The Week In Travel

London Heathrow Airport has this week announced it has increased its forecasted number of passengers for the year, now expecting to welcome a total of 81 million travellers by the end of 2024. The hub has reported record breaking numbers of passengers in this year’s first quarter, announcing a 9.5 percent increase on the numbers for the same period in 2023.

For those who prefer to travel by train, Eurostar has announced new ‘unified’ classes of travel. The rail giant unveiled three travel classes which will be available on journeys across its network in the UK as well in mainland Europe in France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. The new classes are called Eurostar Standard, Eurostar Plus and Eurostar Premier, and will offer passengers varying levels of price and comfort to suit any journey.

Staying in Europe, Iberia has this week introduced facial recognition technology in Spain for passengers boarding flights between Barcelona and Madrid. The new biometric service debuting at Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat will eliminate the need for travellers to show documents, allowing for a much more simplified process when passing through security and the boarding gate.

In airline news, Lufthansa’s new short-haul subsidiary Lufthansa City Airlines will commence operations on 26 June, with a flight from Munich to Birmingham. The new airline, which was announced last year, will operate short-haul flights for Lufthansa from its main hubs at Munich and Frankfurt. Lufthansa City Airlines will initially operate flights from Munich to the domestic destinations of Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Cologne and Hanover, and select international services to Birmingham, Manchester and Bordeaux.

And finally, a dog has been reunited with his owners in Wales after month spent in Australia. Milo, a Jack Russell cross, escaped from an airport handler at the time his owners boarded their return flight home to Swansea from Melbourne. We’re glad to hear he’s ‘bark’ home safely!