WA Shearings, one of the UK’s leading holiday companies, is set to re-brand in a move that is hoped will broaden it’s appeal to a greater audience. The holiday and hotels company that has traditionally specialized more in holidays for the mature customer plans to re-brand with a more contemporary design. Karen Gee the Sales & Marketing director for the company said that in recent years, the company had worked hard to develop it’s product to be more than just a coach tour operator for the over 50s and the re-branding was needed to reflect these changes.

Customers who fly to Spain with First Choice airways and Thomas Cook airlines during the winter season are being encouraged to recycle the aluminium drinks cans used on the flights.

The scheme that has been organised by The Travel Foundation with the help of Spanish airport authority AENA estimates that around 14 million cans will be recycled in the scheme saving an enormous amount of energy and helping to protect the environment.

The link between Heathrow airport and the island of Jersey has been restored after a seven year break. The twice daily service which started on the 25th of March and operated by BMI takes the place of the old British Airways service that operated on the route all those years ago.

A campaign to attract visitors back to the island was kick started by the Jersey Tourism office with a £250,000 poster campaign. Millions are being spent on the island to upgrade properties and to build new attractions and facilities such as luxury spa centres to attract new visitors to the island.

The new poster campaign backed by BMI is being aimed to attract familys and younger travellers and to shake off the old Saga generation image. David de Carteret, the director of tourism for Jersey said that the Island is trying to promote itself as more of an adventure tourism destination that includes activities such as sky-diving and surfing.

De Carteret said that online enquiries are up 30% year on year for last month with further increases expected as the new campaign gathers pace.

Ever fancied yourself as an astronaut? well your dream could become a reality by the end of this decade. With the removal of a major stumbling block. Bupa, the well known insurance provider, have confirmed that it would now offer insurance for space customers after the removal of a major stumbling block.

With insurance premiums of around £20,000 making up a fifth of the overall estimated flight cost of around £100,000, it probably wont be long before premium costs start to fall as other insurance services follow suit.

Virgin Galactic, a leader in the pursuit of space tourism claims that its space ship could be ready for launch by 2009 following around 100-plus test flights that they plan to conduct over the remainder of 2007 and 2008.

It’s hoped that as time passes and the safety of this new form of space travel is proved, the insurance and flight costs will fall bringing the prospect of space flight a little closer for many people.

So get ready, money, tickets, passport, spacesuit!

Thomsonfly is to add a number of new destinations to it’s program starting from just £19.99 on the 28th October.

The new programme from Cardiff airport will add Jersey, Barcelona and Gran Canaria to Thomsonflys existing schedule, prices are said to include all taxes and charges.

A £3 charge that is to be levied on all passengers flying from Norwich airport has been criticized by the Scottish Passenger Agents Association (SPAA).

The fee that is to be introduced from the 2nd of April is to help fund the £18 million re-development of the airport facilities as set out by Richard Jenner, the managing director of Norwich International Airport.

The SPAA secretary has written a letter of complaint to Norwich International airport and has described the introduction of the £3 charge as “outrageous”

The possibility of a further tax hike on air travel in the form of VAT has been ruled out in the recent budget.

Gordon Brown commented that the measure had “not been properly thought through”. This decision is sure to bring a sigh of relief to the air travel industry who feel that they are being unfairly targeted for environmental reasons.

GB airways, the franchise partner of British Airways is to continue operating flights under the BA Connect branding after BA sold it’s BA connect to Flybe, the low-cost airline.

The airline that operates from Manchester airport will fly to Paphos in Cyprus, Salzburg and Tenerife while the service from Bristol airport will fly a twice weekly service to Tenerife.

London City airport is due to start offering 15 weekday flights to Zurich, the largest Swiss city. Cityjet the subsidiary of Air France, Swiss International Air Lines and BA CityFlyer all plan to add additional flights from London City Airport to existing services or set up new services to the city.

An £18 million five year development plan has been set out to upgrade and improve almost all areas of Norwich International airport including check-in and retail facilities, better airport parking, new taxiways and new equipment for passenger and aircraft handling.

As from April 2nd, each passenger will be charged £3.00 when leaving the airport, the fee which has been defended by Richard Jenner, the managing director of Norwich International airport, will be paid at vending machines and would go towards the investment plan for the airport.

With passenger numbers predicted to increase from 450,000 passengers to nearer 800,000 this year, It’s clear to see that existing facilities like the Norwich airport lounge and the nearby Norwich holiday inn airport hotel will benefit from the investment and re-development of the airport site.