Watch out if you’re flying with Ryanair this weekend, as passengers could be hit with a £60 per person charge if they fail to check in earlier than normal.

The airline is closing its website from 10pm on Friday and all day Saturday for an upgrade, plus the check-in service will be unavailable from 4pm on Friday. Despite this inconvenience to its customers, Ryanair has confirmed that it will not waiver the £60 (or €60 outside the UK) charge if passengers are unable to check in and print their boarding passes themselves.

Ryanair says it is contacting all passengers travelling this weekend to inform them of the news. This will not be very helpful for those already on holiday who may be taking a break from looking at emails in order to relax. These passengers may only find out about the fee when they get to the airport.

Dan Plant, MoneySavingExpert.com money analyst, said: “All websites need a bit of downtime for maintenance now and then, but to wallop every unsuspecting customer with a £60 charge if they don’t spot this in time is absolutely outrageous.

“Spare a thought for all the holidaymakers who have turned off emails to relax, who may not receive Ryanair’s message and face having to empty their wallets at check-in.

“To not allow any exemptions for this is a spectacularly poor show.”

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said: “As ‘Manage my Booking’ will be unavailable during this website closure, we have advised all passengers due to travel over the coming weekend to check-in on Ryanair.com before 4pm on Friday.”

The airline’s policy states however, that passengers must print off their boarding passes at least four hours before their flight departure to avoid the fee. This will of course, not be possible this weekend.

It might also be prudent for those travelling on Sunday to check in and print off their boarding passes early in case the website upgrade overruns.

Have you ever set off on a 10-hour flight, settled down without the distraction of your mobile phone or computer, but then realised that you really need to get in touch with someone? It’s frustrating when that happens because of course you can’t use those devices, until now. Virgin Atlantic claims it will become the first British airline to provide passengers with a service to make and receive phone calls in flight.

The airline said that the service is in response to the demand from customers, who will now be able to send and recieve texts and access the internet via GPRS. Initially it will only be available to O2 or Vodafone networks, and will be billed international roaming charges.

Director of corporate communications Greg Dawson said: “We have listened to what customers want and connectivity in the air is always on the wish list. Many people will have experienced that moment when you”re about to take off on a 10-hour flight and you need to send an important message to the office, or even reminding a family member to feed the cat!”

 It will be available in all cabins on Virgin’s new A330 aircraft on flights from London to New York, but the service is primarily aimed at business travellers. By the end of 2012, nearly 20 aircraft will provide the service, including the airline’s B747 aircraft, which are currently going through a £50m refurbishment.

There are some restrictions however, only basic web access is possible through the GPRS service, and it cannot be used during take-off or landing, or within 250 miles from US airspace to adhere to American laws.

It has been confirmed that IAG has sold BMI Regional for £8 million cash by Aberdeen-based aviation consortium, Sector Aviation Holdings. The sale includes all the airline’s fixed assets and long-term liabilities, including owned and operating lease aircraft.

If the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approves the sale, ownership is expected to be transferred to SAH within two weeks.

IAG acquired the airline, together with Bmibaby, as part of its purchase of BMI last month and had been looking offload it since. There was much speculation that it would have to close the airline if a buyer was not found quickly, putting around 330 jobs at risk. The fate of Bmibaby still hangs in the balance, however, as a buyer is yet to be found.

IAG chief executive Willie Walsh said of the sale: “This deal provides a future for BMI Regional and should secure around 330 jobs”.

The Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association (SPAA) has welcomed the news, particularly the reports which say the new owners plan to develop the route network.

SPAA President Kevin Thom said: “There is real strength-in-depth in the new ownership and management team of BMI Regional.

“The new owners are known for their commitment to the area, and it augurs well for the future of this vital network of business and leisure air services from Scotland’s northeast, and for the job security of several hundred hardworking employees.

“It’s an excellent outcome – for Scotland’s travellers and the Scottish economy – and one that we warmly welcome. We’re confident our Members will do all they can to continue and strengthen their long-established support of BMI Regional, under the new ownership.”

The Immigration Services Union (ISU) representing 4,500 immigration staff, and the Public and Commercial Services Union representing 13,000 Border Agency Staff are to join public sector workers in a strike against the new retirement age next Thursday.

The ISU has only gone on strike once in 30 years, stating that it is “a moderate, non-political union. We prefer dialogue to strike action, agreement to discord.”

However, it argues that the government’s plans to raise the age of arresting officers to over 65 is not fair and could affect their health. It said: ”Members cannot work until their late sixties. Their jobs are too physically demanding. Arresting offenders and working a shift pattern impacts on their health.”

