Easter travel plans could be disrupted if baggage handlers vote for strike action next week. The GMB union is balloting 150 members employed by Swissport at Stansted Airport over changes to working patterns.

GMB says the changes will require baggage handlers to travel an additional 13 times a year to work, which will increase transport and childcare costs. The imposed changes to shift patterns will cost on average of £1,000 per year for each worker, claims the union.

GMB organiser Gary Pearce said: “The GMB shop stewards have been meeting with Swissport since January. GMB has offered several alternative shift patterns and working arrangements but the company refuses to listen.

“The company is intent on imposing these changes without agreement and this is completely unacceptable.”

Swissport handles 11 airlines at Stansted, including Monarch, Ryanair and Thomson Airways.

“Swissport claim they have lost work on the Ryanair contact at the airport. GMB baggage handlers have seen no evidence of this,” said Pearce.

He added that Swissport have also claimed that they are losing money on the contract, but they have failed to give GMB evidence to confirm this, leading members to question whether it is true.

The results of the ballot will be announced next week on 29th March. If the result is in favour of a strike then it looks likely to happen over the Easter weekend.

So far there have been no statements issued by Swissport.

Iberia photo by Flickr user Andres Rueda

24 new strikes dates over March, April and May have been announced by Iberia’s pilots union.

This is the latest industrial action in a dispute with parent company International Airlines Group over its plans to create Iberia Express, a new budget airline due to launch on 25th March.

The strike dates will be: 16, 19, 23, 25, 26 and 30th March, 2, 4, 9, 13, 16, 20, 23, 27 and 30th April, and 2, 4, 7, 11, 14, 18, 21, 25 and 28th May. Flights by Air Nostrum, Vueling and those under code shares will not be affected.

Iberia has expressed regret for any inconvenience the action will cause and will notify customers of cancelled flights and offer alternatives (where possible) as soon as it can. There will also be procedures for changing tickets or obtaining refunds put in place.

The airline said: “Iberia regards this strike call by SEPLA as an intolerable challenge to the company and to Spanish society at large, given the highly negative economic and social impact not only on the airline and its employees, but also on the travel and tourism industry as a whole, and on Spain’s reputation for credibility and solvency.

“The company appeals to its pilots, and particularly those who do not support the union’s suicidal position, to abort this strike and return to the table to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.”

It has been reported by the Wall Street Journal online that the Spanish government is mediating the dispute as it will impact on the high season of tourism during Holy Week in April if the strikes go ahead.

Over 20,000 passengers have been left stranded after Barcelona-based airline, Spanair cancelled 647 flights due to financing problems.

Options are being offered by UK based low cost airlines, Easyjet and Ryanair to passengers hit by the cancellations. Spanair also said it was working with Vueling, Iberia and Air Europa to find alternatives for passengers.

The airline made the decision to cancel flights when applications for government-backed loans fell through and talks with Qatar Airways about taking a stake in the company ceased.

The airline said it was finalizing an agreement with IATA to get refunds for those with tickets that had yet to travel; and a statement on its website advised customers with reservations to contact their credit card company, insurance company or travel agency.

The Spanish government says it is taking legal action against the airline for suspending its flights without proper warning, a case which could result in a 9million euro fine.

Spanair was the country’s fourth largest airline, and this situation has led to suggestions that Europe’s debt crisis may spark airlines from the Mediterranean to the Baltic to consider mergers or risk failure.

There is growing opposition to the European Commission’s Emission’s Trading Scheme (ETS), which came into force at the beginning of the year.

China has already threatened legal action and declared it will not cooperate with the scheme. The most recent opposition has come from India, who has warned retaliatory measures are being considered. A meeting between delegates from the countries against the ETS is to be held in either New Delhi or Moscow in the near future, the result of which could affect flights to hundreds of destinations.

Chris Goater, a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said: “Retaliatory measures have been mentioned, and they must be avoided. It could result in a patchwork of different taxes on aviation, with airlines being taxed by two or three different governments. Airlines already have incredibly thin profit margins, so they could certainly result in higher air fares.”

The cost of the tax is being passed onto customers, as this month, Ryanair introduced a fee of 21p (€0.25) per person per flight to cover the cost of the ETS. A spokesperson for the airline, Stephen McNamara, warned that if other airlines hold off doing this, then they will be forced to raise their prices sharply when they finally do, which will impact more so on customers.

Lufthansa said it expects the scheme to cost it around £109 million this year, and has increased its fuel surcharge on European and long-haul flights by £2.50 and £8.40 respectively.

Flights have become much more expensive already with the introduction of the Air Passenger Duty Tax, billed as an environmental tax when it was introduced in 1994. There are calls for this to be lowered to offset the new ETS.

What do you think about the ETS? Please leave comments in the box below.

It’s unlucky for those of you planning to go to Belgium on Monday (30th January), as there is a planned general strike which will disrupt travel services. The strike of public and private sector workers coincides with the EU summit in Brussels.

Ryanair is advising passengers to check its website for information as it might have to cancel all flights to and from Brussels Charleroi Airport.

“If we are forced to cancel flights a list of affected flights will be published on our homepage on Friday 27th January,” it said.

Eurostar announced this morning that services to and from Brussels will be cancelled from 22:00 CET on 29th January to 22:00 CET on 30th January. Trains will only run to and from Lille Europe station, but there will be a limited coach service from there to Brussels Midi stations, however these are likely to be very busy.

