We’ve done all the hard work, so you don’t have to! Read on for the top ten travel industry news stories of the day we think you need to know.
1. Garuda cuts Brisbane-Bali as Scoot flies around Aus
It has been a busy 24 hours in Australian aviation as Garuda cut one of its Aussie routes and Scoot amped up its relationship with Virgin to offer more connections around the country.
The Indonesian carrier yesterday revealed a ‘Quick Wins program’ – a short-term strategy designed to secure the airline’s finances despite the weakened Indonesian Rupiah.
Made up of three main components, the strategy includes a wide network restructure that sees the termination of the airline’s Brisbane to Bali service.
2. Tongan volcano disrupts South Pacific services
Current #Volcanic Activity: #Hunga Ha’ Hapai , #Sinabung and #Holuhraun. http://t.co/GR1yg9tmmY pic.twitter.com/BdTM0SB1FI
— DUYCK Bernard (@beduy) January 12, 2015
The large volcano that has emerged out of the Pacific Ocean near Tonga’s capital is causing flights disruptions as airlines struggle to see past of the ash.
Named Hunga Ha’apai, the volcano first erupted out of the ocean in 2009 forming a new island 63 kilometres north of Nuku’alofa.
Activity recommenced late last year after ash and steam was spotted in the sky by a fisherman.
3. INCENTIVE: Win a trip to the Arctic
G Adventures has brought its UberMassive Incentive (UMI) back for a fourth year, giving agents the chance to win major prizes, including a trip to the Arctic.
The first travel prize is a trip for an agent and one lucky friend on G Adventures’ Realm of the Polar Bear trip which explores the Arctic and Norway on board the MS Expedition.
Nine randomly drawn winners, as well as the top three sellers, will also receive places for them and up to seven friends on some of G Adventures most exciting tours.
Travel agents have until 30 June to get involved.
This year, the UMI top sellers will be based on passenger numbers, not revenue, and the top seller will have first choice from the list of travel prizes announced weekly.
Second and third top sellers will then select their prizes in sequential order before the remaining adventures are drawn amongst nine random winners.
To coincide with the launch of UMI, G Adventures is running a January sale offering $150 discount on all tours valued over $1,200 booked in the month of January.
Agents who would like to keep up to date on the prize destinations should keep an eye on G Adventures’ Vimeo with each destination being revealed weekly by character Chet ‘Littlefinger’ Flanagan.
To sign up for updates and for the opportunity to win spot-prizes, all agents need to do is register at www.gadventures.com/umi.
4. Dalai Lama to headline UK music festival?
What do Oasis, Foo Fighters, Lily Allen, Kelis, Dolly Parton and the Dalai Lama have in common?
They can all say they’ve taken the stage at one of the UK’s largest music festivals, Glastonbury.
According to a note that was posted on the Tibetan spiritual leaders’ website yesterday, the Dalai Lama will give a talk at the five-day festival on 28 June this year – the last day of the event, which is being held at Worthy Farm.
“His Holiness will give a talk at the Glastonbury Festival in the morning.”
The message has since been removed, but not after it was spotted and shared across social media.
If it’s true, it means he will join some of music’s biggest names including AC/DC, Oasis, Foo Fighters and Taylor Swift, who are all rumoured to perform at this year’s festival.
5. AirAsia update: black box retrieved
Searchers recover one black box from AirAsia plane, find the other http://t.co/L6uMu9bXSg pic.twitter.com/rTWrC0RV4I — WIS News 10 (@wis10) January 12, 2015
AirAsia QZ5801 search teams made a major breakthrough yesterday after locating and retrieving the aircraft’s Flight Data Recorder (FDR) aka black box.
According to an AirAsia update, the FDR was found under the plane’s wing wreckage 30 metres below surface.
The FDR was lifted and has now been transferred to Jakarta where Indonesia’s National Transport Safety Committee will listen to its content.
Search teams said they still haven’t located the Cockpit Voice Recorder and searches are being conducted around the area.
Yesterday, sea divers also obtained visual confirmation of two large objects, which are believed to be part of the plane.
No additional remains were found yesterday, however, Indonesia’s Disaster Victim Identification crew announced that two previously recovered bodies have been identified.
This brings the total number of identified bodies up to 34, with 14 still being identified.
6. Venice cruise ban lifted
Image: Lukasz Janyst/Shutterstock
Before the ban could even properly kick in, Italy has revoked the limitation on large cruise ships sailing through the centre of Venice.
A cruise ban was introduced last year after a number of incidents, including the death of a tourist, caused by congestion in the canal.
Limits included a complete ban on ships over 96,000 tonnes (such as Costa’s Vista-class ships) from sailing along the Giudecca Canal and St Mark’s basin. Restrictions were also placed on the number of vessels weighing 40,000 tonnes or more to just five per day.
Numerous tourism groups were involved in the overturn, including Venice Passenger Terminal (VTP), which urged Italy’s tribunal to remove the ban until alternative routes were introduced for mass-market ships looking to visit the city.
“We are expecting no cruise ships over 96,000 tonne this year, resulting in a predicted loss of just under 300,000 passengers. We are hoping this decision will induce the government to pass measures to support the return of cruise ships to Venice”
Sandro Trevisano, VTP president
UNSECO’s president of the Italian National Commission, Giovanni Puglisi described the decision as appalling and said public interest should be valued over cruise ships.
