British Airways launches Newquay flights in snub to Flybe



Less than four weeks after the troubled regional airline, Flybe, controversially revealed it was ending its flagship link from Newquay to Heathrow airport, British Airways has announced it will serve the route this summer.

BA will assign an Airbus A320 jet to the 210-mile route for five round-trips per week between 2 July and 7 September.

This compares with 28 services a week currently being operated by Flybe – which launched the Newquay-Heathrow link to great acclaim in March 2019.


But Flybe confirmed last month that it will switch flights back to Gatwick. The Heathrow slots are rumoured to be used by Flybe for a new route to Dusseldorf – in competition with British Airways.

Richard Thomasson, Newquay airport’s interim director, said: “With such a major global carrier we will be able to offer our passengers one-stop access to the world, while worldwide investors and tourists will benefit from an easier connection to our stunning county.” 

BA’s move will provide extra seats between London and Cornwall during the peak summer season, but the timings are awkward for connections. The Saturday morning service leave Heathrow at 6.40am, then spends over two hours on the ground at Newquay before returning at 9.55am.

Sunday’s departure from Heathrow is at 7.10pm, but returns at 10.35pm – too late to connect with any flights from the UK’s busiest airport.

During the week, there will be flights on Monday and Friday evenings, and on Thursday mornings.

The British Airways move can be seen as an opportunistic use of spare capacity at a time when alternatives to road and rail are in demand. But it may also be interpreted as a snub to Flybe, which is currently negotiating for a UK government loan to keep flying.

The Independent has asked Flybe for comment. The regional airline is soon to be rebranded as Virgin Connect.

British Airways last operated a short-lived link between Gatwick and Newquay in 2007-8.



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JetBlue founder to launch new US domestic airline



Airline bosses who have given me lifts would actually be a shorter book than Lifts I have had on (or in) agricultural vehicles.

The synopsis comprises only Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair; Tim Jeans, when he was managing director of Monarch; and David Neeleman, founder of jetBlue.

The first two were in very comfortable Mercedes; the last, in a battered pick-up truck. 

David Neeleman is unlike other airline bosses in many ways: he is a practising Mormon; he has 10 children; and he keeps starting successful companies.


I met him in the Connecticut town of Darien – where, appropriately, he was exploiting a gap in the market.

This was where he created jetBlue, demonstrating the latent demand for a low-cost, high-quality carrier based in New York with a strong presence in Boston. Before that Mr Neeleman had co-founded, aged 25, a charter airline called Morris Air based in Salt Lake City; and helped launch WestJet, Canada’s highly successful budget airline.

Since he dropped me with a smile at Darien railway station, he has created Azul, a leading Brazilian airline; rescued TAP Portugal; and, this week, announced that his latest new US domestic airline is to be called Breeze.

You might imagine that the last thing America needs is another carrier. The giants – American, Delta and United – are already engaged in a ferocious air war against formidable lower-cost airlines such as Southwest, jetBlue and Alaska Airlines.

Add a couple of Ryanair-like ultra-low-cost carriers, Frontier and Spirit, and it is difficult to see any Darien-like gaps in the dense jungle of competition.

But David Neeleman believes he has found some. This week he told the Salt Lake City newspaper, Deseret News: “Right now, we see some pretty gaping holes in the industry.”

He is trawling through hundreds of city-pairs that do not yet have any direct flights. At present, travellers between (say) Albuquerque in New Mexico and St Louis, Missouri, have to change planes at Chicago, Dallas, Denver or Houston – even though the two cities have a million inhabitants between them and are less than 1,000 miles apart.

There are many other under-connected airports in America, such as Jacksonville in northeast Florida – which lacks direct links to key cities including Boston and New Orleans.

Mr Neeleman is betting that passengers in “cities that aviation forgot” will happily pay a premium for nonstop flights, bypassing the giant hubs with all the extra time and stress they involve.

So he has ordered 60 brand-new Airbus 220s aircraft for delivery starting next year. They are well-pitched in capacity just below the Airbus A319 and Boeing 737-700, with sound economics.

In the meantime Breeze is leasing 30 Embraer 195 planes from (conveniently) Azul, which will enable David Neeleman to test the concept.

