My Blog

Fuel costs down

04/26/2012 10:11:00

DIESEL and unleaded petrol have dropped in price for the first time this year.

A litre of diesel (80% of sales) is now €1.4295 as opposed to €1.4362 a week before, down from a record €1.4584 in March.

A litre of unleaded petrol of “95” grade (15% of sales) is €1.6507 down from a record €1.6664 the week before, while SP98 (5%) is down to e1.7001, from €1.7121 at the start of the month.

The prices are official national averages, based on prices at service stations and vary widely locally.

It is the first time the prices have all been down, since the end of last year when prices started an upward spiral due to political tensions in oil producing areas and a weakening of the euro against the dollar, which increases the cost of oil once its value is converted to euros.

Socialist François Hollande has promised that if elected president he will block the prices for three months, a measure Nicolas Sarkozy has described as absurd.

New rules for Paris cyclists.

04/26/2012 10:09:00

CYCLISTS in Paris are testing out new rules of the road that will allow them to go through a red light.

The new rules will allow them to turn right at a junction if the road is clear or go straight on at a T-junction - but they must still give way to pedestrians.

Aimed to ease the movement of cyclists, the rules have been introduced on two 30kph zones in the capital's 10th arrondissement, Verdun and Lancry, with 15 junctions being opened up.

If successful, the Mairie de Paris says the rules could be introduced in other 30kph zones in the capital. They have already been tried in Strasbourg, Nantes and Bordeaux with success - and no increase in accidents.

Junctions where cyclists are allowed to go through the light are signalled with a new warning sign, a bicycle in a red triangle.

New cross channel ferry service

02/17/2012 13:11:00

JUST six weeks after cross-Channel ferry firm SeaFrance went into liquidation former rivals LD Lines and DFDS are today launching a new service between Calais and Dover.

More than 100 former SeaFrance workers are among the crew of the ferry Norman Spirit, due to leave Calais at lunchtime.

Fares for the crossing are today running at £39 return for a car and two passengers travelling Calais-Dover on February 18 and returning Tuesday 21.

A second ferry, the Norman Voyager, is to be introduced on the route in coming weeks.

The ferry - which had previously sailed the route as the P&O ferry Pride of Aquitaine - has LD Lines on the side but DFDS Seaways is the majority partner in the consortium running the new service, with 82% of the shares.

DFDS/LD Lines had previously offered to buy ailing SeaFrance and keep the majority of staff but its offer was rejected both by SeaFrance unions and the former company's liquidators.

When SeaFrance was finally liquidated 880 staff lost their jobs. The crew on the Norman Spirit are mostly long-serving LD Lines staff from Normandy and Brittany who are training the new staff in the company's procedures.

Air cancellations continue today

02/09/2012 19:00:00

AIR workers’ strikes continue today, expected to be the last day of disruption before talks between unions and the government.

Air France, the firm most affected, expects to be running the same programme as yesterday ie. just 65% of its long-haul flights and 75% of short and medium-term ones.

Airline pilots’ union SNPL has deplored the “lack of any meeting [with the government] during the strikes” which are set to finish tonight.

Union officials have been invited to the Transport Ministry tomorrow.

SNPL president Yves Deshayes said: “Any further action will depend on what we obtain from this meeting – or do not obtain.”

The unions are opposed to a bill going through parliament which would limit workers’ right to strike. Cabin crew and ground staff have also joined strikes, but pilots have been particularly involved.

So far the government has said it is determined to push the bill through.

Air France says the strike has been costing it €8-10 million a day and it has come as it is facing financial difficulties. Tomorrow it is set to start a major process of renegotiating working conditions agreements with staff.

Cheap mobiles deal for EU travellers

02/09/2012 18:54:00

READY-to-use sim cards bought on Ryanair planes could cut the cost of taking a mobile phone abroad.

The airline has teamed up with the telecoms company Maxroam to offer cheap calls to travellers. The sim enable travellers to receive calls and text for free, and to send texts for nine cents, calls for 29c per minute and 99c for one megabyte of data.

Maxroam cards will also be available to buy via Ryanair's website and will work in 43 countries in Europe. Passengers will be able to buy €20 cards for just €10. While it is not possible to use your old number directly, it is possible to set up your phone to forward calls instantly to your Maxroam number.

The pre-pay cards mean you will not exceed any limits and, while equipped to handle data roaming, will work with most phone models less than five years old. The cards are also available via Maxroam's website.

A survey by the European Commission found that citizens still felt roaming charges were too high, with almost 75 per cent worried about the cost of calls and data when travelling to different countries in the EU.

While the EU has capped the charges for text messages and calls when travelling to other member states, it has done nothing to regulate the price of data, an increasing problem for the growing number who own smartphones with an internet connection.

Commission vice-president Neelie Kroes recently told the 2011 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that crossborder phone tariffs were too high and would be capped further unless greater competitiveness was instigated.

She outlined three options under consideration to reduce them: price caps on mobile data roaming charges, similar to those on voice and sms; allowing people to buy roaming packages from any operator, not just their own; or requiring operators to sell the service to low-cost, virtual operators across Europe.

