Malaysia’s flag carrier, Malaysia Airlines, is adding up two non-stop daily flights from Kuala Lumpur to Paris on top of its current flight service. The new service will commence on 28 March. Malaysia Airlines currently has five times flight a week to and from Paris. The additional flights are scheduled to depart Kuala Lumpur at 23:35 and arrive in Paris at 6:50 daily.
Amin Khan, Senior General Manager of Malaysia Airlines, said that the extra flight to Paris was due to the rise on demand from passengers. He added that the airlines’ strong load factor, currently at 80 per cent, makes [...]

The Aston Martin Rapide and the Cadillac Converi have emerged as the big winners in the most recent automotive design awards, held at the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland. With car design the topic of most discussion at the awards, it was two of the more progressive big names in the industry who collected the top gongs.
Of the numerous awards handed out at the Geneva Motor Show, none were more prestigious than the Best Production and Best Concept car, which were taken out by the Rapide and Converi respectively.
The creators of the Aston Martin model were acknowledged by design director [...]

The first completely alcohol-free resort has been opened in Portugal – with the target market recovering addicts.
The new initiative, the first in Europe, has been unveiled by travel group Renovatio and will be christened “Sober Holidays”. Offering a uniquely tailored approach to recovery not found elsewhere, visitors to the resort are promised a safe and supportive environment for which to assist in the recovery process.
The resort itself is set in a 19th-century villa near Faro airport in the stunning Algarve region and will open its doors to its first guests this April. There are numerous activities to keep the guests’ [...]

Passengers using the Heathrow Airport will soon be enjoying the latest boarding pass technology offered by Continental Airlines.
Continental will be the first airline to be offering paperless boarding for its flight from the UK to the US. Under the initiative, passengers will be given a boarding pass directly to their mobile phones or PDAs, thus eliminating the need for conventional paper tickets and boarding cards.
Vice President for Reservations and E-commerce of Continental, Martin Hand, said that the service improvement was due to consumer demands. He said that the airline has plans to offer the self-service technology to its domestic and [...]

The International Air Transport Association, the governing body for the global aviation industry, has declared 2009 the second safest year ever on record following the release of new statistics.
In 2009, the worldwide accident rate equated to one mishap per 1.4 million flights. The accident rate uses hull losses for western manufactured aircraft in terms of per million ratios, resulting in an overall rating of 0.71. This represents a major improvement from the accident rate recorded in 2008 which scored a far higher 0.81.
Giovanni Bisignani, director general for the International Air Transport Association, said that the results were testament to the [...]

Rail traffic running from Belgium to France has been suspended following Monday’s horrific collision according to reports by SNCF, the French national railway operator.
The SNCF made the decision to allow rescue work to be undertaken by emergency teams. Though the closures are expected to only last the one day, the scale of the wreck has yet to be fully understood.
Some 10 lines were cancelled yesterday, including links that operate between the two countries under management of Eurostar, TGV and Thalys. TER regional trains were also suspended by authorities but refunds and exchanges have been made available for ticket holders.
Considered to [...]

Leading car hire car broker Economy Car Hire has announced the release of a new fleet of eco-friendly hybrid cars across its UK airport locations, allowing customers easy opportunities to reduce their carbon footprint while avoiding congestion charges in the capital.
Economy Car Hire, which features handy all-inclusive rates with no insurance excesses to eliminate the need for damage and theft loss waiver and expensive collision damage, has declared that the launch is the first step in a series of moves to introduce more environmentally friendly vehicles across its European fleet and ultimately beyond.
The Toyota Prius will be offered, pending its [...]

The British Royal Family is now utilizing black taxis to travel to unofficial engagements instead of using its expensive fleet vehicles as the Queen attempts to minimize the household’s expenses.
Minor Royals Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto already use the Dial-a-Cab taxi service.
Now, the Royal Family financial advisers are formulating a plan to include top Royals including Prince Harry and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie in using the cab service wherever possible.
The Royal household staffs, for the time being, are asked to utilize public transportation or even walk to official events or gatherings as an alternative in hiring cabs. The staffs [...]

While the consumer car industry rushes to adopt the eco-friendly green vehicles and hybrid cars it appears that the rental market is severely lagging behind. Several operators have claimed that the prohibitive costs associated with a switch to green technology have left them unable to offer hybrid models.
The hybrid cars are not only expensive to purchase but ongoing maintenance and limited parts suppliers means that hire car companies are still unconvinced about their true worth. With their reliability sill under question the option of hiring them out on a regular basis is unattractive and certainly less profitable than larger fleet [...]

According to one website, Simply Hired, the recession has pushed employees into traveling far out of their way to look for work. In fact, some studies even suggest that some Brits could be traveling more than three hours each way to work in order to protect their jobs.
The poll taken by Simply Hired also showed that 56 percent of respondents said they would be willing to take an increase in vacation entitlement rather than a pay rise to help keep company costs down. UK workers are doing everything in their power to make themselves more desirable to businesses.
When the workers [...]