Travel news snippets

Lufthansa offers a new Aberdeen-Frankfurt air service, Cunard claims the Queen Mary 2 is now ship-shape, and Richard Branson beseeches pilots not to strike.

 

Starting from October 30 2011, Lufthansa will provide a thrice-daily service between Aberdeen and Frankfurt. Marianne Sammann, Lufthansa’s UK and Ireland general manager, said: ‘This new service from Europe’s oil and energy capital is a direct response to business traveller demand and will strengthen Lufthansa’s position in the world’s key oil and energy markets where we serve almost 80 destinations.’

 

Following an ‘uncharacteristically low score’ of 84 after a sanitary inspection in New York on June 10 2011, Cunard has said it has now tackled the problems aboard Queen Mary 2. Cunard issued a statement saying: ‘The company is confident that failings of this nature will not occur again, and that the ship's Vessel Sanitation Programme (VSP) scores in future will return to the customary consistently high level.’

 

Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic, has asked the airline’s pilots not to tale strike action after an overwhelming ballot last week in favour of a walkout. He stated to pilots, who are member of the BALPA union, that the management had offered them the best deal they could.