Low cost airline easyJet has reported an 82% increase in full
year profits. In contrast Singapore Airlines has announced
that its pre-tax profits for the six months to September 30 have
dropped by an almost equivalent amount

REVEILLON RIO Rio de Janeiro, Brazil December 31, 2001
From the people who turn everything into a party (they put college kids to
shame) comes a New Year's celebration not to forget. Yet it's funny how so
many who have experienced it can't seem to recall much about it. Just
remember this: wear your brightest undies to the beach:
http://www.whatsgoingon.com/coolest.cgi/place/20011101/

London: The United Kingdom Passport Service has relocated its London regional office and Headquarters to a new location in Victoria.  The office is located at Globe House, 89 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1PN.The old office at Clive House, Petty France closed its doors on Friday 28 September after 50 years of providing passport services to customers.
The office relocation has been a huge undertaking for the Passport Service and the purpose-designed facilities at Globe House will provide a much-improved environment for customers and staff.
The new office will run on an appointment-only basis, which will help the UK Passport Service provide a much better service to customers who need a passport urgently, removing the need for a lengthy wait before being seen.  An appointment can be made by contacting the Passport Service 24hr advice line on 0870 521 0410.

England: DFDS Seaways, the Scandinavian ferry operator, has seen a leap in bookings for July and August '01 and now accounts for over 50
percent of the combined North of England cruise ferry market to
Holland.

Web Tourism: Lastminute.com chief executive Brent Hoberman claims that the terrorist attacks have had only limited impact on the online company’s business.
In a statement issued today Mr Hoberman says: “The USA as an outbound destination has only accounted for 3.8% of group total transaction value during the past six months. Our exposure to this market is therefore very low.”  Lastminute claims that during the past fortnight it has had 382 related cancellations of flights, holidays and hotels - which it says represents 0.2 per cent of the company’s travel bookings over the past six months. Mr Hoberman adds that: “Customer numbers using the site have now returned to near normal levels.” The online company claims that it is on course to achieve “a minimum” of £45 million of total sales during its fourth quarter which ends on September 30 - representing growth of over 50 per cent quarter on quarter and over 240 per cent compared to the same period in 2000.

New York City  NEW YORK CITY MAYOR GIULIANI  DELIVERS TOURISM MESSAGE       Citing the need to bolster the
city's economy and businesses in the wake of the World Trade Center
tragedy, New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani encouraged the world to
support New York City with visitor spending.

Mayor Giuliani: "I encourage people from all over the country who want
to help, I have a great way of helping: come here and spend money.  Go
to a restaurant, a play - you might actually have a better chance of
getting tickets. The life of the city goes on..."

People considering a visit to New York City can obtain information
through the newly established toll-free New York City Visitor Hotline at
1-888-805-4040 (international: 860-496-5972). 
The hotline, established by NYC & Company, the city's tourism bureau, is
currently staffed by multi-lingual live operators daily from 8 a.m. to 8
p.m. EST.

 Visitors can also log onto www.nycvisit.com  for the latest information about transportation, hotel availability, cultural institutions, retail and special services, airline contact information and other emergency services.

ZEPPELIN:  A passenger carrying commercial Zeppelin airship has taken to the skies for the first time since the Hindenburg disaster at
Lakenhurst, New Jersey, in May 1937.  The new airship, this time filled
with the inert gas helium, rather than the highly inflammable hydrogen,
is 225ft long and 57ft wide.  The original Hindenburg was 803ft long,
the same as a 70,000 ton liner.  Twelve passengers are carried on each
one hour tourist flight paying up to UKP200 each.  Also under
development in Germany the new Cargolifter freighter airship will be
even bigger than Hindenburg with a 160 ton payload.
http://www.zeppelin-nt.com

Leisure airfares will not escape the global economic downturn according to the latest American Express European Corporate Travel Index.
The survey shows that during the second quarter of the year leisure transatlantic fares and fares within Western Europe from the UK rose 11.7 % and 10.3% respectively compared to the first three months of the year, partly due to strong holiday demand. In contrast restricted first and restricted business class fares from the UK to North America fell by 6.4% and 4.7%, while restricted business class fares to Western Europe fell by 0.3%.

COCKPIT CAMERAS  could help to establish the cause of airborne
incidents, according to Ken Smart, chief inspector, Air Accident
Investigations Board.  Used in conjunction with the so called, "Black
Box" data equipment, they would help analyse fatal accidents.  However,
the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) said that it did not
object to cameras being trained on instruments but would strongly resist
any attempt to film pilots, citing that it was offensive and an invasion
of privacy.  


SINGAPORE AIRLINES  is to introduce what they claim is the
longest business class bed in the sky, initially on the London-Singapore
route.  Fully extended, the seats are 6ft 6ins long and 2ft 3ins wide.
Amongst many other improvements, audio-video on demand (the
Matsushita Avionics MAS3000 with KrisWorld system will be installed in
all classes).   http://www.singaporeair.com



 Airline passengers will soon be able to pass through passport
controls in the blink of an eye, according to EyeTicket, a McLean,
Virginia company.  The technology is already in trials in the US and
later this year will be sampled by a selection of British Airways and
Virgin Atlantic passengers at Heathrow.  The  biometric check system
looks into the human iris, no two being the same.  The procedure takes
just two seconds, considerably speeding up the current immigration
checks.



Cathay Pacific is to stock TeleAdapt's 'Laptop Connection Pack'
on inflight duty free sales trolley. The pack enables travellers
to connect their laptops to Internet and e-mail services in over
150 different countries


EASYJET  introduced its new service between London Gatwick and Nice with fares starting at just £72.50 return (including tax).
The afternoon flight originates in Nice.  The airline already has a
twice daily service between Gatwick and Geneva, and a daily service
between Gatwick and Amsterdam.  The airline now operates 32 routes with
a total of 23 Boeing 737 aircraft.  http://www.easyjet.com

KEY WEST TO CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN EARLY WITH FANTASY FEST   Key West, Fla., gets an early jump on Halloween with the island city's annual Fantasy Fest celebration, Oct. 19-28. The 10-day extravaganza features outrageous masquerade balls, costume competitions, street fairs and other events climaxing with a lavish grand Fantasy Fest parade set for Saturday, Oct. 27. Thousands of costumed revelers -- some of the four-legged variety -- are to attend. Please visit 
Website: www.fla-keys.com