City and finance

Abta urges travel to tap unspent Covid grant funding

Hundreds of millions of pounds still available to agents and operators, association says

Fears of new lockdown rise as Covid cases surge to nearly 50k

PM keeping ’close watch’ on soaring rates of Covid infection as half of British adults think there will be a new lockdown by the end of the year

Agents helping UK tourism and recreation sector 'outpace' rest of economy

Growth in UK tourism and recreation sector output outpaced all others in September for the first time since January 2012

Stagecoach extends deadline for National Express deal

Talks ongoing over potential acquisition

Calls to protect MPs and Stansted baggage 'chaos'

Security of politicians placed in the spotlight after David Amess murder, while passengers face baggage system problems at Stansted

MSC Cruises to pay €2.4m in compensation for Venice accident

Incident involved MSC Opera crashing into Uniworld’s River Countess in 2019

Surrey-based specialist operator ceases trading

CAA and Abta confirm failure of Latin America and Asia specialist Atol holder

EasyJet adds winter-sun capacity and claims 'recovery under way'

Budget carrier nonetheless expecting to post group-wide pre-tax loss of some £1.135 billion to £1.175 billion for the year to 30 September

Row over filming Covid tests and red-list reduction

Ministers divided over making travellers film Covid tests while the red list is set to be slashed back

Lib Dems appeal for more support for 'desperate' travel industry

Opposition party calls for “targeted” financial assistance for industry this winter

Travellers to film their own tests and Boris battles business

Holidaymakers could have to video themselves taking tests while PM prepares to give conference speech

Go back to work urges PM and Facebook outage

Johnson to tell workers to return to the office while social media giant goes offline

Traffic light system ends and red-list reduction hope

New travel rules come into effect while the red list could be slashed

Two more operators cease trading as Atol holders

News Travel and Tangent Expeditions have ceased trading as Atol holders on 30 September

Airlines commit to ‘timely’ refunds after cancellations

Carriers including BA, easyJet and Ryanair make promises after talks with the EU

Many agents set to continue working reduced hours as furlough ends

Industry fears another wave of redundancies after government withdraws job retention support

Click Travel parent acquires sustainability consultancy Susterra

TravelPerk said Susterra would help businesses improve their carbon efficiency, reduce costs, and achieve their sustainability goals

Cardiff-based specialist operator ceases trading

Melody Music Company organised trips for choirs and orchestras

Iata temporarily relaxes financial rules for agents

Agents will face less stringent tests for one year due to the impact of the Covid crisis

EasyJet raises £1.2 billion to 'accelerate' Covid recovery

Boss Johan Lundgren said the rights issue would help the carrier ’emerge from the pandemic with renewed strength’

Don’t panic over petrol fuel crisis says govt plus winter lockdown 'unlikely'

Govt seeks to reassure consumers as petrol stations close while British Airways’ plans to launch a new short-haul subsidiary at Gatwick have been shelved

British Airways ends plans to launch Gatwick short-haul subsidiary

Airline has ditched proposal after failing to agree deal with pilots union and will suspend Gatwick short-haul operations

Saga bookings for 2022/23 'ahead of pre-pandemic levels'

Over-50s specialist reports strong demand for future seasons, but warns of ’continued uncertainty in the outlook for the travel industry’

Hopes of US trade deal dashed and Melbourne hit by earthquake

Boris Johnson meets US president Biden at the White House, while the Australian city has been hit by a 5.8 magnitude quake