The Week In Travel

London Gatwick’s South Terminal was reopened this week for the first time in nearly two years. The airport has solely been using the North Terminal for the past 21 months due to low passenger numbers as a result of the pandemic. British Airways, Wizz Air, Vueling, Ryanair, Aer Lingus and Norwegian will all be moving their operations to the South Terminal, whilst EasyJet will operate from both terminals. Gatwick CEO, Stewart Wingate, stated the reopening was ‘great news for local communities, families who rely on the airport for their livelihood, and the businesses that depend on a successful airport’.

European airline bosses have called for urgent action as the industry faces back-to-back crises. The heads of EasyJet, Ryanair, Lufthansa, British Airways and IAG came other to request that EU aviation policies reflect the reality airlines now face amidst rising oil and carbon prices. Alongside demands for the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, they called for contingency plans to be put in place for dealing with future variants of the virus.

On the other side of the globe, Air New Zealand has announced a NZ$2.2 billion - around £1.15 billion - recapitalisation package aimed at boosting its post-pandemic recovery funds. The package is comprised of a mix of share offerings and borrowings, which is hoped will position the airline well for recovery, as it expects to continue to make a loss in the near future.

In other news, Hong Kong’s flagship carrier Cathay Pacific is set to operate the world’s longest passenger flight, as it re-routes its flights operating between Hong Kong and New York to avoid Russian skies. As a result of the ongoing war in Ukraine, the route will be changed to fly over the Atlantic Ocean rather than the Pacific Ocean, covering more than 16,600km and taking 17 hours and 50 minutes. Cathay Pacific plans to use a fleet of Airbus A350-1000s to complete the route without refuelling.

A number of British Airways flights have been delayed and cancelled over the past week, with the company citing a ’technical’ failure as the reason. A spokesperson for BA stated that the airline had experienced a technical issue which affected operations and apologised to inconvenienced customers, but many passengers were still quick to take their complaints to social media, with one claiming he was unable to check in for two and a half hours. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled or delayed over the past month due to IT failures, and IAG saw shares drop by more than 3% on Wednesday.

And finally, a Disney fanatic whose new year’s resolution was to visit Disney World Florida once a month has revealed how she funds her obsession – by donating blood plasma twice a week. Originally travelling for just £19 from her Philadelphia home to the park during the midst of the pandemic in August 2020, price soon rose back to pre-pandemic costs, leading to the woman going to extreme measures to make ends meet, bringing in around £380 a week to pay for her monthly excursions.