5 2


CAA grounds Tui and Norwegian’s new 737s in UK


Samantha Gritt


Ian Taylor ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk


The CAA grounded all Boeing 737 Max aircraft “as a precautionary measure” on Tuesday following the Ethiopian Airlines crash on Sunday, the second involving a  a  in five months.


The grounding affects Tui, which


took delivery of its first 737 Max 8 in the UK in December and flies the aircraft from Manchester, and Norwegian Air, which operates the aircraft at Gatwick and Edinburgh. Only five of the aircraft are


based in the UK, with a sixth due for delivery this week, but the CAA banned “any commercial flights from any operator arriving, departing or overflying UK airspace until further notice”. Tui, which operates 15 of the


aircraft across Europe, grounded the 737 Max 8 across the group. The CAA acted after Ethiopian and other airlines withdrew the aircraft from service and China, Singapore, Indonesia and


Sunday’s crash in Ethiopia killed all 157 on board


Australia ordered its grounding. However, the US Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday: “We have not been provided with data to draw any conclusions or take any actions.” The Ethiopian aircraft crashed soon after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board. The same model, flown by Indonesian carrier Lion Air, crashed soon after take-off from akarta last October, killing 189. Investigators reported the


Ethiopian aircraft’s black box’ data recorders had been found. Reports suggested the aircraft had difficulty climbing and eyewitnesses reported it on fire. Following the Lion Air crash, it


was reported the pilots struggled with the autopilot controls to lift the nose of the aircraft. The investigation into that disaster has yet to report. Boeing has delivered 350 of the 737 Max since its launch in 2017 and has orders for 5,000. Tui has 60 on order, Norwegian 92 and Ryanair 135, with Ryanair due to take delivery of its first in April.


Kathy Kay Tony Fowler


ITE agent scoops £14k commission


Ben Ireland ben.ireland@travelweekly.co.uk


The Travel Network Group’s homeworking arm has seen a flurry of bumper booings in recent weeks with one agent bagging a fivefigure sum he hopes to put towards a deposit on a house.


Kent-based Tony Fowler, a member of the consortium’s Independent Travel Experts ITE, made a £104,000 booking for a billionaire who rubs shoulders with Elton John and Simon Cowell. The booking, with If Only, was


for a family of four to the Maldives with first-class Emirates flights, and earned Fowler – an ITE member for 10 years – £14,500 in commission. He said: “It’s the biggest booking


I’ve ever made. I knew [the client] was speaking to a luxury hotel company direct, so I gave him about 10 options and he went with me. “He’s good friends with Simon Cowell and Elton John, so hopefully he’ll recommend me to some of his friends. “If I get a booking like this every three months it would be massive.


“Spending that much money shows how much trust people have in their agent”


I’ll probably use this as part of the deposit on my first house.” The booking was the fourth


Fowler has made for the billionaire, but eclipses other trips to destinations including New Orleans and the Bahamas in terms of value. Also in the past fortnight,


Wigan-based ITE member Kathy Kay made a 178,000 group booking for about 200 dance enthusiasts to travel to New York, while another ITE member, Samantha Gritt, of Southampton, made a 35,000 Royal Caribbean group cruise booking. Lisa Henning, group membership services director at The Travel Network Group, said: “These huge bookings really show the strength of our homeworking proposition. “Spending that much money shows how much trust people


have in their travel agent.” › Have you made a big booking recently? Email ben.ireland@ travelweekly.co.uk


14 March 2019travelweekly.co.uk5 3 STORIES HOT


PICTURE: REUTERS/TIKSA NEGERI


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