Filed under: air travel, cheap flights, flights, main, news, perfect flights, travel | Tags: Breaking News
If you’re looking to take a trip into space, now you can. Naples-based Betty Maclean Travel Agency is booking travelers on the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipOne.
For $200,000, you’ll be able to travel into space on a round trip that takes two-and-a-half hours.
“It’s really exciting. It’s a step in history. It’s monumental and we’re really happy we can be part of the whole process,” said Mary Anne Ramsey of the Betty Maclean Travel Agency.
The first trip into space will likely take off late next year or in 2011. Travel agents say you will be weightless in space for four-and-a-half minutes.
Filed under: air travel, cheap flights, flights, main, news, travel | Tags: Breaking News, Business, Pakistan
So far 22 pilots of the Pakistan International Airlines have refused to accept their duties following a text message sent by the Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (PALPA) asking its members not to accept any flights, PIA sources said on Friday.
The PIA had to reschedule four international and one domestic flight due to pilots’ refusal to fly, the sources said.
PIA Managing Director Aijaz Haroon would also be operating flights to overcome the “go-slow and refusal to accept duties by the PALPA members”, the sources said.
They said the PIA management had invited PALPA for discussion on a charter of demands submitted by them but it refused saying that the gross salary of the pilots should be raised by 35 percent before the negotiations, the sources said.
Filed under: air travel, airlines news, cheap flights, flights, main, news, travel | Tags: Breaking News, Business, Sydney, Toronto
It is with regret that Sunwing Airlines is announcing today that it will not be proceeding with its scheduled flights between Toronto and Sydney, Cape Breton during summer 2009. Sunwing Airlines had planned to resume service on June 15, with twice weekly flights offered until September 10. This would have marked the fourth year of Sunwing flights on the route. “Unfortunately our program has been irreparably damaged by the refusal of the Sydney Airport Authority to allow Sunwing to operate into Sydney this summer. Sunwing had started proceedings to obtain a court injunction to overturn the Airport Authorities’ decision. Unfortunately, recent press coverage of the Airport Authorities’ refusal has materially and negatively impacted sales on the route, and the timing of the scheduled court date was too late for us to recover our program for this summer,” said Mark Williams, president of Sunwing Airlines. “The Sydney Airport Authority is acting as a market regulator and we do not believe that they have the right to do so. Sunwing will therefore withdraw its application in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia requesting an injunction and will be immediately commencing a legal proceeding against Sydney Airport, challenging its decision.” Sunwing deeply regrets the inconvenience this has caused to its loyal customers in Toronto and Cape Breton. Sunwing will be immediately refunding all bookings made on these flights for the summer. “We hope that, once these issues have been resolved, Sunwing will recommence service in summer 2010,” added Williams. Sunwing Airlines features the youngest fleet of aircraft in Canada, all Boeing 737s with 189 seats. The low-cost carrier is well-known for including a host of inflight services, such as food and inflight entertainment, that its competitors charge for.
Filed under: air travel, cheap flights, flights, main, news, travel | Tags: Breaking News, Business
Statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown that 50,000 trips were taken to the Baltic country in 2007, which is a marked increase from 2003’s figure of 4,000.
Elsewhere, Slovakia saw a rise in British visitors from 4,000 to 43,000, while Poland saw the number of UK visitors rise from 49,000 to 402,000.
Commenting on the figures, an ONS statement said: “The rise in visits to the new EU member states is part of a general increase in holiday trips abroad by UK residents in recent decades.
“The statistics show that UK holidaymakers made a record 45.4 million holiday trips abroad in 2007, an increase of 56 per cent since 1997.”
It was also revealed that Brits spent £32.3 billion on their foreign holidays in 2007, which is more than eight times the figure recorded in 1971.
Part of Latvia’s appeal is its warm, sunny climate during the summer, which is influenced by the Baltic Sea.
The leading experts in the space business put another nail in the space shuttle’s coffin on Thursday.
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said it’s not safe to fly the shuttle any longer. The shuttle has been flying for 28 years, and experts said it’s difficult to find parts for it anymore. Safety experts said it’s not smart to continue to risk astronauts’ lives, and they said there’s no way to speed up work on the Ares rocket, which will replace the shuttle. That means 3,500 shuttle workers will face layoffs within 17 months, joining other space workers like Kelvin Davis, who is already looking for work. “I put in for one job, a maintenance job that 150 applicants put in,” Davis said. The space shuttle’s last flight is slated for September 2010. The Ares rocket should begin flying in 2015.
