LONDON – It is being reported that British Airways and India’s Kingfisher Airlines are likely to announce a codeshare agreement next month. Rumours have been brewing since BA chief, Willie Walsh, flew with Kingfisher while in India recently and proncounced the he was impressed with their service.

British Airways have been looking for an Indian partner recently to help them gain access to what are referred to as ‘mid tier cities’. A partnership would allow BA to tap into Kingfisher’s 66 domestic routes and its eight international ones. It would effectively open up popular tourist cities like Agra, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Varanasi to British Airways travellers.

MUMBAI – The Taj Mahal Palace which was the scene of the 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai has now reopened after 21 months of refurbishment.

The five-star hotel, which is situated in the Colaba area of Mumbai in India, reopened its Heritage Wing on Sunday. Its Tower Wing managed to reopen inside a month, but the repairs to the Heritage Wing were far more significant. Nevertheless, it is finally open with 285 rooms available for guests, including a Ravi Shankar suite.

AMSTERDAM – Dutch airline, KLM, has still not paid compensation to travellers affected by the ash cloud earlier in the year.

The EU has said that anyone stranded as a result of the ash cloud should have hotel bills for the extra time paid for by the airline responsible for bringing them home. However, KLM have said that they will only pay bills for one day.

With some passengers trapped for weeks, hotel bills were high, but KLM are currently standing firm, despite contact from the Civil Aviation Authority and a threat of legal action from the EU.

NEW YORK – US Airways has announced it will begin flights from Columbia to New York’s LaGuardia Airport. The flights should begin on the 31st October.

Flights will run on this route most days, but it is being reported that round-trips will cost as much $600. The equivalent tickets with Delta Airlines are just $284.

Other routes that have been announced include Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport to NYC.

US Airways now flies to 34 different airports from LaGuardia.

MANCHESTER – A Thomas Cook flight from Manchester to Dalaman in Turkey was forced to land at Gatwick after an oven caught fire.

The Boeing 767-300 was en route to the Turkish holiday resort of Dalaman and was flying at 28,000 feet when crew on board noticed that there was smoke coming from one of the galleys. After going to take a look, they realised it was one of the ovens used to prepare in-flight food.

After switching the oven off, the plane redirected to Gatwick where fire engines were called to the scene as a precaution. Passengers disembarked but after checking the plane, it was given the all clear and what had now become a Gatwick to Dalaman flight departed later that day.

BIRMINGHAM – package holiday company, Sun4U, has advised customers to get in touch with ABTA regarding making claims. The travel agent collapsed this week, with 1,200 people stranded on holiday in Spain and other destinations.

ABTA say that anyone who has an ATOL protected holiday should be able to continue with their holiday. They recommend speaking to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) or the supplier on their invoice.

Families currently on Costa Brava package holidays bought through Sun4U are reporting that they are having to pay for accommodation again, despite having paid for an all-inclusive holiday. The alternative is to find another hotel. The rates being charged are frequently more than the cheap deals they had initially taken advantage of as well.

Several hotels in Spain say that they have block bookings made by Sun4U but yet have not been paid by the company.

LONDON – The owners of the Holiday Inn chain of hotels have announced plans for expansion. They will be opening 35 new hotels in the UK. 24 will be Holiday Inns. There will also be an InterContinental hotel opening in Westminster, London.

There is already an InterContinental in Park Lane and revenue per room is up by around 15 per cent, indicating increasing consumer confidence that has perhaps persuaded the group to expand.

There will also be 24 Holiday Inns added to take the total number of UK hotels operating under this brand to 254. There has also been recent rebranding for Holiday Inns. This, combined with staff retraining has led to the refurbished hotels performing around six per cent better than the quarter that are still to be updated.

LONDON – Thomas Cook says that it is being forced to offer cheap last minute deals in a bid to snag holidaymakers who are cautious about booking too far ahead.

With many people concerned about job security, holiday bookings quite simply aren’t being made in any great numbers. With spaces free, companies like Thomas Cook and Tui Travel are lowering their prices in a bid to salvage something from the summer.

Thomas Cook is currently offering seven nights in Bodrum in Turkey, flying from Gatwick, in September, for just £174. A similar holiday in Heraklion in Crete is currently just £164.

LONDON – Thomas Cook have announced a three per cent holiday price rise after summer 2010 sales proved disappointing. This equates to around £15 for the average package holiday.

The travel agent said the cause of the poor perfomance was a combination of the ash cloud disruption earlier in the year, reasonable UK weather earlier in the summer and economic fears. The ash cloud was particularly disruptive. But for the April and May disruption, profits would have been up by around 10 per cent.

Thomas Cook still has 30,000 August holidays unsold, so there may be some good last minute deals on offer for bargain hungry holidaymakers who can leave at a moment’s notice.

LA – Victoria Beckham was said to be left shaken after her flight from Heathrow to LA was forced to turn back an hour into the journey due to technical problems.

The British Airways flight had a mechanical fault which caused the pilot to return to London, but BA said that passengers were not alarmed and the plane returned without any untoward events. Having spent the night in a hotel, former Spice Girl, Beckham, was then able to take a flight the following day, allowing her to meet up with David Beckham in LA as well as her three sons, Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz.