Airline warns of slowing demand for UK-US flights

It's not just the Canadians who are showing a reluctance to travel to the US.

Virgin Atlantic Airways has signalled that demand for flights from the UK to Crazyland has been slowing.

The airline this week reported its first annual profit since the pandemic, but also some caution regarding weakening demand, news portal Travel Mole reported.

CFO Oli Byers said: “We think that is quite a natural reaction to general consumer uncertainty.”

The news comes as trans border travel demand from Canada to the US has seen a huge drop of more than 70% for this summer.

That is specifically down to the trade war and like-for-like tariffs, which could soon impact transatlantic traffic due to political and economic factors, and, perhaps, fear of US entry security goons.

Mainland Europe’s top airlines have cited concerns, but that has yet to translate into a fall in bookings.

“It is concerning for us but as of today, we don’t see any material change in forward bookings,” Air France-KLM’s CEO Ben Smith said.

Virgin Atlantic is highly reliant on US-UK transatlantic bookings.

Virgin Galactic unveils plans for space tourism

Adventurous types can sign up for space tourism flights starting later this year: if they have enough cash.

Virgin Galactic announced this week that its space tourism flights will commence in late June.

It is nearly two years since the company launched its only manned space flight to date.

That flight went into suborbital space in July 2021, with Sir Richard Branson aboard, Travel Mole reports.

A flight planned for this month will be launched with four Virgin employees on board.

This will "validate the astronaut experience ahead of the first commercial space tourism flight," Virgin said in a statement.

Commercial suborbital flights will take off from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

“Returning to space is what we have all worked towards,” said Mike Moses, president of Spaceline Missions and Safety.

Virgin Galactic’s progress has been much delayed, including after a fatal accident in 2014.

It has sold over 800 tickets in advance, priced at more than $US200,000 per person.

US fines UK airline for flying over Iraq

Americans love to stick their noses in where they do not belong.

Whether they are acting as "the world's policeman", helping overthrow legitimate governments, or demanding you have a visa to transit through one of their chaotic airports, the US wants the world to know it is important.

Even if it is hopeless at preventing lunatics invading its Chambers of Congress, or preventing 10-year-old children from going on shooting sprees.

The latest US muscle flexing saw British-based Virgin Atlantic penalised by the US Department of Transportation for overflying Iraqi airspace.

The airline was fined $US1.05 million.

The US DOT claims jurisdiction as Virgin Atlantic operated codeshare flights for partner Delta Air Lines.

Virgin operated "a significant number of flights" between September 16, 2020, and September 16, 2021, the DOT said.

“Virgin Atlantic operated in violation of federal law.”

The US restricted its airlines from flying at certain altitudes over Iraqi airspace in 2020.

Virgin Atlantic has a partnership with KLM, Air France and Delta, so has to pay up.