Business Traveller July / August 2021

Welcome to the July/August issue of Business Traveller. I had been hoping that by the summer we could all be looking forward to a world where travel was getting back to normal. It is not the case. At the time of writing this in mid-June we still don’t know what the next few months will hold. Governments have a difficult balancing act to perform. On one side there is the safety and security of citizens and the need to protect them from the virus. On the other there are the benefits, both national and international, that come with travel. At the moment, at least in the UK, safety is still the main concern, and consequently travel is very difficult other than domestically. Some of you may have been travelling internationally for business, under…

BRITISH AIRWAYS HAS INCREASED the minimum number of seats available for reward redemptions on all of its flights. The extra availability takes effect for flights from July 28 and sees the minimum number of seats in Club Europe and Club World increase from two to four, and in Euro and World Traveller cabins from four to eight. In World Traveller Plus there will now be a minimum of two seats available for reward bookings. BA says more than 250,000 additional reward seats have been added to its booking system. Tom Stevens, BA’s director of brand and customer experience, said that the carrier had listened to feedback from customers, adding: “We hope this means that a family holiday, or that big friendship group trip away, will be much easier to book using Avios.”…

UNITED HAS SIGNED an agreement with Boom Supersonic to buy 15 of its Overture aircraft. The deal – which includes an option for a further 35 – would see the carrier purchase the aircraft “once Overture meets United’s demanding safety, operating and sustainability requirements”. Overture is scheduled to be rolled out by Boom in 2025, take flight in 2026 and carry passengers by 2029. It is designed to fly at speeds of Mach 1.7 – twice the speed of current commercial jets – which would potentially halve the journey time on United’s New York Newark-London route to three and a half hours. United is the first US airline to sign a commercial agreement with Boom Supersonic – the company also has pre-orders from Japan Airlines and Virgin Group.…

GERMANY’S TWO BIGGEST AIRPORTS have reopened terminals to passenger flights as demand increases. Frankfurt Terminal 2 resumed passenger operations on June 1 for the first time since March 2020. The airport has used the downtime to carry out “extensive upgrades, repairs and modernisation projects”. Munich (pictured) reopened its Terminal 1 on June 23 after the airport recorded its highest daily traffic figures in more than nine months, with about 400 flights and 36,000 passengers on a single Sunday. All carriers that had temporarily been relocated to T2 have moved back to T1, with the exception of Eurowings.…

TWO MORE CARRIERS have ceased flying as a result of the pandemic. Stobart Air operated flights for Aer Lingus Regional under a franchise agreement but terminated all services in mid-June. The collapse has affected 12 routes in the UK and Ireland, including from Dublin to Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow and from Belfast City to Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh. Belgium’s Air Antwerp also ceased all flights in June. The airline was formed by Cityjet and KLM in 2019 following the demise of fellow Belgian carrier VLM, and launched its inaugural route to London City in September of that year, using a Fokker 50 aircraft.…

HILTON HAS REBRANDED its Doubletree by Hilton London Westminster property under the group’s Curio Collection portfolio. Located on John Islip Street, the hotel is now known as the Westminster London following “a multimillion-pound” conversion. It has 464 rooms and suites with floor-to-ceiling windows, 50-inch TVs, Nespresso machines and “giant high-pressure rainfall showers”. Food and drink options include STK Steakhouse, with its own bowling alley, and Bao Yum Café. Other facilities include a 13th-floor gym with Thames views and five meeting rooms.…