Not good news for expats and regular travelers in Spain who travel tourist class with Iberia as they have announced they will be charging for second suitcases checked into the hold from 1st March 2010, in an attempt to lighten the planes, save fuel costs and speed up operations ….. no mention of making more money or reducing costs to passengers you note!

Although many are warning that Britain is at risk of plunging back into recession based on the remarkably low growth figures (0.1%) compared to an expected 0.4%, the 18 month recession has officially ended and early indications are that it is good news for the travel industry, and therefore one hopes for expats living in Spain hoping to see the tourism related business that so many depend on for their income pick up.

Spanish Air Traffic Controllers are threatening to disrupt flight plans for thousands of expats living in Spain either wanting to fly back to the UK to spend time with their families and take advantage of the current exchange rates, or wanting to fly out to their holiday homes and get some sunshine over the Easter break.

Passengers who fly with no-frills carriers leave a softer “carbon footprint” than those on full-service airlines, new research has shown

Apparantly the combination of newer fleets, direct flights and a higher ’seat density’ means that the budget airline flights can produce 35% of the carbon emissions per passenger of the larger ‘full-service’ airines.

The Telegraph has an excellent article highlighting the best routes by air, rail, and ferry to Sain for 2010, and explains how to save money on car hire. With more and more flights getting cut, and ferry services scheduled to stop later in the year this is a pretty comprehensive guide.

Unfortunatley it doesn’t say if flights are winter, winter and summer, or just summer but it does list the web sites and phone numbers for the various companies.

British Airways is to train ’scab’ aircrews from the rest of its workforce in a bid “to keep as many planes in the sky as possible” in the event of looming industrial action.

Many expats living in Spain will no doubt be interested to read that BA are considering training up non-cabin crew staff to act as aircrew to maintain services in the event of a strike. Although the threat of a strike has been ruled out for Easter, BA seem keen to ensure that in the event of a strike they can continue to fly to Spain, and all other countries.

British Airways (BA) cabin crew today ruled out striking over Easter in their dispute with the airline over jobs and working conditions in a move to quash a public backlash against workers.

The decision move comes amid widespread horror from passengers at the prospect of having their Easter holidays disrupted, so soon after flights over Christmas were put in danger because of the cabin crew’s earlier strike threat.

The much anticipated merger between the British Airways and Iberia could take place as early as next month, according to a statement by Caja Madrid, the bank which is also Iberia’s largest shareholder.

The bank’s chairman Miguel Blasa said that February could prove to be a decisive month for the deal as things were on track and did not feel that threats of strikes by the British Airways’ cabin crew would have any kind of impact on the merger.

Overweight passengers who cannot squeeze into a single plane seat are to be charged double to fly with Air France.

People who cannot fit into a standard seat will be asked to pay for two seats, or not be allowed on board for “safety reasons”, according to the airline.

Air France spokeswoman Monique Matze said: “We have to make sure that the backrest can move freely up and down and that all passengers are securely fastened with a safety belt.

Ticket sales and passenger numbers rose at Eurostar in 2009, despite the breakdown of trains in December that left thousands of passengers stranded.

Sales at Eurostar last year reached £675.5m – an increase of 1.7% on 2008.

The cross-Channel rail service carried 1.2% more passengers, with total traffic rising to 9.2 million people.

On Monday the company admitted it expects to pay up to £10m in compensation to passengers affected by the travel chaos before Christmas.

Flights to Ireland’s main airports are to be disrupted tomorrow after air traffic controllers announced they are to strike in a dispute over new working practices.

Members of the Impact union said they are to stage a walkout in protest against the decision by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to suspend 15 air traffic controllers who refused to co-operate with new technology.

Put simply, you no longer need to carry spare bulbs in your cars in Spain.

Up until now you have had to carry spare bulbs and the tools to change then, although last year it was announced that te Trafico Guardia wouldn’t be imposing the fines, which used to net them around 2€ million a year.

The reason given is that the technology means that is is harder to actually access and change bulbs, and that it is no longer safe of viable to change them at the roadside.

British Airways faces the renewed threat of strike action after the Unite union said it will ballot cabin crew later this month.

The Unite union said today that a new ballot will open on January 25 after two weeks of talks BA management failed to produce an agreement on changes to working conditions.

Sit back, relax with the day’s paper, or log onto your laptop… and drive your car on the motorway at 120kph.

This is soon to become a reality with the introduction of a revolutionary green idea to save fuel on main roads around Spain.

Called ‘road trains’, the hi-tech pooling system would allow convoys of up to eight cars to “drive themselves” while linked up by electronic shackles to a lead vehicle.

The Chinese government and a variety of businesses from different sectors will be investing around 1 billion Euros for the development of a tourism, logistics and leisure centre in Murcia, Spain next year. The project is known as Special Zone of Chinese Investments and will include 2000 apartments, shopping and entertainment complexes, and educational facilities in addition to a theme park showcasing the Chinese cultural heritage.

For the second consecutive time in the last two years, doubts have been cast over the Tourism Industry of Spain which, at one time, was taking a quarter of European Tourism Industry’s earnings. The industry that contributes over ten percent to Spain’s economy and employs over two million people has been on a downfall since 2007.

Almeria airport is to improve its security measures by introducing state-of-the-art scanning and surveillance technology, it was announced last week.

Eight million euros to be spent on improvements

Spanish airport authority, AENA, announced that eight million euros will be spent on the airport during 2010. The first improvement is designed to help control vehicles entering the airport’s restricted area, which gives direct access to the aircraft loading areas and runways. A guard room for security staff is scheduled for construction which will be equipped with a scanner system, allowing the contents of vehicles to be checked before they enter the restricted area.

European car sales rose by 16% in December, marking signs of recovery in the sector after another tough year.

However, total sales for 2009 were down 1.6% on 2008, according to figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA).

Some countries with scrappage schemes saw rises in sales in 2009, including France and Germany.

Sales in the UK were down 6.4% for the year as a whole, though December sales were up 39% compared with a year ago.

Thomson and First Choice’s award-winning airlines came together last year to create the all-new Thomson Airways, so jetting between **Alicante, Malaga, Reus, Girona and Almeria** and the UK has never been easier. We fly in to most UK airports, so chances are there’s a route to suit you.

When it comes to getting to and from Ireland, meanwhile, Falcon has got it covered with routes to the likes of Cork, Dublin and Shannon. Plus there are regular flights to Belfast and Derry.

Gatwick Airport has suspended all flights while it clears snow off the runway. It does not expect flights to resume until at least 4pm. Passengers should check with their airline before travelling to the airport.

Heathrow Airport is open but warning of flight delays and cancellations due to the weather. Passengers should check with their airline before travelling to the airport.

Stansted Airport and Luton Airport are open and operating as normal.