MPs have approved a bill which will se the £16bn Crossrail scheme go ahead. The rail scheme will link Maidenhead in Berkshire to Shenfield in Essex via Heathrow. Under the scheme a number of new stations will be built. The first trains are expected to start running in 2017 and are expected to carry 78,000 passengers an hour during peak times.

Qantas Airways have announced that they will cut 1,500 jobs worldwide and abandon plans to create 1,200 new jobs. The move has come as the company tries to deal with high fuel costs. The losses will include closing call centres in Tucson, Arizona and London with the loss of 99 jobs. Around 1,300 jobs will be lost in Australia with the rest overseas. The airline is also scrapping plans to increase its capacity by 8% in the 12 months to mid 2009 as they are not expecting any growth in that period.

This article suggests that landing slots at Heathrow are so valuable that it can take companies years and millions of pounds to get just one aircraft into the airport. Heathrow is constrained in the number of flights that it can accommodate meaning an airline wanting to set up operations there can pay up to £30 million for take off and landing times. As a result the landing rights are sometimes more valuable than the airline themselves. The companies must continue using the slots otherwise they will lose them. This means that many airlines will continue flying even if its planes are virtually empty.

Ryanair has announced cut backs of the number of winter flights from Stanstead. It plans to reduce the number of flights by 14 per cent meaning the number of weekly flights will be cut from 1,850 to just 1,600. The plan is part of an effort to try and reduce losses and comes after a similar announcement from BA.

BA will cut capacity on winter flights by up to 5% in an effort to avoid losses. They will reduce the amount of flights on its routes and axe some service between October and March. There will be fewer services on the least cash generative routes with no more than two out of 154 routes being axed. Many airlines are currently cutting capacity due to falling demand and high fuel prices with US carriers leading the way. There are signs that the slowing economy is starting to affect travel with BA seeing a decline of 3.7% or 87,000 fewer passengers in June.

Boris Johnson has quashed the proposed rise in the London congestion charge. The former mayor Ken Livingston has planned to raise the daily charge from £8 to £25. Boris Johnson has said that the £25 charge would hit small businesses and families the hardest and this is why he is scrapping the rise. He also said that his aim is to achieve a "fairer and more effective congestion charge".

It has been announced that injured war veterans will get free travel on London transport. Boris Johnson made the announcement last week on Veterans Day. The scheme will come into effect on the 2nd of November and will benefit an estimated 2,600 war veterans living in London.

Air travellers will soon have to pay for luggage trolleys at Luton airport. From next month the airport will introduce a £1 charge for luggage trolleys, or two euros for people who do not have any British currency. The airport expects to earn million from the coin operated trolleys which will be similar to schemes already in place at some supermarkets. The difference with the airport trolleys, however, is that users will not get their money back when they have finished using the trolley.

Several airlines have increased baggage fees and fares in an effort to cut costs. The Australian airline Virgin Blue will raise ticket prices by $5 Australian dollars. United Airlines and US Airways have both announced they will charge a $15 fee for the first bag that is checked in. A number of US airlines have also increased fuel surcharges to $20 per roundtrip.

Airline bosses have warned that tickets prices are likely to become much more expensive because of rising oil prices. Passengers are likely to face a lot of new extra fees such as paying to check in luggage and paying to eat on the flight. According to John McCulloch the managing partner of Oneworld Alliance (which represents leading airlines including British Airways,Cathay Pacific, Iberia and Qantas) mainstream airlines are likely to follow Ryanair as they try to cut costs. He says this will mean that charging for meals is likely to become standard practice and that charges for bags could be introduced.

The government will investigate claims that contaminated air in planes is making pilots and passengers ill. Figures suggest that one in every 2,000 flights is polluted with engine oil but unions claim that the problem occurs much more often. Last year there were 116 contaminated flights reported to the Aviation Authority. Pilots and passengers have reported symptoms including nausea, headaches, dizziness and lethargy. The investigation will use equipment to measure the cabin air on five different types of aircraft from five different airlines to try and identify any toxins that might be in the air filters.

BA have announced an increase in fuel surcharges on all tickets sold from Tuesday 3rd of June. The surcharge will increase by £3 per flight to £16 on short haul flights and increase by £15 per flight to £78 per flight on long haul flights. The increase comes at a time when the airlines are facing rising costs of jet fuel due to soaring oil prices. It is likely that other airlines will now follow suit.

American Airlines will bring in a charge for checked bags from the 15th of June. They will charge $15 for the first checked bag and already have a $25 charge for the second checked bag. It will also raise other fees for service such as reservation help and fees for oversized bags. The changes come because the airlines fuel costs have increased by nearly $3 billion since the start of the year. Other airlines such as United Airlines are also looking at whether to impose a fee on checked luggage. It seems checking in baggage free of charge might soon become a thing of the past.

It has emerged that hundreds of foreign passengers have passed through Terminal 5 without proper checks. Problems at the airport have led to confusion meaning that overseas passengers have been treated as domestic arrivals and have passed through the airport without going through immigration or customs controls. In one case passengers arriving from Libya left Heathrow without having to show their passports and there are claims that six passengers from a Tripoli flight have never been found. The security breaches occurred when shuttle drivers collected passengers from overseas flights but dropped them off at a gate meant for domestic arrivals. BA has admitted there have been a small number of incidents and have said there are aware of 10 flights where passengers were taken to the wrong gates.

British Airways has announced that it will move its long haul flights to Terminal 5 on 5 June. The move will include its services to New York, Abuja, Bangalore, Beijing, Cairo, Cape Town, Lagos and Phoenix. Flights to 40 other long haul destinations will continue to operate from terminal 4 for the time being but will be moved at a later date.

BA tickets will get more expensive because they are due to increase their fuel surcharge. Passengers on long haul routes will now pay £30 more for a return flight. The decision comes as the prices of oil continue to rise. The surcharge for short haul flights will also increase by £6 for a return flight, rising from £20 to £26. The increases will affect all tickets issued after Friday.

After 40 years the Wrexham to London Marylebone train service has resumed. The service will run five times a day and will re-establish a direct link to Shropshire, Walsall and London. The train stops at ten stations between Wrexham and London. Although only 11 passengers used the service today it is hoped that demand will grow as word spreads.