worlwide travel insurance

Travel, airline and airport news from APH
Travel, airline and airport news from APH

• APH brings best value airport parking convenience to north England
  You can now pre-book your airport parking through APH at Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield Airport and at Durham Tees Valley Airport. The new parking deal will enable holiday makers and business travellers alike to enjoy all the benefits of airport parking services – at both airport sites. Sharon Kenny, APH’s marketing head, said: “The addition of these two airports to our portfolio means we can now offer great savings for independent travellers at every major holiday airport across the UK. We pride ourselves on providing the right product for each and every customer, and this deal goes a long way to ensure we are doing just that.” The two airports are owned by Peel Airports Group. The deal was forged with Peel to sell their parking space at Doncaster and Durham after the success of APH’s existing agreement with them spanning seven years of airport parking at Liverpool Airport’s Long Stay car park. The car parks include the Robin Hood Long Stay Car Park at Doncaster and the Durham Tees Valley Park & Stay Car Park. Doncaster’s Robin Hood Airport is the UK’s newest airport. It has now handled 2.85 million passengers since opening in April...
• Airport expansion gets go-ahead
  Stansted Airport in Essex, UK has been given the green light to expand.  Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon made the announcement in a written statement to Parliament. Permission to expand the site was orginally refused in 2006, on grounds of noise and environmental concerns, but a public enquiry was held, in which airport owners BAA said it would put measures in place to control, manage and minimise predicted impacts on the local environment. BAA wants to increase passenger numbers from 25 million to 35 million a year, and up the number of flights leaving the airport from 241,000 to 264,000 a year. Unions say the move will bring more jobs, but objectors still feel the expansion will decrease their quality of life. Stansted boss, Stewart Wingate, said the decision was "great news" for passengers. Members of the Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) campaign group have held a long-running campaign against the plans. BAA...
• T5 hotel promises luxury
  If your idea of an airport hotel includes fine dining and five star luxuries then the forthcoming opening of the Heathrow T5 Sofitel could answer your dreams. The £180 million Sofitel London Heathrow is set to become one of Europe’s largest airport hotels when it opens in June 2008. It will connect directly to T5 by a link bridge and Albert Roux is in charge of its menus at Brasserie Roux. The hotel has been designed with five towering steel and glass atriums and its interior design includes work by the company that decked out the Burj Al Arab, Dubai, and Four Seasons Hotel, Hong Kong - KCA International Designers. Each of the 608 bedrooms is individually styled and has triple glazed windows - to help make sure of a good night’s sleep. If you fancy a bit of grandeur then the Imperial Suite offers 165 square metres of space. There will be a spa area with 24-hour gym, treatment rooms, sauna and steam room, and there’s a 117-seat tiered theatre complete with cinema projection....
• Go green at Heathrow with Park Inn
  After you've parked at Heathrow, you might like to salve your environmental concerns by opting to stay at the Park Inn Heathrow. That's because this 881 room property is the first hotel at the UK's busiest airport to receive a silver award for environmental practice from the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS), which operates a sustainable tourism certification scheme across Britain. Park Inn's responsible business programme aims to reduce negative environmental impacts, as well as outlining responsibility for employee and guest health and safety, and wider social and ethical issues. The GTBS grades businesses on energy and water efficiency, waste management, biodiversity and other green factors.
   
   ...
• SkyTeam opens co-branded lounge at Heathrow
  If you're travelling from Heathrow with one of the 'SkyTeam' Alliance of airlines, you'll soon be able to take advantage of what sounds like a plush new SkyTeam alliance lounge. As SkyTeam carriers relocate to Terminal 4 at Heathrow, they are also planning an impressive new lounge. The airlines in the Alliance are Aeroflot, Air France, Alitalia, Continental Airlines, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean Air and Northwest Airlines. Spokesman Giorgio Callegari said: "SkyTeam understands that airport lounges are more than just waiting rooms for frequent travellers. They serve as a home-away-from-home for passengers awaiting departure - a place to work, relax, dine or catch up on reading. In planning the new lounge space, SkyTeam is focusing on offering customers a superior experience that meets their individual needs." Opening in autumn 2008, the multi-level co-branded lounge will occupy a space of 1,500 square meters and have around 325 seats. The space will be completed and the second floor open in spring 2009, in conjunction with the relocation of the remaining alliance carriers. And if you're travelling with a SkyTeam airline before this new...
• Star (Alliance) studded lounge now at Heathrow
  Star Alliance customers flying from London Heathrow Terminal 1 can now make use of the alliance’s largest lounge. The facility is for first and business class passengers, invited guests and Star Alliance Gold Card holders travelling on any member carrier from Terminal 1.
   
  “The opening of a Star Alliance lounge in a major hub airport such as Heathrow is a major benefit to our member carriers and their customers,” said Lee Hock Lye, Vice-President, Products & Services, Star Alliance. “Rather than own separate lounges and incur duplicate construction and operating costs, Star Alliance lounges save the airlines money, and give customers a high-quality experience in a comfortable environment that is much larger and with more amenities than the carriers could provide on their own.”
   
  The lounge provides 1,650 square metres of space and is located in the international departures area near the flight connection desks in Pier 3. It features more than 300 seats in separate first class and business class sections, food service areas, two business centres with computers, printers, faxes and Wi-Fi Internet access, shower facilities and a special area for...
• Card holders offered the chance to lounge
  While many of us are feeling the effects of the credit crunch, and trying notr to use our credit cards, card provider Diners Club has just provided a great new way to reward its 6.5 million cardholders worlwide - by opening 18 exclusive lounges at 14 airports across the UK. If you've got a Diners Card, you can take advantage of complimentary hot drinks, snacks and alcohol, newspapers and magazines. The cardholder club lounges are now open at London Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted airports, as well as Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds Bradford and Newcastle.
  
  There is also a new Diners Club presence at the four main Scottish airports - Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness.
  
  The lounges, operated by Servisair, also give Diners Clunb cardholders the chance to watch television and access phone, fax and internet services. The card provider now has a network of 123 lounges worldwide.
  ...
• More space to lounge at London City Airport
  We’d all rather be on the plane than waiting in departures - but London City Airport is soothing some of the pain by p