel has started ferrying individuals to various hotels in the Docklands area of the capital. This is a very good facility provided at the London City Airport and no wonder that the passengers would enjoy the benefits of this service.

The new service will be operate every half an hour, between 6 am and 10 pm on weekdays, and between 6 am and 1 pm on Saturdays; while on Sundays, the service will be offered between 12.30 pm and 10 pm. The passengers can check their timings with this schedule.

The hotels which will be called by the bus include the Hilton, Ramada, Etap, Ibis, Travelodge, Travel Inn, Sunborn Yacht, Novotel, Holiday Inn Express, Crown Plaza, Four Seasons, Travel Inn Canary Wharf, Radisson Edwardian and Marriott West India Quay.

Science Museum's new Director has announced the centre's plans for a climate change exhibition at a cost of £6 million. This would be a unique experience for the visitors and it is expected that this would have some educational impact on them.

As per the plans, Professor Chris Rapley is to mastermind the entire show that seeks to provide realistic evidence on the effect of climate change on earth. Having been exposed to the seriously concerning side of climatic change during his participation in the British Antarctic Survey, Chris Rapley is very keen to enable people feel the effect of global warming on this earth by visiting the exhibit. Aiming to create a museum of future, Professor Rapley said that the exhibition would not open until 2009 with further details still pending. 

He added, "We want to deliver the evidence for climate change, but show people exactly how scientists came to these conclusions. We are very keen to show how we know that climate change is real and that it is driven by humans. But we will not be making any judgments on policies, the whole exhibit will be about letting people come to their own conclusions."

Crossrail has decided to provide six new central London stations in addition to over 14,000 jobs besides direct links to Thames Gateway regeneration areas. There is a big question in everybody's mind as how this project would be helpful to the city people.

This project is expected to cause a disruption and delay for travellers and residents as a swathe is cut through London to establish a high-speed link through Heathrow, Canary Wharf and even beyond. For about a year, several residents have to be rehoused with sound insulation for hundreds more with demolition of some venues like the Astoria in Charing Cross Road.

Construction is estimated at £400 million with a time frame of about six years. The tunnels are planned so large to house overhead electric lines to power the 10-carriage trains, that are to run at a peak hour frequency of 24 services an hour between Paddington and Whitechapel, with carrying around 160,000 passengers during the morning peak. Excluding Whitechapel and the Isle of Dogs, all other stations will have two ticket halls for the comfort of passengers.

With a large number of events, the annual art fair is once again back in Regents Park of London, UK. The art fair is scheduled to run for four days. The festival is set to start of 11th of October and would run for 4 days up to 14th of October. The fair would bring a lot of opportunities for visitors and tourists, and it would be a unique opportunity to know more about art.

Frieze presents around 150 art galleries from around the globe. The purpose is to introduce modern-day art to younger generation and families. The aim will be accomplished with the help of a series of unique educational family-based workshops.

An overloaded programme will offer people coming to the art fair an opportunity to take in general keynote speeches from professional the in the field of art, in addition to a choice of music and film events.

At about 7 months behind the schedule, the sculpture meant for the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square will be unveiled next month. It is expected that this sculpture would be a major visitor's attraction for the local people and also for tourists who would be coming to London after the launch of it.

This piece of coloured glass sculpture titled Model For A Hotel 2007 is a work of Thomas Schütte planned to be erected on 7th November. As per plans, the new sculpture was scheduled to be erected as early as last April. The postponement is because the company working on the project suddenly went bust.

To complete the project, Mayor Ken Livingstone had no other way than allotting extra public money of £153,000. Originally, this project was titled Hotel For The Birds. The model features a 21-storey building designed to gather and reflect light.

A daily non-stop flight will be launched to London on November 26 by Oman Air. The seven flights a week scheduled between Muscat and London Gatwick will be a landmark in the history of Oman Air.

The carrier's new non-stop flights with A330 and A310 will be used to operate the Gatwick service and other long-haul destinations.

Oman Air will operate with two-class service, international, standards of catering and entertainment in both business and economy.

Do Me… London is being inducted by Do Me Mobile Limited as a helpful tourist guide that's accessible on your phone whenever and wherever you desire. 

Multimedia guides are now available to Visitors and Londoners on-the-go to more than 80 of the capital's top features simply by sending a single text message.

