Travellers entering the Channel Tunnel on Eurostar at the French end will now be greeted by a set of Olympic rings measuring 31 ft by 15 ft. The symbol has been fixed to the tunnel near Calais, and took a team of rock climbers two nights to assemble. The rings were constructed in Lille, and [...]

An estimated 4.25 million travellers are expected to go abroad for the festive period as the annual getaway begins. In addition to this, the AA has said around 18 million drivers will take to the roads over the period. A joint survey conducted by the motoring organisation and Populus shows that 68 per cent of [...]

The National Audit Office has been asked by the transport select committee to examine the details of the tender process which saw Derby-based Bombardier lose out to Germany’s Siemens over the contract to build rolling-stock for the Thameslink project in London. The deal is worth £1.4 billion. The choice has caused a great deal of [...]

Premier Inn owner Whitbread has so far shown remarkable resilience to the economic downturn. Leisure and business travellers have been turning to the Premier brand and its affordable rooms, and Costa Coffee has also performed extremely well. However, this week, the firm said that it was noticing a marked slowdown in business, and has blamed [...]

A British-based airline seat manufacturer could soon be owned by France’s Zodiac Aerospace SA if approval for a deal is sanctioned by competition regulators. Contour Aerospace Ltd, based in Cwmbran, is expecting contracts to be signed at some point in early 2012. The company employs 1,000 people in Cwmbran, and has a base in Surrey, [...]

easyJet founder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has formed a partnership with joint-founder of lastminute.com, Brent Hoberman, to launch a new car-sharing operation. At some point next year, the pair expects to launch a website on which private car owners will be able to advertise their vehicles and rent them out at times when they are not [...]

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson has confirmed that he will be looking closely at a scheme to open branches of Virgin Money at railway stations between London and Scotland. The entrepreneur is currently attempting to retain the franchise for Virgin Trains on the route up the west coast. Other firms also keen to win the contract [...]

A British scientist has developed a device which he hopes will allow airlines to avoid having to ground their fleets whenever there is volcanic ash in the atmosphere. The system works by using thermal imaging cameras which have been tuned to be able to identify silicates in the air, the product of volcanic eruptions. It [...]

Entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has promised to give passengers superior service on the west coast line between London and Glasgow if Virgin Trains wins the 14-year contact to run the route from the government. He added that it was important that the government did not repeat the mistake it made by awarding the east coast [...]

As the government announces that Air Passenger Duty will go up by 8 per cent from next April, British Airways has said it will be cutting the number of staff it will be taking on in 2012 from 800 to 400. IAG, the parent company of BA, said that the cuts were a direct result [...]