Air and rail travel to, from and within France is being hit today by a 24-hour national strike which is due to end at 5am, Wednesday 8th. The strikes are likely to cause delays and disruption to many services with many travellers left stranded as a result. The French Civil Aviation Authority has limited flights due to strike action by air traffic controllers, however Air France said it plans to operate all long-haul flights, and 90% of short haul flights at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, and 50% of flights from Paris-Orly.
Lufthansa has launched an Airbus A380 flight between Frankfurt and Beijing, serving the city once a week. However, with coordination from Chinese authorities, Lufthansa aims to increase the frequency at a later date. The A380, which bears the name Peking, will fly under flight number LH720 to Beijing and will carry the return flight number LH721. The aircraft is configured with 8 First Class and 98 Business Class seats on the upper deck as well as 420 seats Economy Class on the main deck.
Germany has introduced a new aviation tax that will add €25 on to flights to the UK as part of a package to help reduce the German government's deficit. The tax comes into play with immediate effect on flights booked from today and departing from the New Year. Lufthansa said it was strongly opposed to the tax saying "Such unilateral action will weaken Germany as a base for the aviation industry, and will massively distort competition."
The approach of category 4 hurricane "Earl" to the eastern seaboard of the United States has initiated mass evacuations from coastal areas of both North and South Carolina, with fragile Cape Hatteras looking particularly likely to receive the brunt of the Major hurricane's advance. Winds, which could gust to over 200mph, are currently at a maximum sustained 1-minute speed of 145mph and are predicted to cause widespread damage to infrastructure if the hurricane makes landfall at its current intensity. However, there is hope that Earl will still turn out to the Atlantic over the next 48 hours. But, regardless of the actual track of the Hurricane, travel is expected to be severely disrupted in the region over the next few days.
The world's largest commercial airliner, the Airbus A380, has landed at Manchester Airport for the first time today. The 517-seat double-decker plane, carrying Emirates flight number EK017, arrived from Dubai at just after 1225 BST. Manchester is the first regional airport in the world to be served by the A380 and thousands of people were at the airport to watch the plane come in to land. One spectator was reported by the BBC as saying "This is amazing, once in a lifetime... a world first. It's fantastic see it land for the first time. I think it is a monumental occasion."
Delta Airlines has announced plans to take advantage of British Airways & American Airlines vacated slots at Heathrow. The take-off & landing slots, dropped in order to win approval for BA & AA's alliance, have been targeted by Delta for new transatlantic routes. The services, if approved by both US and EU authorities, would run twice daily to Boston and once daily to Miami from March 27th 2011.
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