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".

Qantas received its first flying machine equipped with the new Premium Economy cabin of the carrier.

Mr John Borghetti, Executive General Manager at the airline, said that the introduction of Premium Economy cabin presents passengers a fresh option in long haul international journey.

He said, "Qantas Premium Economy offers extra space and comfort and enhanced levels of service. We have invested significantly in developing this cabin, which is being progressively installed across our B747-400 fleet and will be available on every Qantas A380".

Confirm your bookings by 18th March and enjoy discounted flights to a number of locations in Australia and New Zealand. Air New Zealand is presenting cut-priced tickets on its flights to a range of places in both Australia and New Zealand offering one-of-its-kind opportunity to its passengers.

Return tickets to Australia are offered at a price starting from just £945 per head. Ticket prices also include a tax of £267 (an estimated amount) for non-stop journeys. The journey is required to be completed by 31st January, 2009.

And, the return tickets for flight to New Zealand are offered at a price stating from just £797. A tax of £225 (an estimated amount) is also included in the available fare.

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:

Passengers will be offered an opportunity by Emirates to travel between Dubai and London Heathrow on one of its new flying machines, Airbus A380 super jumbos, later in the current year.

The carrier has revealed that the introductory flight between Dubai and London Heathrow will fly on the 1st of December. An Airbus A380 with the capacity to accommodate 489 passengers will be used for this flight. The seats that are available in the introductory flight are: 14 in First Class, 76 in Business Class and 399 in Economy Class.

While announcing these details, the airline has also revealed that it would start operating a flight to New York from Dubai on the 1st of October and offer an air link to Sydney-Auckland from the 1st of February, next year.

For The Observatory Hotel in Sydney, the New Year 2008 commences with more than just the mere bangs of fireworks. Interestingly, even before the first month of the year comes to a close, the hotel has been rated as the number one place to stay in Australia through voting by readers of Travel+Leisure, America's highest selling travel magazine.

Over and above, The Observatory Hotel has also been acknowledged by Conde Nast Traveler, another top magazine of the US pertaining to travel, listing the name of the hotel onto the prestigious annual US Gold List.

Believing that these recognitions have in fact set a high standard for him and his team for this New Year, the Regional Managing Director Orient Express Hotels Australia, Patrick Griffin, observes, "I am delighted to hear The Observatory Hotel has been included in both of these compendiums of the greatest hotels around the globe. And to achieve number one position on T+L magazine's list certainly helps cement our reputation as Australia's leading, luxurious five-star hotel. We have a responsibility, now more than ever, to consistently deliver the highest quality of hospitality and guest experiences besides maintaining our professional, attentive service for which we are so well known".

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.

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. 

BridgeClimb Sydney clinched the Sports, Events and Tourism Award at the 2007 Australian Export Awards. The Awards ceremony was held at the Brisbane Convention Centre on November 22.

The accolade recognises the export performance of BridgeClimb in the inbound tourism section, as well as the contribution they have made towards the economy by creating job opportunities.

Todd Coates, Managing Director of BridgeClimb who received the award, said, "This award is testament to the strong commitment of all BridgeClimb team members in the delivery of an unforgettable Sydney experience to visitors from all over the world".

The 'Major Tourist Attraction' at the 2007 New South Wales Tourism Awards has been achieved by the BridgeClimb Sydney at a ceremony in Sydney on 15th November. This noble award has been achieved sixth time by the BridgeClimb since its operations in 1998.The award celebrates and salutes tourism businesses that expresses marvellous success in the previous year.

The Managing Director of BridgeClimb, Todd Coates, received the award and abided the climbers who gave BridgeClimb the opportunity to create an unforgettable memory of the world famous Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Mr. Coates said," Winning this award will inspire our team to drive forward with even greater commitment to ensure that every climber has the experience of a life time".

Qantas, the Australian carrier has announced that it will launch a premium economy cabin on its flights from London to Sydney from April next year. This would be welcome news for passengers of Qantas, as they can now choose from the premium class and luxury class while travelling between Sydney and London.

The carrier is setting up a total of 32 premium economy seats on its flying machines in time for the launch of the premium economy cabin on a few select flights from 1st April, 2008. So, plenty of seats will be available for passengers in this class.

While making announcement about the new seating, a spokesman for the carrier emphasised the added advantages that will be available to passengers who will choose to travel in the premium economy cabin.