This is an industry where most start-ups fail, and many investors lose millions. Frequent flyers’ addiction to the mileage schemes run by the network carriers can be difficult to overcome.

There are plenty more hazards ahead – notably bigger rivals matching routes and undercutting prices, either as “spoilers” or waiting while Breeze builds up a market and then moving in.

But Mr Neeleman says he has an edge: friendliness.

“Twenty years ago, we brought humanity back to the airline industry with jetBlue,” he says. “Today, we’re excited to introduce plans for ‘the world’s nicest airline’.”

He is already in a three-way tie for the “world’s nicest airline boss”.



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23 factors to do in Myanmar


Myanmar is a cultural gold mine: the plains Bagan which are strewn with hundreds of temple ruins Mandalay and Yangon are heaving with colonial buildings and glittering stupas Inle Lake is a location of heart-halting natural beauty the golden sands of Ngapali provide a quirky Myanmar seaside holiday getaway the distant islands of the Mergui Archipelago are small-known gems to escape to. Rudyard Kipling wrote that Myanmar is ‘quite as opposed to any land you know about’, and this even now pretty a great deal applies now and luxurious tailor-created holiday seasons to Myanmar can be hugely rewarding. Study on to explore our leading 23 Issues to Do in Myanmar:

Shwedagon Pagoda

Myanmar’s most sacred Buddhist site is the famed Shwedagon Pagoda, a glittering 2,000-year-outdated pagoda, in the coronary heart of Yangon. Take a look at the pagoda at sunset when its gold-leafed area is emblazoned by the location sunshine and the intricate arrives alive with area people today from the metropolis and holidaymakers from afar. There are typically many choices and blessings with exclusive costumes happening around the stunning, circular stupa also, which are fascinating to witness.

Discovering Yangon

Whilst exploring Yangon, base you at Belmond Governor’s Residence, a agency vacationer favorite, and devote the afternoons enjoyable by the reflective pool with a refreshing cocktail and a superior reserve.

temple-Shwedagon Pagoda

See the Temples

Bagan is a actually astonishing landscape with more than 4,000 ancient temples and stupas scattered throughout the jungle laden plains. Climb a viewpoint at sunset, and the temple-strewn landscapes are assured to fill you the two with awe and non secular serene.

The Reclining Buddha

Stop by the graceful and most revered reclining Buddha whilst in Yangon. The astonishing size – this Buddha is more than 269 metres extensive – is definitely a sight really worth marvelling at.

Reclining Buddha

The Irrawaddy River

Hop aboard the RV Paukan and journey up the Irrawaddy River. This spacious, boutique boat is a great way to choose in the river, as you float earlier rural riverside villages, and with around 30 crew associates to take care of you, you can be sure you are going to have a fantastic time.

Trip a Sizzling Air Balloon

Love a dawn incredibly hot air balloon journey more than the temples of Bagan, with amazing sights over hundreds of historical ruins and pagodas which peek out from this distant jungle. The dawn sunlight provides Bagan to lifestyle, finding out aspects on the intricate stupas and temples – no two of which are the similar. It’s a truly unforgettable working experience when you 1st established eyes on these historic temples in their multitude, stretching all the way to the financial institutions of the Irrawaddy River. This, in our impression, is the very best way to value this archaeological marvel.

bagan-Hot Air Balloons

Choose a Burmese taxi

Hail a taxi Burmese fashion! Get to grips with an strange system of transportation in Mingun, in which a bullock and bamboo cart taxi waits to acquire you to your next spot.

Verify out the Mingun Pagoda

Head ten kilometres up the Irrawaddy River and be rewarded with the arresting sight of the breathtaking white Mingun pagoda, with its abnormal wave-like terraces.

mingun pagoda

See the Mingun Paya

Admire the continues to be of what would have been the world’s biggest religious monument, Mingun Paya. Perform was halted on this tremendous structure in 1838 by a devasting earthquake.

