Business Traveller June 2018

On our cover this month is a picture of the soon-to-be-finished Istanbul new airport. As David O’Byrne discusses in the feature, it has yet to be named, but otherwise the project is on track for an October opening date with many travellers due to be passing through this facility before the end of the year. There are many reasons why countries such as Turkey can plan, approve, build and open a large airport so quickly, but even passing over the pros and cons of other countries’ political systems, there’s no doubt that it throws into sharp relief the current impasse in the UK. As we go to press, there is a chance Parliament might vote on Heathrow expansion this summer; but there’s just as much chance it won’t. Whatever is eventually decided…

DAVID O’BYRNE David O’Byrne, a seasoned reporter based in Istanbul, has worked all around south-east Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. His articles have appeared in the Financial Times, the Independent and The Sunday Times, and he has been a regular reporter for the BBC, France 24 and RTE. He has also written travel articles and guide books, including a large portion of the Time Out guide to Istanbul. A new contributor to Business Traveller, his feature about Istanbul’s soon-to-open airport is on page 32. PERSOLAISE Persolaise is the nom de plume of Dariush Alavi – lifelong perfume aficionado, multi award-winning fragrance writer and author of the Le Snob: Perfume guide book. In addition to editing his Persolaise blog – one of the most respected sources of independent perfume reviews in the…

BRITISH AIRWAYS IS THE LATEST CARRIER seeing disruption because of problems with the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines for the B787-9 Dreamliner fleet. More than a dozen airlines have been affected, including Virgin Atlantic and Norwegian. As a temporary measure, British Airways is wet leasing three Qatar Airways A330 aircraft over the summer (leasing them with crew and maintenance included). These aircraft have a different configuration and don’t have premium economy (World Traveller Plus). It is currently unclear which flights are affected by the substitutions that will take place from the beginning of June until the end of September this year. British Airways told Business Traveller: “Like other airlines around the world, we are carrying out detailed precautionary inspections on Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines on some of our Boeing 787-9s to ensure…

NOBU HOTEL MIAMI BEACH Dubbed as a hotel within a hotel, Nobu Miami Beach occupies the old tower of the Eden Roc hotel, built in the Modern Miami style in the 1950s. The Nobu Hotel Miami Beach offers 206 rooms and suites, each with a natural, beach house feel, from US$469 (£333) a king. As for dining, choose from the Japanese fusion dishes of Nobu Miami, or Malibu Farm restaurants. nobuhotelmiamibeach.com FOUR SEASONS HOTEL AT THE SURF CLUB The Surf Club was a famous resort in the 1930s. The Four Seasons has taken it over and restored it to former glories. Reigning over nearly 300 metres of white sand beach, the hotel boasts 77 guestrooms, starting from US$563 (£399). It also offers private cabanas priced at US$1,013 (£718) per night. fourseasons.com FOUR POINTS MIAMI…

BA HAS ANNOUNCED new direct flights to Durban starting this winter. The thrice-weekly service will launch on October 29, departing Heathrow at 1545 on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, arriving into Durban’s King Shaka International airport at 0535 the following day. The return leg will leave the South African city at 0735 on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, landing back into London at 1745. This will be the only direct service between Europe and Durban, and will be connected by a B787-8 Dreamliner aircraft. BA previously served Durban with a one-stop flight, via Johannesburg, between 1981 and 1999. The route will complement BA’s existing year-round flights from Heathrow to Cape Town and Johannesburg, and the carrier’s winter service between Gatwick and Cape Town. ba.com…

MATTS SKOTT, 51, is director of a European race series called Otillo, which sees competitors running and swimming around lakes and island archipelagos in Sweden, Croatia, Switzerland, Germany and the UK. He also has a holiday home in Brazil, and takes between 40 and 50 flights a year. A Swedish national, he lives in Jamtland County in central Sweden. Your races must take you to some unusual places? Yes, we have races in the Stockholm archipelago, Switzerland’s Engadin Valley and the Adriatic. But the most unusual place I fly to is the Isles of Scilly. To get there I have to fly from my local airport Ostersund to Stockholm, and from Stockholm to London. Then I take a train to Exeter or Penzance before a short flight across to Scilly in a…