Road Warrior - border delays, Aer Lingus award, record numbers for US carriers, Iran travel market

Aer Lingus business class wins wine award Aer Lingus has won an award for the red wine served in business class in the prestigious Business Traveller magazine Cellar in the Sky Awards.

The wine chosen by food consultant Hugo Arnold is Saint-Joseph Les Challeys 2013, Delas Frères from the Rhône Valley in France.

Aer Lingus’s new business class is available on all transatlantic flights.

There are business lounges at JFK and Boston Logan airports with the pre-dine option for customers.

The Gold Circle Club will cease on March 31th, and be replaced by AerClub with Avios. It will give travellers an opportunity to earn more rewards from a range of partners.

US fears over foreign carriers not borne out Fears by US carriers that incursion by foreign carriers is undermining their market is not borne out by a report from the US department of commerce.

International traffic to and from the US last year was 209.1 million passengers. US flagship airlines had the larger share of international traffic to and from the US, although the larger share of travellers were foreign nationals. The passenger numbers carried by four US flagship airlines slightly exceeded the combined total of passengers carried by all foreign airlines travelling to and from the country. (104.601 million compared to 104.510 million).

So it does seem a bit unfair that Norwegian still has not received the go-ahead to operate the Cork-Boston seasonal service. How much can a few thousand passengers affect those kinds of numbers? Border controls in Europe to cause disruption Travelling by road and rail around Europe is becoming slower due to the extension of border controls in various countries.

Denmark has extended border controls along its shared border with Germany until April 3th. Sweden has also extended border controls until April 8th. Belgium has a date of March 23th, and France is until March 27th.

Austria has a date of March 16th, with a special focus on the Slovenian border.

These dates are likely to change, and travellers can anticipate disruptions to travel for the duration of the temporary border controls. Biggest new market for travel will be Iran The biggest upcoming market for the travel industry is Iran. Already airlines are opening routes and hotel companies are planning new builds.

The Spanish Melia International Hotel Group has announced its plans for a five-star hotel.

It will be on the Caspian Sea, where resorts are segregated and alcohol is banned. The Gran Meliá Ghoo hotel will open next year in the city of Salman Shahr, and will have 319 rooms.