The Inle Lake

Inle Lake is a spot of heart-halting beauty… Keep at a hotel on the financial institutions, like Sanctum Inle Vacation resort or Inle Princess, and glide by means of the water on a long-tail boat, observing the special method of rowing with one particular leg utilised by the Inle fisher-folk.

inle-lake

Keep at the Inle Princess

Admire the reflections in the crystal-distinct waters of Inle Lake from the privacy of your balcony in a Lake House at the charming Inle Princess. Not only does the Inle Princess give amazing views about the lake, the chalets are more that at ease too, with spacious bedrooms and private terraces.

Learn the customs

Understand about the fascinating regular customs in a regional home on the shores of Inle Lake, and understand how to roll a cheroot model cigar, created from crushed tobacco and wrapped in tree leaves.

myanmar-cigar

Satisfy the locals

Be welcomed by warm and welcoming locals at each transform and explore additional about the tiny-identified minority villages that bank on the shore of Inle Lake, especially the tribeswomen who insert rings to their necks to give the impression of ‘long-neck ladies’.

The New Moon Pageant

The New Moon Festival is an exciting time to visit and is celebrated in Myanmar (ordinarily in November) with standard outfits, processions and choices. If you are blessed plenty of to witness a competition in Myanmar, you’ll notice the cities get pretty chaotic and the Burmese are in a playful mood!

festival-goers Burma

The Marionette Clearly show

If you get a likelihood, look at a standard Marionette show applying hand-created puppets, a customary age-aged amusement in Myanmar.

Learn Burmese educational institutions

Stop by a school for nuns in Amarapura, which is a intriguing experience. Myanmar is definitely packed with amateur monks and nuns who are absolutely concentrated on their scientific tests of ancient Buddhist scripture. The willpower and faith of the Burmese people today is really really touching.

girl-burma school

Sail around the islands

The Mergui Archipelago, a team of 800 islands scattered in the Andaman Sea off the western shore of Myanmar’s distant south, is 1 of the past untouched and unspoilt tropical destinations still left on earth. Sail around the very little-known archipelago in style, on the smooth and attractive catamaran, Meltimi.

Go to the Royal Palace

A pay a visit to to the large Royal Palace while staying in Mandalay is really encouraged. Wander via these ornate moat walls to find the ‘Forbidden City’ which consists of teak palaces, throne halls and pavilions.

mandalay

Test an eco retreat

Remain at Wa Ale, the attractive new eco-luxe retreat. Tucked away on a 9,000-acre privately-owned island in the Lampi Marine Countrywide Park, Wa Ale is intimate and truly remote, with a sturdy focus on responsible and sustainable tourism. Surrounded by shorelines with pristine white sand, lapped by very clear, relaxed waters Wa Ale is the best environment to take it easy and examine the wilderness. With these kinds of a eager concentration on conservation, a share of Wa Ale’s gains is selected for various conservation initiatives in the Lampi Marine Countrywide Park, such as Sea Turtle Conservation and Coral Security as properly as charitable donations to instruction and professional medical packages for the local group.

Head to the seashore

Visit Ngapali, Myanmar’s extended-standing beach front vacation resort, with a huge and inviting stretch of golden sand. It’s the fantastic place to unwind just after a chaotic program of temple tours and even greater, you nevertheless won’t uncover far too many tourists here.

myanmar Beach

Vacation to Kalaw

Escape the warmth of the coastline and vacation to Kalaw, a awesome and charming colonial hill station, and admire the wide variety of veggies and flora developed in this luscious and fertile local weather. Although in Kalaw go to the Environmentally friendly Hill Valley Elephant Camp, exactly where doing the job elephants are retired and cared for.

Discover about Myanmar heritage

Learn the delights of Pyin Oo Lwin, a scenic hill town in the centre of rural Myanmar. Find out far more of its colonial past from properties that continue to exist from the British colonial rule in Myanmar.

myanmar-rural

Take a look at the Botanical Gardens

Just take a horse and cart, unique to Pyin Oo Lwin, and stop by the wonderful Botanical Gardens which prosper in this neat weather.

James Jayasundera is Founder and Handling Director of Ampersand Travel. Ampersand Journey create bespoke and lavish travel ordeals to Asia, the British Isles and Southern Africa.

