Fourth quarter results for online travel agent, ebookers, reveals that bookings for hotels, flights and holiday pacakges have all increased in Europe, paving the way for further expansion.

ebookers has a new European team and has added a large number of hotels to its inventory, offering 100,000 in total and 40,000 in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. There was a 35 per cent increase in directly contracted hotels and this gives ebookers more appeal to independent travellers.

One metric used for measuring growth is the number of hotel nights sold and this saw an increase of 69 per cent.

ebookers is the European arm of online travel agent, Orbitz Worldwide.

British Airways is set to appear in court after its method of allocating holiday pay to pilots was questioned by the Balpa union.

The issue revolves around the fact that BA currently provides holiday pay on the basis of the pilots’ basic salary. Balpa challenge this, saying that payments should be made taking into account other allowances.

Allowances can prove significant as BA pays pilots for time in the air, night flying and time away from home, all of which is in top of basic pay but none of which is taken into account in holiday pay calculations.

The airline is currently struggling financially and says changes could lead to 15,000 staff receiving an average of £600 more each year – perhaps not a gigantic sum for a business more used to measuring cash in millions and billions. Balpa has also challenged other airlines, including Virgin, BMI, Easyjet and Cityflyer.

Visitors to the Thomas Cook website will now be able to read TripAdvisor reviews of holiday destinations after a deal between the two companies.

Property pages will each feature the most recent reviews from TripAdvisor. The presence of independent, user-generated review content should allow potential Thomas Cook travellers to make more informed decisions about where they want to go.

Thomas Cook will also benefit from destination information, including overviews of cities and resorts, including details of nearby attractions, restaurants as well as photographs that have been uploaded by TripAdvisor users.

It will be interesting to see how Thomas Cook react if poor reviews for their holidays start showing up on their own website.

A Thomas Cook flight from Turin to Birmingham had to make an emergency landing due to fuel leaking from it.

The fuel was spotted immediately after the Boeing 757 took off and the plane was forced to land. The airport was temporarily closed and the fire department were called to line the runway.

One of the passengers said that everyone who had been sitting on the back right of the plane could clearly see the fuel coming out, but said the pilot was a calming influence and that the eventual landing was smooth and controlled.

The fuel was cleared up inside an hour and the airport was then reopened. A Thomas Cook engineer came out from the UK and passengers were put up in hotels for the night. The leak was caused by a faulty valve, which was subsequently fixed by the engineer, allowing the passengers to travel today instead.

PARIS, FRANCE – Several French newspapers are reporting that Air France KLM is considering a deal with Japan Airlines to co-operate on routes between France and Japan.

Air France has denied the report, but the source of the story claims employees at the two airlines have said that they will standardise pricing and business practices as part of a deal.

A Japan Airlines spokesperson emphasised the strong relationship between the two airlines, but declared that there was no intention to work in partnership at present:

“Air France is our valued bilateral partner with whom we share code share flights connecting Japan to Paris and beyond, and we are committed to strengthening this relationship.”

Japan Airlines actually went bust last month, but has seen a brutal overhaul that involved a huge cull of around 15,000 jobs. It is continuing to do business and relies on partnerships with other airlines to maximise revenue – Air France KLM being one such partner.

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – The largest commercial aeroplane, the A380 Airbus, landed in Johannesburg this morning after leaving from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport earlier in the day.

The Air France flight is the first time an A380 has landed at OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg and the airport needed to look at the amount of space it needed for taxiing about. Fortunately, the runways were already long enough, although the shoulders needed to be widened slightly to accommodate the A380’s large wingspan.

The extra capacity of the plane also means that there will be more baggage to be dealt with and potentially longer queues for passport control.

Air France first used the A380 on its Paris to New York flight route last November.

LONDON – British Airways‘ plans to create biofuel from food scraps at a factory in East London could lead to the creation of around 1,200 jobs.

Currently, the biojet fuel has not been approved for use, but BA remains confident that it will be responsible for the first factory in Europe to process food waste, turning it into eco-friendly jet fuel. Approval hinges on the results of tests that will examine the safety of aeroplanes powered in this way.

The plant is due to be finished in 2014 and British Airways are unconcerned that approval for the fuel is still pending, citing the fact that it is already approved in the US, meaning British airlines could technically use it.

TENERIFE – Thomson Holidays may find itself the subject of legal action after a number of holidaymakers contracted food poisoning at one of its hotels.

Over 30 guests are claiming that they fell ill while staying at the four-star Los Gigantes Hotel on Tenerife, which serves Thomson Holidays exclusively.

The guests visited at different times, indicating that this may have been an ongoing hygiene problem. After seeing several negative reviews regarding food at the hotel, one future guest contacted Thomson to enquire about any problems, but were told that the company was not aware of any.

Thomson Holidays have defended themselves, saying:

“In January, an independent hygiene consultant confirmed that the hotel was operating to the highest standards and concluded that a viral agent was the most probable cause of any illness. The hotel has adopted procedures set by its own consultants and local government. The hygiene consultant witnessed these and has advised that they appear to follow good practice.”

Thomas Cook is claiming a 15 per cent increase in holiday bookings as a result of adverts featuring Jamie and Louise Redknapp.

While the travel agent recorded losses of £81.5m for the three months from October to December, it makes most of its money during the summer months. This year, it is concentrating on higher margin medium-haul holidays.

The distinctive adverts feature Jamie and Louise Redknapp experiencing a ‘perfect’ holiday together, Jamie Redknapp kicking a ball around the beach while wearing a pair of suit trousers and Louise Redknapp reclining by the pool on her own. The campaign was said to have cost in the region of £5m, but Thomas Cook will be hoping to recoup far more than that as sales continue to pick up.

Skyscanner’s latest results as to the most searched for flight destinations has shown three Spanish destinations heading the list. Tenerife is third, Alicante second and Malaga first.

The Skyscanner results only show what flights people were searching for, not what they were actually booking, but nevertheless, with the top three spots and five of the top ten overall, Spain is clearly a hugely popular destination right now.

Spain is traditionally the most popular destination for British holidaymakers, but newer destinations such as Turkey have been gaining ground quickly in recent times, largely due to the strength of the Euro. However, these results show that Spain is still maintaining its position with these results reflecting searches made in January 2010.