Travel industry news

Premier Travel expands into West Sussex with new managed branch

Hallmark Travel in East Sussex becomes Premier’s fifth managed branch and its 28th location in total

Gold Medal to give agents access to 'thousands' of curated offers

Trade-only operator to give agents tools to filter offers ’left on the cutting room floor’ and use them to develop marketing for their clients

Cruise365 to diversify following £40,000 refurb as chief hints at more shops

The Crook-based cruise specialist agency planned to become an appointments-led business before Covid, but the pandemic forced boss Anthony Blackmore to push the idea back

Mark Tanzer: 'The signs are that Labour understands our industry'

Abta’s chief executive tells TTG’s James Chapple why the industry has a more positive message to spread post-Covid, and why he’s looking forward to working with the new government

Classic Collection inks deal to start packaging Ryanair flights

Classic Collection will start offering Ryanair flights when packaging holidays over the coming weeks

Fears of massive discounting recede as package prices 'hold'

High prices appear to have put some agents’ clients off last-minute getaways this summer, while others have been prepared to pay the premium for some sun following the Euros, the general election and amid the coolest summer for nearly a decade

Gatwick hit by further air traffic control staff shortages

Latest disruption on Sunday (8 September), which carried over into Monday (9 September), prompted Ryanair to once again call for the head of the UK’s air traffic control provider to resign

G Touring to shake up fams next year with largest-ever programme

Travelsphere and Just You promises ‘more in-depth, educational approach’ to fams, which will be tailored to agents’ experience of escorted touring

Abta to host conference call to help members navigate new EU border rules

The call on 24 September will feature representatives from the Department for Transport and Foreign Office

Thomas Cook boss spells out ambitions for brand under new owner

Thomas Cook will expand into new European markets under its new Polish parent, Alan French tells TTG

Package prices resilient amid 'strong late booking momentum' – Jet2

Airline and operator’s package holiday customers up 8% year-on-year this summer and now represents more than 70% of all its departing passengers

Ambassador, Scott Dunn, TTG Media: this week’s travel trade people moves

This week’s travel trade people moves include a new global managing director at luxury outfit Scott Dunn, a string of new faces at Ambassador Cruise Line – and the return of very familiar one at TTG Media

Would agents welcome Ryanair returning to the package market?

After Michael O’Leary teased the prospect of Ryanair starting to sell packages again, TTG finds out whether it is something agents would welcome

Cathay Pacific's Airbus fleet to return to service this weekend

The airline said its grounded Airbus aircraft would start to resume operations from Saturday 7 September with seven out of the 15 affected aircraft already having been fixed

Ryanair ponders return to package market eight years after failed first attempt

The low-cost carrier declined to comment further when approached by TTG, however Michael O’Leary told The Telegraph he ’wouldn’t rule out’ offering package holidays in the future

Cathay Pacific axes dozens of flights following Airbus engine issues

Cathay Pacific has already repaired three of the 15 aircraft identified as having faulty engine components

Agents continue to outstrip steady retail rebound as sector returns to growth

The retail sector finally returned to growth in August for the first time since March, but agents continue to streak ahead, recording their strongest growth in sales since February

Veteran homeworker bags £125,000 cruise booking after parking retirement

Neil Smith, who has been in travel for more than 30 years, more than 25 of which have been with Vertical Travel Group, secured the booking after deciding not to retire when travel rebounded following the pandemic

TTG launches fifth in series of agent-focused destination selling guides

The TTG Belize Selling Guide is the fifth digital travel agent training tool to be added to our series, which launched earlier this year

European airports to reintroduce strict 100ml liquid rule from today

The decision by the European Commission to reintroduce a blanket ban on liquids of more than 100ml being carried in hand luggage comes despite many European airports acquiring next-gen scanners allowing passengers to keep larger volumes of liquid in their hand luggage

Industry veterans Kevin Coles and Andy Speight join forces to launch trade-only brand

Former Travel 2 exec Kevin Coles joins forces with Travelgenix boss Andy Speight to launch new online operator aimed exclusively at agents

What drove Michael O'Leary to take on Europe's 'pirate' hordes?

Publicly, Ryanair would appear to have kissed and made up with many of the OTAs it was not so long ago feuding with – so why has chief Michael O’Leary taken them on, and what does Ryanair stand to gain? Gary Noakes reports

Japan trips continue despite impact of Typhoon Shanshan

Major storm expected to continue to cause disruption to travel in coming days

Singapore Airlines gets go-ahead to take stake in Air India Group

Singapore Airlines will take a 25% stake in Air India Group following approval by the Indian government, cementing the partnership between the two giants