"The consumer often pays less than five cents for downloading one megabyte of data at home, but this may turn into €2.60 per megabyte when the same consumer crosses an invisible border," she said.

The Commission has set the goal of bringing the difference between roaming and national charges to zero by 2015.

Chilly in the south!

02/09/2012 18:44:00

Temperatures of at least -14° reported with a wind chill of -19° and some local areas with temperatures of -18° with a wind chill of -23° today. So glad we have central heating and wood burners!

Minimum service’ plan for airports

01/23/2012 13:55:00

THE UMP party is seeking to pass a law intended to lessen disruption to passengers due to air industry strikes.

It comes after pilots and stewards gave notice of a strike last August (ultimately not carried out), Air France cabin crew went on strike in the autumn, then security staff went on strike at the end of last year.

While being described in some of the French media as aimed at a “minimum service”, the law, examined in the National Assembly tomorrow, does not in fact force any would-be strikers to work, the sector having no public service obligations apart from in air traffic control.

It would oblige individuals, with sanctions for non-compliance, to declare intention to strike at least 48 hours before each strike day, and require employers to make traffic estimates no more than 48 hours before the start of disruption.

The law also requires employers and workers to try to avoid strikes through dialogue, by drawing up “conflict prevention framework agreements”.

The unions however see the plans as limiting their right to strike – and several have announced the intention to strike over them, on February 6-9 before the law goes to the Senate on February 15.

“Striking is not our cup of tea, it is an acknowledgement of failure, but the work of preliminary negotiations is completely derailed by this law,” said the vice president of the SNPL union Philippe Vivier.

The law is inspired by measures in place in the rail industry created in a 2007 law.

New ferry for the Dover crossing.

11/10/2011 19:52:00

THE BIGGEST ferry designed for the Dover Strait will enter service in January 2011.

The 213m, 49,000-tonne 180m€ Spirit of Britain is one of two new ships for P&O.

The second, Spirit of France, will enter service in September 2011.

You can tour virtual versions of the ships on the company’s website www.POferries.com/newships

Easyjet offers new flexible fares

11/10/2011 19:49:00

EASYJET is to begin selling flexible business tickets that will allow customers to change their flight times up to two hours before departure.

Rebookings can be made within a four-week window, one week before and three weeks after the original flight time.

While the tickets will first be available through business booking networks, they will become available to all passengers booking online.

New routes announced

11/10/2011 19:47:00

SUMMER might seem some way off, but airlines are already gearing up for the peak season with a number of new France-UK routes announced.

Jet2 has opened a new base at Glasgow International Airport and is preparing to launch a Nice-Glasgow route from March 2011. New links from Brive (Dordogne Valley) to Manchester, and from Toulouse to Newcastle, will open in May. Another new addition to the schedule is a link from Chambéry to East Midlands airport, which will run through the winter until the end of March.

Jet2 chief executive Philip Meeson, said: “Despite it being a challenging economic climate, which has seen both airlines and tour operators failing, we are excited about 2011, with our new base opening at Glasgow, new destinations, new routes, additional aircraft and new staff joining the team.”

CityJet has extended its Deauville to London City route to run all year round, from January 7, becoming Normandy’s first regular air link to the UK. Flights will run three times a week, with a fourth weekly flight planned over the peak summer period.

CityJet chief executive Christine Ourmières said: “There has been very positive feedback to our reinstatement of Deauville. It’s clear that this is a year-round destination. While it’s mainly a leisure destination from the UK, inbound traffic from Deauville to London has a strong business focus. This, combined with high demand from second home owners with investments in Normandy and the large British expat community in the region, means the popularity of this upmarket getaway is assured.”

A number of additional flights between Brive (Dordogne Valley) and London City Airport are to be operated by CityJet in February for halfterm travellers. They are on February 18, 20, 25 and 27.

Flybe has announced three new routes from Southampton to Béziers, Clermont-Ferrand and Pau, to run between May and September. It has also begun a year-round service from Nantes to Manchester, offering four return flights a week.
Flybe chiefcommercial officer Mike Rutter said: “We are pleased to announce these three new routes to France from Southampton that complement our 10 existing routes for those travelling to and from regional France.”

Ryanair has scaled back its French operation recently, with the closure of its base at Marseille-Provence airport, but is expecting a busy summer season at Beauvais, north of Paris. The airport has opened a second terminal dedicated to budget flights, to cope with increased traffic from Ryanair, Wizz Air and Blue Air. The €12m terminal more than doubles the airport’s capacity. Beauvais is expecting to carry 2.5 million passengers this summer, with 37 routes confirmed including Ryanair’s regular links to Dublin, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Easyjet launched a Lyon to Bristol route shortly before Christmas and will start flights from Grenoble to Liverpool on January 8.

BMI Baby has begun selling tickets on some of its most popular French summer routes, with more to be confirmed soon. The first routes on sale include Birmingham and East Midlands to Nice and Manchester to Bordeaux, Lourdes, Perpignan and Toulouse.

Aer Lingus has launched a new three-times-a-week service between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Shannon. Books are currently being taken up to the end of March.

British Airways has begun a winter route from London City to Chambéry.