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Norwegian plans new US services from UK regions
Ian Taylor
ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk
Low-cost carrier Norwegian plans rapid long-haul expansion from the UK, with flights to the US from Manchester and Edinburgh next year adding to growth at Gatwick.
The airline is poised to launch
US flights from Manchester and Edinburgh as early as next summer and could also add flights to India from Birmingham. At the same time, its eight
existing Gatwick routes to the US will go daily. Currently, only Norwegian’s New York service operates every day, and this will increase to twice a day. Norwegian chief commercial
officer Thomas Ramdahl described Gatwick as “our number-one base for long-haul” and said: “We could easily put 50 Boeing 787s in if we had the slots.” He told Travel Weekly: “We have enormous UK growth plans. We’ll introduce more destinations to the US next year and look at southern Africa, Brazil and Argentina.
Norwegian ‘will fly to US from Manchester’ in 2017
“We’ll add destinations and
frequencies. You will see us go daily on all [long-haul] routes we serve today.” Asked if Norwegian would fly
from Manchester to the US next summer, Ramdahl said: “Yes.” Asked the same about Edinburgh, he said: “Why not?” Speaking in Scotland last week,
Norwegian chief executive Bjorn Kjos said: “Our long-term ambition
is to deliver long-haul flights from Edinburgh.” Norwegian will use the new Boeing 737 MAX, designed for short and medium-haul routes, to fly to the US from regional airports. It will take delivery of the first
of these next year. Ramdahl said it will also add nine long-haul 787s next year, but pointed out that the airline had not announced any new services for 2017 yet.
5 EC rules to cover Airbnb-type sites
Ian Taylor
ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk
The European Commission is poised to confirm ‘sharing economy’ sites such as accommodation provider Airbnb must abide by European safety regulations and consumer protection laws.
Krisztina Boros, EC policy
officer for tourism, said: “The collaborative economy business model has been seen as so different that people think existing legislation does not apply, but it does.”
The EC was due to publish guidance on regulating sites such as Airbnb and taxi app Uber this week, amid calls for enforcement but also confusion over whether existing rules apply. Boros said: “There are strict rules on transparency and on how prices should be displayed [and these] regulations apply.” The EC will address issues including “platforms’ liability: to what extent a platform is regarded as an intermediary and to what extent a provider of services; and when someone is regarded as self-employed [or an employee]”.
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travelweekly.co.uk 2 June 2016
“There is regulatory uncertainty and we need to create a level playing field”
The guidance should also
include definitions of the ‘collaborative’, ‘sharing’ or ‘peer to peer’ economy, requirements on licensing, tax, and consumer information, and the “rights of service recipients”. Boros told a UN World Tourism
Organization seminar last week: “There is regulatory uncertainty
and we need to create a level playing field.
“The uncertainty hampers all
actors, existing and collaborative.” Christian de Barrin, chief
executive of the European association of hotels, restaurants and cafes [Hotrec], said: “There are two economies – one regulated and one not regulated. “This needs to be addressed as a question of fair competition. “Platforms should not display
illegal offers. When it comes to consumer protection, the same rules should apply as to traditional businesses.”
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