If you would like to be a visitor blogger on A Luxury Journey Site in buy to elevate your profile, please call us.





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Vienna to give free concert and museum tickets to public transport travellers



Vienna will reward those who opt to travel by public transport, bike or on foot over going by car.

The Austrian capital is launching a new app on 26 February that will track users’ mode of transport and calculate the CO2 saved compared to driving.

Users will collect “culture tokens” when they travel car-free, with 20kg of CO2 saved granting travellers one token.

Tokens can be exchanged for free tickets to four cultural venues in the city: a museum, an art exhibition space, a theatre and a concert hall.


Initially the app will be trialled by just 1,000 users for six months. If successful, the scheme will be rolled out to the entire capital when the trial is over.

“We want to reward CO2 reduction with a cultural experience,” Vienna city council member Peter Hanke told local press.

In 2019, Vienna was ranked the most liveable city in the world for the 10th year in a row.

The Austrian capital topped the Mercer Quality of Living Survey, whose 2019 ranking was dominated by European cities. Thirteen out of the world’s 20 best places to live were in Europe.

Mercer’s annual index ranks 231 cities around the world on factors including political stability, crime, personal freedoms, healthcare, education, housing, recreation and public transport.

Vienna is known for its famous coffee houses, the soaring single spire of St Stephen’s Cathedral and the grandiose facade of Schönbrunn Palace. 

But the real draw is the way in which the city is constantly evolving and striving to make its residents’ lives better, according to local resident Natalie Marchant. 

“Quality of life is a core focus for local and national government alike,” she wrote in a piece for The Independent. “The city has excellent infrastructure and social care, health and education systems, but is also committed to the cultural wellbeing of its residents.”



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Photograph of the 7 days: Hildesheim, Germany


The town square of Hildesheim, Germany, is the poster boy or girl for, perfectly, poster excellent (or photo-postcard excellent as the saying goes).

Property to beautiful half-timbered buildings, a magical, superb Current market Square, two UNESCO Earth Cultural Heritage-listed Romanesque church buildings, and wonderful you-have-to-see-them-to-think-them Egyptian Antiquities in the Roemer-Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim is surely deserving of its bucket record status for travellers the environment about. Generating this picturesque put all the much more spectacular nevertheless? The actuality that on March 22, 1945, just about all of Hildesheim’s old town, like the city sq. and the developing pictured below, was destroyed in an Allied air raid.

Photo of the Week: Hildesheim, Germany

Named Knochenhaueramtshaus (or the Butchers’ Guildhall), the building pictured on the remaining is quickly the most photographed of all of Hildesheim’s famed half-timbered houses. Initial developed on the Historic Industry Area in 1529, the first burned down, alongside with the relaxation of the square, in the aforementioned air raid for the duration of the Second Entire world War. What you see now is a reproduction, rebuilt in 1986. What stood listed here between 1945 and 1986, you ask? Sacrilege. That is what.

In the a long time immediately just after the Second Environment War the Historic Market Place was rebuilt to ‘modern’ specifications and surrounded by soulless concrete structures. But with the resurrection of the wonderful Knochenhaueramtshaus, alongside with its 7,500 picket pegs and 19,000 roof tiles, came a wave of similar restorations. Quickly other buildings were resurrected, which include the Bäckeramtshaus (Bakers’ Guildhall) and the Wedekindhaus, a patrician residence from the late 16th century.

The stop result? A restoration to its former glory, together with a rebirth as a single of the most Instagrammable spots on earth. Significantly from the finish of November to the finish of December, when it serves as the fairytale backdrop for an idyllic Christmas current market.

Even if you’re not the snap-delighted type, there is a great deal in Hildesheim to continue to keep you happy. As talked about, it is also house to two UNESCO Planet Cultural Heritage-mentioned Romanesque church buildings: Hildesheim Cathedral, formally acknowledged as the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary, or simply St. Mary’s Cathedral and the close by St. Michael’s Church.

And then there’s the rose… The Thousand-12 months Rose.

