More bad news as the seemingly never ending dispute between cabin crew and British Airways progresses to more threats of strikes.

The recent dispute over the suspension of over 80 staff and sacking of 13 has hindered peace talks between the Union and BA as detailed in my previous blog.

The complications in the talks has lead to a fresh strike ballot likely to be called on Monday for action over the Christmas period. Unite are reluctant to hold the ballot so soon but face pressure from the British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association (BASSA). 

Duncan Holley, BASSA’s branch secretary said in an article in the Telegraph: “We are looking for the green light for a strike ballot next week, which would encompass the Christmas period and there is every likelihood we will be out then.

“It would be prudent for the travelling public to take this into account and make alternative arrangements to ensure their holiday travel plans are not wrecked.

“What we are trying to do is give people plenty of notice this time round. We are also trying to put pressure on BA by hitting their bookings during one of the busiest times of the year.

“Our members are still being suspended and sacked unfairly. In some cases remarks on a private union forum are being treated as bullying.”

The largest commercial aircraft, the Airbus A380, landed in Manchester for the first time today. This huge aircraft can carry up to 517 passengers and is split into two ‘decks’, economy on the lower deck and luxury first class on the upper deck.

The aircraft travels between Manchester and Dubai with Emirates airline; passengers will expect to pay around £600 economy and over £3000 first class for a return trip.

First class boasts a huge amount of space, wide-screen TV and personal satellite phone, a ‘no disturb’ button on the reclining leather bed seat and two large shower rooms (a first for this type of service and an impressive engineering feat).

Many people turned up to watch the aircraft land at Manchester Airport, one told the BBC: “It’s fantastic to see it land for the first time. I think it is a monumental occasion.”

See video of it landing at the BBC Manchester website here.

Ryanair has decided to cut flights between the UK and Belfast at the end of October. The decision comes as Belfast City confirmed that a public inquiry into a proposed runway extension would be further delayed.

Ryanair had threatened the withdrawal earlier in the year as my previous blog detailed, so the move is no real surprise.

In a statement the airline said: “Ryanair had planned to open up a wide range of low fare European routes from/to Belfast City once the promised runway extension was delivered, but this has sadly failed to materialise.

“Today’s closure of Ryanair’s Belfast City base means that Belfast and Northern Ireland tourism will lose up to one million passengers annually.”

Ryanair will switch its one Belfast City-based aircraft to another European airport at the start of November.

Over 80 British Airways cabin crew have been suspended and 13 sacked throughout the time of the strikes and talks between BA and Unite.

Unite say the disciplinary action is ’seriously complicating’ talks to come to an agreement over pay and working conditions. An article in the Telegraph newspaper quoted a Unite spokesman today who said: ”The continuing rise in the number of unjustified suspensions and dismissals is seriously complicating any attempt to bring this dispute to an end.”

A BA spokesman was also quoted: ”Most of the suspensions have related to allegations from other employees of bullying and intimidation. It would be a dereliction of our duty of care as an employer to ignore these.

”Investigations into any allegations are conducted under the company’s disciplinary procedures, which have been in place for many years, are fair, open and transparent and are agreed with all our trade unions, including Unite.”

Talks between the Union and BA to try to settle the long-standing dispute are to be held next week. Unite say that if an agreement is not reached soon then a new strike ballot is inevitable.

Passengers on a flight from Heathrow to Hong Kong were horrified to be played an emergency message which told them they were going to make an emergency landing in the sea. The automated message told passengers “This is an emergency. We may shortly need to make an emergency landing on water.”

Luckily, the message was played in error and the flight was not in any trouble. Cabin crew quickly reassured the passengers that the message was a mistake, but the airline, British Airways has had to make a more formal public apology to passengers.

BA said the emergency message was triggered by a computer. A spokesman for the airline added: “We would like to apologise to passengers on board the flight for causing them undue distress.

“Our cabin crew immediately made an announcement following the message advising customers that it was played in error and that the flight would continue as normal.”

The UK passport has been redesigned with a new security feature – pictures of iconic images from across Britain. The new 10-year passport will be harder to forge as enhanced security features are embedded in the pages, these include pictures of the White Cliffs of Dover, the Gower Peninsular and Ben Nevis.

The personal details page of the passport has been moved forward to the second page in the booklet, which is the case for other passports in Europe, this will help speed travel across borders.

The passports will be available in October and the new security measures include:

- the chip storing the holder’s details will be moved to the inside of the passport cover. It will no longer be visible in this position and makes it much harder to replace without damage to the passport cover being spotted;

- a secondary image of the holder will be printed onto the observations page;

- new designs will now stretch across two pages; and

- a new transparent covering including several holograms will protect the holder’s personal details.

The new passport will cost the same as current passports: £77.50 for adults and £49 for children, more if required at short notice.

There was a slight dip in Ryanair’s punctuality last month. According to its own customer service statistics only 78 percent of its flights were on-time in July, compared with 85 percent in July 2009.

 The airline also received 0.73 complaints for every 1,000 passengers compared with 0.67 complaints per 1,000 last year.

There were fewer baggage complaints however; only 0.37 for every 1,000 passengers compared with 0.7 last year. This could be because of the large increase in baggage fees this summer which must have encouraged more passengers to travel with only hand luggage.

The delivery of Boeing’s latest aircraft, the 787 ‘Dreamliner’, is to be delayed because of a hitch in production.

The first customer, All Nippon Airways, had expected the jet by the end of this year, but it has now been told that it will have to wait until February 2011.

More than 50 customers around the world are waiting for the aircraft, including British Airways, Monarch Airlines, Thomson Airways and Virgin Atlantic.

Boeing said it was waiting for a Rolls-Royce engine which is needed for the final phases of flight testing.

Following on from my previous post on the new $14 visa charge for the USA, ABTA, along with money saving websites, have taken up the call to urge holidaymakers who might visit the USA within the next two years to apply online for their ESTA before charges come in to effect on 8th September.

By applying early a family of four will save $56, approximately £40. All passengers travelling under the Visa Waiver Program must have a valid ESTA to gain entry to the USA.

The charge has been introduced to help fund the promotion of the USA. ABTA Head of Public Affairs Luke Pollard said: “We fully support the US Government’s wish to encourage people to visit their country. However charging visitors $14 each to fund this drive seems a rather odd way of doing so.

“Customers should go online to obtain their ESTA before 8 September to avoid the charge.”

To apply for an ESTA click here.

A new report by Mintel indicates that VAT increases and higher fuel costs which will make holidays more expensive from next year could cause another dip in the market.

“Recovery is not a word that can be applied to the holiday market in the coming five years,” it warned.

“Higher holiday prices due to high VAT will hurt the market as the costs of low-cost flights are increased.”

The spend on overseas holidays is forecast to rise by 17 percent over the next five years, this is much more than it has risen in recent years but this will be because of higher holiday costs.

“In constant price terms, expenditure on holidays will decline by 1.6 percent between 2010 and 2015,” it said. “Changing exchange rates and higher fuel costs will play a major role in holiday prices in the coming years and higher prices will limit volume growth.”

The report also suggests that if low-cost flights disappeared, those most likely to cut down on their travel would be the ABC1 pre-/no family group. The two markets that would be most affected would be overseas city breaks and holiday homes.

The report concluded: “In the coming years, while beach and family holidays will continue to dominate the market, more diversification will be seen in holiday types. Niche products/destinations will see the fastest growth.”