New direct service launches on the 12 December 2017

We’re excited to announce that we are launching a direct flight between London Heathrow and Barbados. The new, twice weekly service will launch on 12 December 2017 to help make Christmas in the Caribbean a reality for even more holidaymakers. Flights will go on sale from Monday 27 February.

The new flights will operate on Tuesdays and Saturdays as part of the winter 2017 schedule and will be operated on an Airbus A330. This new service means that we will now offer up to 11 Barbados flights per week from three UK Airports (Gatwick, Manchester and Heathrow).

In addition Virgin Atlantic’s recently extended codeshare agreement with FlyBe will mean that customers from Scotland can now easily connect from Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports to Barbados via London Heathrow.

“The Caribbean has always been a core market for Virgin Atlantic and so we’re excited to announce we’re offering more choice to our customers with the option of flying from Heathrow, Gatwick or Manchester direct to Barbados.” – Shai Weiss, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic

We have seen a strong demand for Upper Class and Premium Economy cabins on Barbados flights which is why we took the opportunity to utilise an A330. This aircraft will be fully configured with 33 Upper Class, 48 Premium Economy and 1185 Economy seats, allowing more customers to experience our award winning service.
 

Around 200 flights were cancelled ahead of a strike over pay by ground staff at Berlin’s two airports expected to start later on Thursday.

There were 146 cancellations at Tegel and 54 at Schoenefeld airports and 12 flights were redirected to other German airports, a spokesman for Berlin’s airports said.

Trade union Verdi has called for walk-outs at the two airports from 1500 GMT to 2100 GMT. A strike on Wednesday last week led to more than 130 flights being cancelled.

Verdi wants an increase in pay for ground staff to 12 euros an hour from about 11 euros as part of a one-year collective agreement. Ground staff jobs include checking in passengers, loading and unloading planes and directing them on the tarmac. The union described as “insufficient” management’s offer of a four-year deal, which foresees a rise of 1 per cent each year, or about 10 cents an hour.

The employers, a group of airport ground services providers, said in a statement the renewed strike was “incomprehensible” as talks were still ongoing. The next round of pay talks is due to take place on Friday.  Berlin’s airports are served by carriers including Air Berlin, Lufthansa, easyJet and Ryanair among others.

Virgin Atlantic has cancelled a ‘handful’ of flights in April and May, blaming ‘operational constraints’.

The airline said flights to and from Atlanta, San Francisco and Orlando will be affected, TravelMole Media Group reports.

“We constantly review our flying programme and identified that during a peak period we may face operational constraints,” the airline said.

“Rather than risk any delays to customers on the day of travel, we have taken the necessary steps, now, to ensure that we can minimise disruption.

“It’s never our intention to disappoint our customers, and we’d like to apologise for any inconvenience caused by this change. We’ve offered everyone a choice of alternate flights, or a full refund if they no longer wish to travel.”

It said it was working closely with partner Delta Air Lines to accommodate as many customers as possible.

Taxi drivers and metro workers threaten to go on strike in Barcelona between 27 February and 2 March

La Razon reported taxi drivers and metro workers from TMB, the main public transport operator in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, are threatening to go on strike during the next edition of the Mobile World Congress, which will take place in Barcelona from 27 February until 2 March, 2017.

Last year Barcelona Metro workers staged a two-day strike coinciding with the biggest mobile industry convention in the world, disrupting thousands of visitors.

British Airways has pledged to fly all passengers to their destinations through two sets of forthcoming strikes by cabin crew.

The airline plans to run more than 99% of all services from Heathrow, with a “very small number” of short haul flights being merged during next week’s planned three-day walkout from February 5.

This will mean some people will travel slightly earlier or later in the day than originally booked, according to the airline.

“We are contacting those customers with the options available to them,” BA said.

The airline revealed reiterated its stance against union claims of “poverty pay” for mixed fleet cabin crew.

“More than 9,000 cabin crew, represented by a different Unite branch, today voted overwhelmingly to accept the deal,” BA revealed.

“Our pay offer for mixed fleet cabin crew is consistent with deals agreed with more than 90% of British Airways colleagues, including many Unite members.

“The offer also reflects pay awards given by other companies in the UK and will ensure that rewards for mixed fleet remain in line with those for cabin crew at our airline competitors.

Heathrow long haul flights and services to and from Gatwick and London City airport are planned to operate as normal during the industrial action being taken by Unite union members of BA’s mixed fleet crew on February 5-7.

“The details of our schedule for February 9–11, when the union has proposed further industrial action, will be confirmed on Thursday,” BA added.

“We will again ensure that all our customers travel to their destinations.”