Eurostar will allow exchanges free of charge regardless of ticket conditions, but subject to availability.

Last week there was a battle between Jet2.com and new start up airline JetXtra.com as Jet2 issued a solicitor’s letter to the other airline to warn that it would take legal action if JetXtra did not drop its name by last Thursday at 4pm. Jet2′s reasoning for this action is that it believes that members of the public might mistakenly believe that both companies were the same or related in some way because of the similarity in their names.

JetXtra was to launch flights from its Humberside Airport base to Palma and Malaga in June. Jet2 is based at Leeds Bradford Airport, 78 miles away.

JetXtra director Daniel Reilly said: “It is absolutely absurd that Jet2, a well known and generally respected airline is attempting to disrupt our services, I cannot believe they would resort to such dirty tactics to stop a new company which poses no threat to them from entering the market, especially at a time when our country is desperately in need of enterprise and job creation.

“The only similarity between our companies is the word ‘jet’, our logos and websites are completely different and Jet2 operate from Leeds Bradford Airport, serving and targeting a different market to that of jetXtra.com.”

In a twist to the situation, JetXtra has been ordered by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to stop selling flights to prevent the sale of unlicensed tickets. JetXtra had advertised that flights were covered under its partner company, CCT’s Atol. CTT holds a licence to carry just 620 passengers in the year to September and only 150 this summer, when JetXtra hopes to carry 9,000 passengers.

A CAA spokesman confirmed the reasons for stopping sales: “CTT sought permission to trade with JetXtra.com. We have not yet approved that and until we do it cannot sell holidays. We would not allow a company to sell seats it does not have a licence for.” The spokesman confirmed: “This has nothing to do with Jet2.”

However, JetXtra claimed on its website that they had stopped sales because of Jet2′s letter: “JetXtra.com have been told by the CAA . . . that until a decision is made by Jet2.com in relation to any legal proceedings, the JetXtra.com trading name will not be allowed on to the Atol licence of CTT Group.”

JetXtra’s director Daniel Reilly said: “Any customer who has already booked should not be concerned as this decision to temporarily halt trading will not affect their booking or financial protection offered under the CTT Group Atol.”

Lufthansa is to sell another of its budget carriers (last year IAG agreed a binding purchase of BMI), this time bmibaby. Lufthansa has started talks to sell the carrier to German turnaround specialist Intro Aviation, according to a report on Bloomberg.com, the chief executive, Peter Oncken, is looking at the business in detail.

Lufthansa confirmed talks were ongoing “with several interested parties”. It’s been agreed that IAG will get a discount on the agreed purchase price for BMI if Lufthansa fails to offload bmibaby.

Ryanair is to open new bases across Europe this year, including one in Manchester, which will create many extra jobs.

For the first time there will also be a base in Billund in Denmark, Wroclaw in Poland, Palma in Spain and Paphos in Cyprus.

The airline is looking to recruit more pilots, cabin crew, engineers and sales and marketing personnel. Its fleet will expand from 270 to 305 aircraft in 2012 in expectation of 80m passengers this year, a 4m increase on last year.

For details on how to apply, go their website.

Luton airport is hoping to increase its capacity from 10 to 18 million passengers annually, and create a further 6,000 jobs.

The local council has been looking at ways to increase capacity and jobs, and is expected to be given the go ahead as the Government are keen to increase airport capacity in the South East without adding runways.

Councillor Robin Harris, chair LLAL, the company that owns the airport on behalf of Luton borough council said: “We’re at the very beginning of a journey that builds on the tremendous success we have seen through the last decade and will ultimately bring huge benefits to Luton and the wider region – with jobs and much-needed income.”

Cllr Robin Harris said: “We will consult actively and listen carefully ahead of submitting a planning application but we must be ready to embrace market demand in the future. The benefits that will flow from the airport’s development will be realised in the local, regional and national economies.”

It is currently unclear where the extra passengers will come from, but it has been suggested that budget airlines could fill the gap and provoke strong competition with Stanstead. Good train links to London will also hopefully attract business travellers.

By 2020 travel could become a very different ballgame to what we’re used to now, according to the From Chaos to Collaboration report commissioned by technology expert Amadeus.

The report had six key findings:

1. The next generation of experience: Technologies such as augmented reality, gamification mechanisms and smart mobile devices will transform the travel experience.

2. Automatic transit:  Chips, biometrics, long range fingerprinting and near field communications (NFC) can be deployed in a more integrated way to help with speedy check-in and walk through of immigration.

3. Payment with memory: All data on payments made before and during a trip will be integrated, acting as a digital memory of expenditure and activity for individuals, groups and travel industry operators. Intelligent passenger records and contactless technologies could be used to personalise services delivering higher value and more profitable relationships.

4. Intelligent recommendation: As technologies make it easier for people to tag and review all aspects of travel experiences, travellers will be more influenced by peer groups and expert curators.

5. Taking the stress out of travel: Intelligent luggage tags and tickets will give greater reassurance whilst m-Health (mobile-Health) applications will allow travellers to manage and monitor their health and well-being as if they were at home.

6. The business tourist: Continued emphasis on work-life balance and well-being at work may see the rise of the business tourist.

Andrew Curry, director and co-author The Futures Company (which developed the report), said: “We wanted to avoid making techno-centric assumptions about the future of travel – and painting a picture of flying cars and intelligent robots in a world that is otherwise unchanged from today.

“We hope that this study will challenge, provoke and stimulate thinking around how we will all be travelling in the future.”