In the Golden Backpack awards ceremony held in Sydney, the previous night, Wednesday 7th November, the "Best Experience in New South Wales" is rewarded to BridgeClimb Sydney.

Collaboration with TNT magazine, the reader-voted Golden Backpacks are Australia and New Zealand's only devoted awards for the independent travel sector.

BridgeClimb is reputed as the 'must-do' activity in Sydney with 2million people around the world having enjoyed the Climb of their life besides the legends like as Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Justin Timberlake, Nicole Kidman, Pierce Brosnan and Cameron Diaz!

Sited at The Rocks in Sydney, Rockpool (fish) is the latest restaurant offered by Neil Perry and Trish Richards. Earlier known as Rockpool, the restaurant has established its reputation as one of the finest in the locality over the past 18 years. Rockpool (fish) follows suit being launched on Friday, the 2nd November as a restaurant specially combing Mediterranean and Asian flavours with several Rockpool classics. 

The central focus of Neil and Trish at Rockpool (fish) is seafood. The restaurant is to operate on the sustainable philosophy of using the best and fresh ingredients from the leading and reputed suppliers of Australia, without compromising on quality and the satisfaction of the customers.

Neil remarked, "We wanted to make Rockpool (fish) more accessible and have the customer in complete control of their dining experience, where they design their own menu by choosing from a large variety of seafood with as many as ten different preparations, entrees, salads and sides as well as non seafood main plates which make up a large menu. The menu is also perfect for sharing a few dishes.

Sydney, Australia has been chosen their preferred city by readers attribute Conde Nast Traveller magazine. This shows that Sydney is still favourite with travellers and tourists who like to visit different places in the world. Heathrow Airport and Birmingham Airport serve the metropolis among others from the UK, praised for environment, affability, ethnicity, restaurants and shopping. 

Florence, San Francisco, Bangkok and Vancouver are other city destinations included in their celebrated destinations traits the readers of Conde Nast Traveller.

Sandra Nori, New South Wales tourism minister, said that Sydney is "everyone's favourite city" and cited to latest government statistics showing that the destination is greater than both Melbourne and Brisbane in terms of visitor numbers.

Qantas Holidays has some tickets available for Christmas starting at £2,279 per person for a 14-night holiday with departure from UK on 13th December. You could dream of a Christmas in Australia with abundant sunshine totally free of frost and drizzle, besides alfresco dining free of brussel sprouts and overstuffed turkey amidst a whole lot of amazing natural wonders escaping from the TV repeats and outdated movies.

Enhanced by Australia's contrasting characteristics, you can dream of a wonderful three-centre itinerary for this Christmas.

You can stand amazed at the magnificent and world famous Opera House, soar up to fathom the heights of the Sydney Bridge, and climb up to sample the startling range of Bondi seafood restaurants. Other than this, you can swim or surf this popular beach to your heart's content.

Australian Hotels Association (AHA) named Lilianfels Blue Mountains Resort & Spa last night, 'Best Boutique Accommodation/Hotel' at the 2007 National Awards for Excellence ceremony.

The esteemed award ahead of two contender boutique properties placed in Tasmania and Victoria was lifted out by Lilianfels Blue Mountains Resort & Spa and was also denoted as a finalist in the 'Best Restaurant Accommodation Division' class.
 
Thrilled Robyn Pontynen, General Manager of the five- star resort, accepted the award and said it is one of a number the team had been awarded this year. "Winning one of the AHA's annual National Awards for Excellence titles is an important industry acknowledgment and will be added to a growing list of accolades for 2007".

"Lilianfels is a classic boutique hotel and the only five-star property in the Blue Mountains. We have a responsibility to our guests to continually refresh, and introduce new and unique guest experiences as well as maintain our professional, attentive service for which we are so well known", further added, Robyn.

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.

America Inc.'s Volkswagen today made an announcement that the company has associated with Carbonfund.org to neutralise one year of carbon emission from each new vehicle that Volkswagen will be selling in the US between September 1, 2007 and January 2, 2008.

Adrian Hallmark, executive vice president, Volkswagen of America said, "We developed this partnership to help bring our customers to the forefront of environmental initiatives:.

Hallmark also said, "Vehicles are an important and necessary part of our society, but there are actions we can all take to help ensure a cleaner environment for future generations".