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.

Disaffected British Airways cabin crew have resorted to pouring vintage wine down the sink on the plane and throwing away unused washbags in protest at what they claim is the airline’s “disregard” for their working agreements.

Members of the British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association (Bassa), a branch of the Unite union respresenting BA’s 13,000 cabin crew, said they were opting for “passive resistance”.

Britain’s major airports bore the brunt of last year’s “staycation” with figures showing that they carried 4.7 million passengers fewer than in 2008.

The 4.1 per cent drop, announced by BAA, reflected a year in which the recession saw demand for overseas holidays drop and a number of airlines ground planes to save money.

Worst hit was Stansted, with 2.3 million drop – representing 10 per cent of total as both Ryanair and easyJet cut back on capacity.

BAA, the owner of Heathrow and Britain’s biggest airport operator, said today that the number of passengers travelling fell by more than 4pc last year because of the recession.

The company, which also owns Stansted and recently sold Gatwick, saw passengers numbers travelling through its airports fall to 106.9 million in the year. However, the company said that the speed of decline eased in the final three months of the year to just 1.2pc compared with the same period in 2008.

Most businesspeople are glad to say ‘goodbye’ to the year of ‘crisis’ that was 2009! Not least the hospitality industry in Benidorm and the Costa Blanca who have announced that visitor figures for Benidorm have dipped to just 74.5% occupancy; the worst the city has experienced in the last twenty years.

Freezing weather is causing disruption to Britain’s roads, railways and airports.

ROADS

M25 Hertfordshire | Clockwise | Accident, 2 lanes closed, congestion – Delays of 20 minutes between J17 and J19 caused by congestion due to an accident closing two lanes between J19 and J20.

A5 Warwickshire | Northbound | Heavy traffic – Delays of 15 minutes from Harpenden towards Cannock, between junctions with the M69 and the A47 Hinckley, due to heavy traffic.