Also recognized as the Rose of Hildesheim, the rose climbing the wall of the jap apse of St Mary’s Cathedral is believed to be the oldest residing rose on the earth. Twenty-a person metres (69 ft) tall and nine metres (30 ft) huge, it’s thought that this wild pet dog rose was established by King Louis the Pious again in 815. And even however this cathedral way too was entirely destroyed by the Allied bombers that took out the Market Sq. in March 1945, the roots of the rosebush somehow survived and she blossomed among the ruins again.

According to widespread legend, while the rose bush prospers, Hildesheim will prosper. Why hold out to see nevertheless? There is no time like the current to go to Hildesheim, and her rose, in all their photo-fantastic glory. (Leading suggestion: to see the rose blossom your self, visit towards the end of Might, when she exhibits her complete-bloom glory for about 14 times.)

If you have a actually unique photograph you would like to share with A Luxurious Vacation Weblog‘s audience, please get in touch with us.





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The world’s best public transport system revealed



No one enjoys driving more than my friend and colleague Douglas Bolton. No one enjoys driving less than I do. And other road users fail to enjoy my driving, too.

Therefore an arrangement whereby Douglas drives and I occasionally intervene as a human satnav works well. This week, while he negotiated the idiosyncrasies of California’s stretch of Route 66, I appreciated the views.

On a dark desert highway, the conversation – like the “Mother Road” – takes many turns.

Douglas pondered: “Which country has the best public transport system?” Soon afterwards, he regretted asking; I set about analysing the question and the answer over many, many miles.


These are the edited highlights.

First, define “public transport”. While arguably scheduled flights could be included, I limit it to terrestrial links. And “best”? Value and reliability are the key parameters, with speed and integration also critical.

Immediately you can exclude much of the planet. In North America, most big cities have decent metropolitan transport but the rail and bus links between them are lamentable; at Victorville, California, the mission-architecture-style Greyhound bus station beside Route 66 opens only between 10am and 2pm and not at all at weekends.

Australia and New Zealand are similarly misconnected.

Latin America has let its railways rot. While long-distance bus links are mostly excellent, a cross-town journey in Guatemala City, Bogota and all capitals to Santiago is usually a nightmare.

The lone star in Africa is Morocco, where a new high-speed railway connects Tangier with the capital, Rabat, and the main commercial city, Casablanca.

In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia’s high-speed line between Jeddah and Medina may yet lure travellers out of their air-conditioned 4x4s, but there is little sign of that happening so far. Dubai sets the local standard for public transport with its ever-extending Metro, but the UAE as a whole is a land that public transport mostly forgot.

In Asia, India’s rail network is unmatched in its scale and has the highest usage, as anyone who has been on a rush-hour train into Kolkata will testify. But the country’s first proper high-speed railway, between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, is still at least two years away.

While China has poured money into the planet’s best high-speed rail network, city transport has failed to keep pace. In contrast, the city-state of Singapore has superb internal transport but lousy external links.

I pronounce Japan and Korea joint winners in Asia. The global prize, though, is heading for Europe.

The UK ranks ahead of much of Europe thanks to having some really good rail fares (though many really bad ones, too) and “sweating the system”: extracting maximum capacity from a Victorian network.

Competition between coach operators Megabus and National Express is also far more ferocious than in other European countries.

Switzerland and the Netherlands win bouquets for their efficiency, reliability and integration, but the cost is painfully high. The same applies to Scandinavia, though Norway picks up points for the hyper-subsidised Hurtigruten ferry serving isolated coastal communities.

Talking of subsidies: from next month, Luxembourg makes its public transport the best value of any country in the world, by declaring trains, trams and buses free. But links with neighbouring nations remain poor.

The high-profile runner-up is France, which began Europe’s high-speed rail revolution and has also (re-)invested heavily in trams. But locations off the TGV network suffer from erratic trains, and the amount of strike disruption is ludicrous.

So the winner is: Germany, where integration is everything: trains and trams dovetail, and buses roam on roads less travelled. The new year brought a 10 per cent reduction in longer-distance Intercity-Express train fares. And if they still look too expensive, you can get astonishing value by sticking to slower Regional Express services.

Germany is surely also the private-mobility champion. You can drive as fast as you like on the autobahn. Unlike Route 66.



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