The attractive and sometimes shocking stories you won't find anywhere else are described by Ben Whitehead, a professional tour guide and actor, and his five alter-egos. Interactive maps, photos and other comprehensive information from London Bridge to the London Dungeon can also be available to users. It's all on your phone and it can all be customized by you, for you, whenever you wish.

London's Christmas Village, Maritime Greenwich, has a wonderful programme of festive events, exhibitions and activities running through the month of December entering into the celebrations of the New Year 2008.

With open-air ice skating, twinkling fairy lights and decorations, shopping, a big Christmas tree and a visit by Santa Claus along with his assistants, this beautiful fork of south east London will take on a unique festive atmosphere, enabling visitors to soak up the special ambiance and join in a number of events.

Festivities will start with the switching on of Greenwich Market's Christmas lights on 30th November with a huge programme of family fun which will run from 3pm to 7pm.

This October, two fabulously pink promotions will be run by London's iconic May Fair hotel to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The hotel has said that it will give away 20 per cent of the total revenue collected by the sale of its popular pink signature suite, the Schiaparelli during the month of October, to the Breast Cancer Care charity. A move to allow its customers to contribute for some charity cause.

The far out in beauty since its introduction, the Schiaparelli has grown into a 'must have' room for style lovers and the privileged coming to London. The Schiaparelli treasures a big Bang & Olufsen TV, extravagant bathroom with stand-only bath and individual television, and a unattached lounge space.

People coming to the top May Fair bar-readers of the Evening Standard and the London Lite voted it as the 'Best Hotel Bar' this year-will also be able to contribute toward the support to the charity while enjoying two differently exciting non-alcoholic cocktails, as 20 per cent of the cost of each Raspberry Crush and Pink Ribbon sold in the month of October will be given away to the charity.

The Harris Museum ambitiously plans to equal top national attractions for its future. Councillors fancy building Preston's cultural crown jewel a tourist lure to rival world-renowned services in London, Manchester and Liverpool.

A panel of councillors and council officers are working on proposals that include plans to transport legendry, mainstream works of art to the museum in exhibitions, a restore of the service's shop and café, new facilities customized to schoolchildren to permit large school groups to visit the gallery, the hiring of exhibits to the private sector and promising private sponsorship and a massive marketing drive promoting the museum's facilities and exhibitions.

Proposal to re-open the admired service on Sundays is encouraged by councillors.

Representing a new path to promote the presence of Singapore in international destinations, a new Singapore Centre has been formally inaugurated in London. With the opening of the new center, the nation's agencies can now respond fast to new business opportunities.

The new opening is a one-stop shop that unites Singapore's Tourism Board, Economic Development Board and Maritime and Port Authority under one roof. It is expected that this new centre would increase a whole lot of influence of Singapore in London, and people there would be able to get closer look about Singapore's business items.

Integrating the overseas economic agencies of Singapore is designed to attain greater mutual effort, helping them to respond fast to new business breaks, while projecting the interests of the country around the world.

The third Imperial Wharf Jazz Festival on 20 & 22 September at Imperial Wharf, London's leading riverside destination, will be opened by St George.

"St. George is thrilled to be presenting some of the very best jazz artists in the UK for the third year running at Imperial Wharf. We very much hope this festival gives Londoners the opportunity to hear these great artists in a new surrounding", commented Michael Meanley, Managing Director of St George Central London.

Taylor's driving Hammond organ will lead its exciting live performance of the legendry jazz funk band to highlight the James Taylor Quartet on Thursday. Liane Carroll, BBC Jazz Award winner inaugurates the evening with special guest composer and trumpeter Guy Barker.

The Korean Village, 'Sarangbang! Come' is located close to the Greater London Authority building on Potter's Fields Park near Tower Bridge, and is experiencing the actions, sights and sounds of Korea during Thames River Festival this year--displaying a plethora of Korean art and culture.

This is great time for London locals as well as visitors as they can enjoy a lot of cultural variety through these Asian festival that are going on in London. Very recently, Indian festival concluded in the Regent Street, and it was a huge success for both the tourism department of London, as well as the visitors.

'Sarangbang! Come' will host an exciting event of traditional foods and crafts, workshops and performances-all set up by the Korea Tourism Organization and Korean Cultural Centre. Korean arts will be in full bloom as the days unfold and the visitors can enjoy a real treat through these events hosted in the Korean village.

It could take only five hours travelling by train from Carlisle to Paris after the opening of a new rail terminal in London later this year.

