Qantas First Lounge Singapore (Image Credit: Qantas)
Qantas has reopened its First Class lounge at Singapore Changi airport.
The lounge has reopened as Qantas restarts Airbus A380 flights between London Heathrow and Sydney, via Singapore.
This is a relatively new lounge. It opened in December 2019 before it closed due to COVID-19.
The lounge has capacity for 240 passengers. Facilities include a la carte dining with menus designed by Neil Perry, an open kitchen and a cocktail bar. There are 10 private shower suites with lighting through a faux sky light.
Artist impression of co-branded American Airlines & BA premium check-in area, New York JFK Terminal 8 (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways has updated its plans to co-locate with American Airlines at New York JFK Terminal 8.
Earlier this year, BA and AA confirmed long anticipated plans to co-locate all flights between London and New York JFK at Terminal 8 from December 2022.
BA’s current home at New York JFK Terminal 7 will close. Terminal 7 will be demolished to allow a new terminal to be constructed on its site.
Airfield, London Heathrow Airport (Image Credit: Heathrow)
Rail services to London airports will be subject to disruption due to strike action by members of The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) over three separate days.
Strike action will take place on Tuesday 21, Thursday 23 and Saturday 25 June. Industrial action will also affect London Underground services on Tuesday. There will also be residual disruption before and after these dates.
Full guidance is available from Network Rail and Transport for London.Online journey planners are now updated with the latest timetable changes. Note some operators have changed their plans since contingency plans were first announced.
It goes without saying that alternative forms of transport will be extremely busy. Advance planning is strongly recommended.
Representatives from airlines, airports, consumer bodies and ground handlers will give evidence. Airline CEOs have, so far, been spared a public dressing down in front of MPs.
As cancellations continue, attention has focused on easyJet. And specifically its Chief Operating Officer Peter Bellow and Chief Executive Johan Lundgren.
easyJet is not alone cancelling flights and maintains it is operating the vast majority of its schedule. But anecdotally it is cancelling more flights at short notice.
Unlike others, easyJet appears not to have pre-empted ongoing disruption and adopted a “hard and early” approach to cancellations.
Note: This article has been updated since first published to confirm that Comair is to be liquidated.
British Airways’ franchise partner in South Africa, Comair, is to be liquidated.
Comair suspended all flights and ticket sales on 31 May 2022. At the time the company advised that it was securing new funds and would restart flights as soon as these were obtained.
Its Business Rescue Practitioners have issued a short statement, today Thursday 9 June, to advise “they no longer believe that there is a reasonable prospect that the Company can be rescued.”
Comair has subsequently issued a statement to confirm that liquidation proceedings have started.
Terminal 4, London Heathrow Airport (Image Credit: Terminal 4)
Terminal 4 at London Heathrow airport will reopen to passenger flights on Tuesday 14 June 2022.
The Terminal closed to departing flights in 2020 as Heathrow consolidated all flights in Terminals 2 & 5 in response to COVID-19.
There were doubts as to whether Terminal 4 would reopen. Before closing, the terminal hosted a relatively small number of flights.
Terminal 4 is not the easiest location to operate at as it is south of Heathrow’s two runways. That said, its reopening will relieve congestion at other terminals.
Terminal 4, London Heathrow Airport (Image Credit: Terminal 4)
Welcome to London Air Travel’s Monday Briefing for the week beginning 6 June 2022.
The Blame Game
Who is to blame for the crisis affecting UK airlines & airports?
The afternoon before the start of the four day Platinum Jubilee weekend, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps – a master of politics – summoned various airlines, airports and ground handling agents to an urgent meeting.
How this helped anyone due to travel in the coming days is anyone’s guess. Quick to get out its side of the story the Department for Transport issued a press release admonishing airlines for their failures. They are threatened with enhanced consumer protection measures, such as automatic refunds for cancelled flights, akin to the “Delay Repay” scheme on the railways.
Over the weekend as short notice flight cancellations continued, a war of words has broken between all sides. And who is at fault?
British Airways’ franchise partner in South Africa, Comair, has suspended all flights and ticket sales with immediate effect.
This will continue until the airline secures new funding.
Comair suspended all flights and entered into a Business Rescue Process in 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic. The company had secured new investment and restarted flights with a smaller fleet of aircraft.
A number of factors have affected its planned recovery. This includes rising oil prices and countries including the UK putting South Africa on the “red list” in December 2021 due to the Omicron COVID-19 variant. This alone was said to have resulted in a working capital shortfall of ZAR 100 million / £5 million.
Comair’s Business Rescue Practitioners have advised for some months that the company needed additional funding. This, along with renegotiating payment terms with lenders, was said to be in process.
Comair issued a statement on the evening of Tuesday 31 May 2022 to advise it has no option but to suspend all flights and ticket sales until new funding is obtained.
