Road Warrior

The business of travel

The business of travel

Back in time at Café Royal Hotel

After a number of stops and starts, the ornately decorative Café Royal Hotel on London’s Regent Street opened last month.

Capturing the essence of London's haut monde at the turn of the century when it existed as a restaurant and club only, the architect Sir David Chipperfield has transformed the building into 158 luxury rooms. From now until the end of March, the introductory rates are from £280-£350 per night. Hotelcaferoyal.com

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Passenger symposium for the Gathering

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is to bringing the World Passenger Symposium to Dublin in the CCD as part of the Gathering in October.

The annual symposium brings together hundreds of senior aviation figures from around the world. The 700+ delegates are expected to discuss industry positions, public policy and focus on emerging industry issues, new technologies and processes.

IATA is the trade association for the aviation industry and represents 84 per cent of the world’s airlines. This is the second major aviation conference to be announced for Dublin this year.

Pilots approve airline merger 

The merger between American Airlines and US Airways is now on stronger footing following approval by the two airlines’ pilots unions of the framework for their terms of employment.

The memorandum of understanding is seen as a strong signal for the integration of the two airlines. Both airlines originated in the 1930s and have similar sized fleets. US Airways operates a service to Philadelphia all year and Charlotte during the summer from Ireland. AA will return in the summer with a Dublin-Chicago service.

World’s safest airlines revealed

The world's safest airlines have been revealed by the Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre, JACDEC.deand Finnair has been ranked as the best.

The top 10 included three airlines that operate from Ireland – Emirates, Etihad and British Airways. The Safety Index ratings are calculated by comparing serious incidents suffered by airlines over the past 30 years compared to the revenue and passenger kilometres flown over the same period. Ryanair ranked 32 in the top 60 airlines.

In tune with the budget traveller

At the other end of the price scale, no-frills Tune Hotels has opened a new establishment opposite Haymarket Station in Edinburgh.

Guests will have the benefit of air conditioning, good quality beds, showers and optional extras such as towels and toiletries. Wifi is available at a charge. Rates at Tune Hotel in Edinburgh are from £40 per night. Tune have four hotels in London.