London terminal will be switched overnight on November 13 to Eurostar from Waterloo, beginning its services from the new St Pancras station the following morning.

High speed 1 will reduce the fastest journey time from London on the train to just two hours 15 minutes to Paris, under two hours to Brussels and one hour 20 minutes to Lille. Passengers from France and Belgium will also avail benefit of the new high speed service to travel.

On Sunday 2nd September, approximately 600,000 visitors arrived at Regent Street to attend the Regent Street Festival 2007. The festival is one of the most impressive free unrestricted street events in London that displays all the colour, flair and magic of India.

The Regent Street remained closed to traffic for the whole day. The dance parades, theatre and musical shows transported the crowd to a country famous for its exotic festivals.

The Regent Street Festival which is organised by the Regent Street Association and backed by the Indian Ministry of Tourism, the Mayor of London, The Crown Estate, the New West End Company, Visit London and  Westminster City Council, is the pinnacle of the three month India Now season of the Mayor of London, which has witnessed more than 200 cultural organisations and attractions taking part  across London.

With major renovations of a restaurant and bar in one of its principal London properties, Hilton Hotel is on the mission to sustain the sports bar format. This endeavour is costing about £900,000 to the firm. With new colors, the Fiamma Sports Bar & Restaurant is opening on 1 September, presenting a classic ambience.

Avner On, The hotel's general manager observed, "With over 1,000 bedrooms, we're one of London's largest hotels and we need a venue which caters for everyone's tastes and provides a place for guests and visitors to unwind. There is a real buzz when you enter our hotel and Fiamma is a great part of that atmosphere – once it reopens we'll have a superb range of eating and drinking experiences including the Lounge Bar, Caffe Cino and Nippon Tuk restaurant."

The interior designing is accomplished by Jestico & Whiles. The bar and restaurant are separated from each other offering a diversified choice of seating comprising an alcove, sofa and bar areas, all set in to provide a contemporary feel. The highlight will be the Hilton Breakfast in the morning with two buffets comprising 140 delicacies. The wine section is enhanced with more variety of drinks and snacks.

Austravel LIVE is soon arriving at Manchester and London. With an overwhelming appeal and popularity, this is the only travel show specializing in Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific and Worldwide Stopovers. Visitors to Austravel LIVE can discover the most exhilarating variety of experiences every weekend from over 35 and more exhibitors spreading over airlines, hotels, adventure specialists and tour companies. There is a choice available for every budget with an exclusive area set apart for weddings and honeymoons.

The show is interactive and the visitors can participate in seminars and addresses by experts. On the center stage, several cultural shows are to be staged. The occasion shall provide a rare chance to know the wonderful history of aboriginal art and enjoy the cultural workshops and Haka, the traditional show. Value additions to the show are variety of giveaways and competitions. 

Commenting on the show, Laura Southwell, the marketing manager of Austravel remarked, "Austravel LIVE has been created to give guests a chance to experience a taster of what they can expect from a memorable trip Down Under. Whether it's talking to the experts, enjoying fine wines or learning more about the indigenous culture, Austravel LIVE is sure to inspire and excite travellers who are yet to venture Down Under or those who are on their tenth or twentieth trip."

With the 'Open House' London weekend scheduled on Saturday and Sunday, 15-16 September, a range of iconic buildings of Maritime Greenwich are kept open for the public free of cost.

Each of these locations is unique with hidden architectural treasures and many of them are not generally open to the public. Round the corner of the World Heritage Site, some of the most exquisite buildings that will be open during the event include historic houses, museums, entertainment and education centres, hospital and some wonderful sites inside the Old Royal Naval College.

On both these days, guided tours are scheduled between 10 am and 4.30 pm to the visitors of the college to places like Admiral's House, Jacobean Undercroft, Nelson Room exhibition, Victorian Skittle Alley, and 'Samuel Pepys' character performances in the Painted Hall. On Sunday, the visitors shall have the unique chance of visiting the courts of King Charles, King William, Queen Anne, and Queen Mary, which were designed by Sir Christopher Wren.

A fair of about three-weeks is starting on 21 September to 7 October at the Bargehouse Gallery, on London's South Bank. In this, 100 main arts of Aboriginal will be presented from Western Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory.