Last year, Hollywood stars, fashion designers and leading activists backed the fight against mass-market cruise ships, with over 60 celebrities signing a petition addressing Italian leaders.
Among the celebrities were Cate Blanchett, Rob Lowe, Michael Douglas and Calvin Klein.
The Italian Transport Ministry plans to appeal the decision
7. Etihad rail tracks into second phase
Travellers to the UAE will soon able to visit the region’s various cities without hopping on a plane or in a car.
The UAE’s planned $11 billion Etihad Rail project has picked up speed this week, as the government comes close to sealing contracts for the second and the largest phase of the railway system.
Etihad Rail was launched in 2009 to construct and operate the UAE’s national freight and passenger railway network, with links to Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE cities.
The company’s acting chief executive, Eng Fares Al Mazrouei said at a conference in Muscat this week that phase one – a 264 kilometre track – is complete and is currently being tested, Construction Week Online reported.
The second phase will be 628 kilometres long and offer the first links outside the UAE to Saudi Arabia and Oman.
A third and final phase will link the Northern Emirates with a 279 kilometre track.
Once the project is complete chairman, Nasser Alsowaidi expects it will ‘revolutionise the UAE’s physical and economic landscape’.
Love the idea of railing across the UAE?
8. Holy Ganges! Check out Pandaw’s new sailing
Pandaw Cruises is expanding its river cruising business into India, with a new 16-night ‘The Holy Ganges and The Hooghly Rivers’ program.
The itinerary starts on 27 October 2015 and includes a 13-night cruise aboard one of the newest ships on the Ganges, MV Rajmahal.
Passengers travel from the famous Ghats at Varanasi all the way to Kolkata. Visit the holy Dasaswamedh Ghat steps at sunset for the Varanasi Ganga Aarti spiritual ceremony and explore the city’s intoxicating street life.
After a three-night land programme, travellers board the 44-passenger MV Rajmahal at Sujata Kuti, going ashore along the banks of the Ganges and Hooghly rivers to discover Sikh temples, Buddhist monasteries and a fascinating history along the way.
Onboard the river ship, guests will have access to steamer chairs, a bar, food prepared by expertly trained culinary staff, buffet for all meals and dishes made up of Indian and Western cuisines.
For clients that are interested, Pandaw is offering a 15 percent discount on bookings made by 31 January, with prices starting from US$5,100 per person twin share for an upper deck stateroom.
9. Not again: angry travellers open emergency doors
Image: Bildagentur Zoonar GmbH/Shutterstock
Some travellers seem to have a major misunderstanding of when a plane’s emergency doors can and cannot be opened.
In less than two months three Chinese travellers have opened aircraft emergency exits for somewhat odd reasons.
It all started with a guy aboard Xiamen Air in December last year. He attempted to open the emergency doors just before the plane was due to takeoff.
The passenger’s excuse: ‘I needed fresh air’. Read more
A couple of days after that a passenger aboard a China Eastern flight deployed the emergency slide after the aircraft had arrived at its destination because ‘he wanted to get off the plane quicker’. Read more
Now, two angry travellers (also on a China Eastern flight) have been arrested for opening the emergency exit doors while the plane was taxiing.
According to Chinese police, the travellers had been complaining about delays (the flight was held up due to a snowstorm) and a lack of ventilation in the plane before they decided to take matters into their own hands.
A man with the surname Zhou allegedly opened two emergency exits, which prevented the plane from taking off and forcing it back to the gate.
He along with a man with the surname Li have been placed under 15-day ‘administrative detention’, The Australian reported.
10. Hackers book free holidays, steal flyer miles
Cyber thieves broke into American Airlines and United Airways customer accounts and booked a few free flights.
According to both airlines, the hack wasn’t on their systems, but rather through a third party, which had usernames and passwords for thousands of accounts, NY Daily News reported.
Both companies assured that credit card information and personal information were not stolen.
The hack, which took place in December last year, saw techies not only book trips, but make frequent flyer mile transactions on around three dozen United accounts.
A United spokesperson said customers’ miles would be returned.
Over at American Airlines around 10,000 accounts were hacked, and there were at least two cases were the hackers booked a trip or made an upgrade.
The airline said it has frozen some accounts and is setting up new ones for customers with a minimum of 100,000 miles.
Additionally, American said it would pay a one-year-credit-watch service for the hacked customers.
The source of the leaked login information is being investigated.
Need to Know Extra: Fly New York to London in five hours!
High winds may affect flights across UK airports today. Check your flight status here http://t.co/ecpxhugdFb [06:41 10JAN]
— British Airways (@British_Airways) January 10, 2015
A British Airways plane flew at almost the speed of sound and broke the record for flying from New York to London in just over five hours.
Winds of more than 200mph pushed the Boeing 777-200 to a ground speed of 745 mph, which is just 16mph below supersonic speed.
What’s more incredible, is travellers arrived at their destination an hour and a half ahead of schedule.
A former British Airways pilot told the Daily Mail that getting caught in a jet stream is similar to surfing, he said ‘its extraordinary’ how fast the plane can go.
“You try to sit in the core of the jet where it’s not too turbulent and where you can pick up some free mileage. It’s not unusual to get 100mph tailwinds but they have got more than that.”
Alastair Rosenschein