This year we have made two donations, one to Cancer Research and the other to Woking Hospice, in lieu of sending out Christmas cards to our corporate clients.
We hope you will understand our reasons for doing so and would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our customers a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2015, from all at Global Travel Management Limited.
The pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit has announced a strike for all Lufthansa short-haul and continental (Europe) flights departing between 12.00 CEST on December 1st to 23.59 CEST on December 2nd, and for all intercontinental flights departing between 03:00 CEST to 23:59 CEST on December 2nd.
During the strike period disruptions of Lufthansa flights are expected. Lufthansa is currently working intensely on a special timetable for the strike period. All flights operated by the Lufthansa Group airlines Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Germanwings, SWISS and Air Dolomiti (operated by OS, SN, 4U, LX, EN) will not be affected.
Please contact us (GTM) if you are due to travel during the aforementioned times and we will assist you with re-booking.
Much of the UK and Northern Europe will experience high winds and heavy rain today, Tuesday 21st October, as a result of the tail-end of Hurricane Gonzalo.
British Airways has agreed with a request from Heathrow Airport and National Air Traffic Services (NATS) to reduce its schedule at Heathrow as there will be a lower number of aircraft allowed to land each hour for safety reasons.
Other airports around the UK have also reduced the number of aircraft they are able to handle. Please remember to check in online for your flight and ensure that we (Global Travel Management) have your contact details.
We will also be in contact with you directly if your flight is one of those affected/cancelled.
Lufthansa pilots have called a strike for Monday, triggering a new wave of flight cancellations. The walkout at Europe’s largest airline comes just as Germany recovers from a major train strike over the weekend
In their latest battle to keep early retirement benefits, Lufthansa pilots have announced a 35-hour strike beginning early Monday afternoon, the eighth such work stoppage to hit Europe’s largest airline in less than half a year. The walkout, called by the pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit, is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. local time on Monday and last until 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday. Lufthansa has cancelled 1,450 short and medium-haul flights, grounding more than 130,000 passengers.
Travelers should visit Lufthansa’s website to check whether their flight has been cancelled. Passengers facing a flight cancellation can book an alternative connection free of charge or exchange their ticket to travel by train. Lufthansa has asked all travellers to check their flight status prior to departure.
Long-haul services affected by the industrial action include all Lufthansa flights on Airbus A380, A340 and A330 planes, as well as any national flights on Boeing 747s, the union said.
The short- and medium-haul flights on the Airbus A320 family, Boeing 737 and Embraer-made planes will be cancelled during the strike.
The strike will not affect Lufthansa’s international subsidiaries Swiss and Austrian Airlines.
Please check before departing for the airport as if you are booked on a Lufthansa flight then it is highly likely to be affected. Please contact us for more information.
Ebola screening will start at Heathrow Airport today, with Gatwick Airport and Eurostar terminals following next week.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said passengers from at-risk countries will have their temperature taken, complete a risk questionnaire and have contact details recorded.
The Chief Medical Officer said the risk to the UK is low, but expects a ‘handful’ of cases. However, the screening is expected to cause disruption to all passengers. Dr Ron Behrens, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the benefit of airport screening would be “very small”, while there would be disruption to “large numbers of people”.
“It appears not to be a scientific decision but a political one,” he said to the Telegraph.
Screening at Heathrow Terminal 1 will begin today before being extended to other terminals. The Department of Health estimates that 85% of all arrivals to the UK from affected countries will come through Heathrow.
Border Force officers will identify passengers to be screened. Nurses and consultants from Public Health England will carry out the testing. Passengers deemed at high-risk due to contact with Ebola patients, but with no symptoms, will be contacted daily by Public Health England.
‘Highly visible information’ will be in place at all entry points to the UK, Mr Hunt insisted.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “The welfare of our passengers and colleagues is always our main priority and we are working with Government to support the implementation of the screening measures as announced by the Health Secretary today.
“We would like to reassure passengers that the Government assesses the risk of a traveller contracting Ebola to be low. We would encourage anybody with individual questions or concerns to refer to guidance from Public Health England and the Foreign Office.”
A number of our flights have been delayed or cancelled this morning due to operational difficulties.
A combination of high winds, thunderstorms and lightening across the south east of England on Thursday 9 October has led to some knock-on delays as a result of short-haul crews and aircraft being out of position around Europe.
The disruption to our services may continue throughout the day as more thunderstorms have been forecast for this afternoon.
Please contact your airline to confirm your flight details before departing for the airport, or contact us for more information.
We are once again extremely excited to be exhibiting at Office* (at Olympia) for a second year running.
This year’s show is on the 7th & 8th October next week. For Office14 we have a number of exciting new services which we would love to talk to you about, the main one being though, our brand new app which will soon be available from the App Store.
So, why not come along and see us at stand 5031? You can also speak to us about our PA Dashboard service and enter a competition to win £100 worth of beauty products.
We look forward to seeing you there!
The Federal Aviation Administration in America hopes to have Chicago’s fire-damaged air traffic control centre repaired and returned to full service by Monday 13th October.
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled since a fire broke out early last Friday morning in the centre in Aurora, Illinois. Other control centres have handled many of Chicago’s flights while repairs are being made.
At midday yesterday more than 550 flights were cancelled at O’Hare and another 50 at Midway Airport. The FAA has stated that it is steadily increasing the number of flights arriving and departing at both airports.
The FAA said that air traffic controllers managed about 60 per cent of normal traffic at O’Hare yesterday and more 75 per cent at Midway.
First the good news: Air France’s main pilots’ union has announced the end of a crippling two-week strike, held over the airline’s plans for a low-cost subsidiary.
The SNPL’s spokesman told AFP that pilots were ending their protest – which has cost Air France more than 200 million euros ($A270.49 million) – so that negotiations over its low-cost subsidiary, Transavia, can go ahead “in a calmer climate”.
The pilots are fighting for a “single contract” across Air France-KLM, and its subsidiaries, to avoid being forced to accept less attractive working conditions at Transavia, which serves holiday destinations across Europe and the Mediterranean.
Now the less good news: pilots with Germany’s flag carrier, Lufthansa, will stage yet another strike, this time affecting long-haul flights tomorrow, Tuesday 30th September; their latest walkout in the ongoing dispute with the company’s management over early retirement provisions.
The pilots’ union, Vereinigung Cockpit, called on its members to strike on long-haul flights departing from Frankfurt between 0600 and 2100 tomorrow. The strike would affect services on Airbus A380, A330 and A340 and Boeing 747 aircraft, the union said.
This is the fourth time that Lufthansa’s pilots have ‘downed tools’ in recent weeks. The first strike at the end of August hit Lufthansa’s low-cost subsidiary Germanwings. The second walkout a week later affected domestic and regional services, landing at or taking off from Frankfurt, and the third stoppage targeted Munich airport, Germany’s second-busiest air hub.
Lufthansa pilots can currently take paid early retirement from the age of 55. They are fighting a plan by the airline to raise the minimum age and to involve pilots in the financing of their pensions.
Air France’s pilots have voted to continue their industrial action yet again, the strike will now run until 30 September.
A commercial policy is in place to assist passengers whose flight’s have been affected and does permit re-booking and refunds.
We (GTM) will monitor all of our customer’s flights and advise them the moment we receive an update from Air France.