Around 100 paintings and sculptures made by 15 known artists of Aboriginal art will be presented by RARRK – LONDON. This fair will also show the multiple sculptural installations, video, and a choice of almost 30 bark paintings which will be around 2m in height.

Josh Lilley Fine Art, in association with Maningrida Arts and Culture, a Northern Territory community basis art centre, accountable for the cultural assets of the Aboriginal people in the Maningrida region, has conducted the fair with the help of Tourism NT.

Last month, the growing number of foreign tourists and extensive discounting helped a lot to offset a drop in overall shoppers and raise retail sales in London.

According to the retail sales figures for the month of July collected by the London division of British Retail Consortium (LRC), there was an increase in the sales by 11.6 per cent year on year in London. The sale was up by 10.3 per cent in the month of June.

These figures are also matching with last year's growth of 15.1 per cent during the same month.

Europe's leading low-cost carrier, EasyJet, has made an announcement today that it would start flights from Glasgow International Airport to Paris Charles De Gaulle.

The new service will be offered daily and will begin from 29 October. The fares will start from just £21.99 one way including all the taxes.

Nearly 2 million passengers have been carried by the airline during the last year from its Glasgow baser, and the airline is expecting that it would carry almost 100,000 passengers on its new route in a year's time after the commencement of its operations.

London's Hyde Park attracted in showcase event, a fun run and breakfast, an activity sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) to promote tourism in London.

The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority is strategically targeting Business Tourism of MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions). The international organization SITE (Society of Incentive Travel Executives) actively involves the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, the only non-profit, professional association devoted to the pursuit of excellence in incentives, a multi-billion dollar global industry.

SITE and the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority commit to educate the next generation leaders on a level and in a manner to improve performance. Their mission is to retain, engage and attract future leaders by providing education and networking opportunities.

London City Airport anticipated 3.9 million passengers increase by 2010. The Airport has presented plans to deal with 50 per cent increase in the number of flight movements to cater to the future needs of the airport. 

The airport authorities have disclosed that no change is expected in the proposals put forward at the opening hours or the insertion of night flights; but instead, would see it ready for the advent of the Olympic Games in London.

The current level of 80,000 flight movements is likely to increase to 120,000 by 2010 as predicted in the planning application. The airport said that they have installed equipment last year to deal with 2.4 million passengers. Now it will monitor the impact on the local environment of this increased number of passengers.

Visit London Stand is launching an European incentive campaign to provide its guests an opportunity to experience London as the ultimate exciting destination for events and incentives. The number G 110 will host several of London's tourism businesses with a diverse range of unique venues and professional service providers.

Visit London at EIBTM 2007 will encourage buyers to visit the stand so as to discover more about London. As a taster visitors to select virtual sporting challenges. As a challengers can compete to win a state of the art entertainment system.

The guests at the venue will share more interactive and informative views of the city's offerings. The Stand Partners will illustrate that London's inspirational venue and services will fascinate and fulfill their satisfaction.

The five East African countries, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, will be holding the first common exhibition at the World Travel Market in London. The exhibition is scheduled to be held in November, from 12 to 16, in Docklands, East London.

Tourist representatives, one from each member state of the East African Community, will hold a meeting in Kampala on August 15 to draft a complete plan for the scheduled fair.

James Bahinguza, the Head of Tourism Uganda, a tourism promotional organization run by the state, explained this week that it will help in promoting East Africa as one of the tourism destinations.

The activity has started of rolling out worth of £25m developments to the London's Whitehall roads, inclusive of extraction and movement of around 12 trees. In order to compose a dignified organic street pattern, this project was drafted--this certainly will be imparting a whole new look to Whitehall.

10-year-old trees of the identical breed will be placed instead of 60 years old trees with the composition of London Plain, Maidenhair and Oak. From Privy Gardens single tree will be removed, from Horse Guards Avenue two trees, from Parliament Street three trees and from Whitehall six trees.

Fresh anti-terrorism laws will be embraced by this project.

The London-Manchester air route has seen a sudden fall in passenger numbers, amid pressure from green groups and train companies for the people to switch planes for rail, if possible.

Since March 2006, the use of Manchester-London flights has fallen from 2 million people to 1.8 million-10 % decline over the past year, the Manchester airport confirmed.

According to Manchester Airport Group the environmental debate and a "green" advertising drive in support from Virgin Trains, had serious damages on the demand. Due to a poor demand, the low-cost carrier Jet2 dropped its London-Manchester route recently.