Despite the ballot in favour of strike action, it is uncertain how many ISU members will actually join in. Less than a third of all members voted, and of that, only 73% voted for the action.

Heathrow in particular has been hit with damning reports of people having to wait up to three hours to get their passports checked this week, so any amount of workers who go on strike will likely worsen the situation.

The Public and Commercial Services Union represents 1,000 workers at Heathrow. Spokesman Richard Simcox said: “We will be striking and it will either cause more delays or lead to untrained staff waving people through without proper checks.”

According to The Times, it has emerged that plans to recruit 300 extra staff to tackle the current long queues at airports, especially Heathrow, has not been met favourably by ministers. Immigration Minister Damian Green is worried about the political consequences of hiring such a number only shortly after cutting 800 frontline border control jobs as part of Government spending cuts. A further 700 staff are due to go by 2014-15.

The proposals will be looked at by other officials however, but no decisions will be made until the new head of the new Border Force has assessed staffing levels. In the meantime, staff from Manchester airport have been flown down to Heathrow to help ease queuing times.

A ray of hope for staff at BMI Regional as it looks like there may well be a buyer for the airline. Currently owned by IAG as part of its deal to buy BMI and Bmibaby earlier in the month, it was looking doubtful that either of the smaller airlines would get a buyer.

IAG made it clear that it did not intend to keep loss-making Bmibaby or Regional and intended to offload the airlines as soon as possible or close them down, causing many redundancies.

According to a BBC report however, the Aberdeen-based consortium, Granite Aviation, is said to be at an advanced stage of talks for BMI Regional for around £20 million.

BMI Regional is based in Aberdeen and currently employs more than 300 people.

In further news; speaking at the World Travel and Tourism Conference in Tokyo, IAG chief executive Willie Walsh said the airline could be looking to purchase no more than ten percent stake in JAL. There has been no formal contact so far, but he said if it went ahead it would be a way to cement a relationship.

Tourists that go to the Netherlands to sample more than its great art and culture could be disappointed next year as a ban on tourists going to cannabis cafes is being considered.

According to a BBC report, a judge in the Hague district court  is deciding on whether the proposed ban can go ahead.

The ban is being opposed by a group of coffee shop owners, who say it would be discriminatory, and by the Mayor of Amsterdam, where around a third of the city’s tourists visit to go to the cafes.

Under the proposal, Dutch residents will be allowed into the cafes if they have identification or a ‘weed pass’.

The IAG purchase of BMI and its subsidiaries BmiBaby and BMI Regional concluded last week. A report in the Sunday Times said that it could have paid as little as £20m, over £150m less than the originally agreed price to buy only BMI in order to take the two loss-making airlines off Lufthansa’s hands.

IAG said it was not interested in operating Bmibaby and Regional and intended to sell them, however it now seems unlikely to find a buyer for either so may have to close them down, putting around 800 airline jobs at risk.

IAG chief executive Willie Walsh told the BBC that the company is reviewing all options, so talk of job losses was premature.

“These are airlines that Lufthansa struggled to sell but we are going to make an effort to sell them,” he told the BBC.

Virgin Atlantic is appealing against the European Commission’s approval of IAG’s takeover of BMI.

A new extension to the new terminal at London Southend Airport has been approved by Rochford Council. The extension is to boost capacity to around two million passengers a year by 2020 and will create 300 new jobs.

Construction will start later this year and will extend the terminal building by 90 metres, holding more check-in desks, baggage drop off points and security screening channels.

The airport is proud to claim that outbound passengers take no more than four minutes to pass through security, and arriving passengers will be from plane to the train within 15 minutes. A stark contrast to Heathrow Airport, which had passengers waiting over two hours at immigration earlier this month.

London Southend Airport managing director Alastair Welch said: “We are very pleased that Rochford Council has indicated they support this extension, which will ensure that we are able to maintain the high levels of customer service we intend to be the hallmark of London Southend Airport as our passenger numbers grow.

“This is also further evidence of the role the redeveloped airport is playing in supporting the regeneration of the wider economy.”

Ryanair will serve Poland’s newest airport, Warsaw Modlin from October 2012.

Flights will leave three times a week from Liverpool airport to this popular location.

Robin Tudor, head of PR for Peel Airports said: “Warsaw is an important European capital city popular for both leisure and business markets.”

Year-round Easyjet flights from Birmingham to Belfast are to go on sale on 23rd April.

Initially this will be a daily service between Birmingham and Belfast International, but it will increase to 12 flights a week from 29th October.

Vueling is to reintroduce flights from Edinburgh to Barcelona this summer. Flights are already on sale for the three times a week service due to start on 23rd June.