Tag Archives: Newcastle

ExploreGB 2018, the two-day flagship event which brings together Britain’s travel trade with international buyers from key inbound markets, kicked off at Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle on March 1. ExploreGB brings together 310 suppliers and 287 hosted buyers along with 16 international media from 40 countries. From India, 23 buyers are participating at the event. Delivering the welcome address, Carol Dray, Commercial Director, VisitBritain, talked about Newcastle Gateshead being a modern city with a fantastic art scene and some first-class conference facilities. The year 2017 has seen great growth numbers from long haul markets for Britain with the growth being driven by holiday visitors, while business visits have seen a decline of -4 per cent.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) and its regional subsidiary SilkAir have signed a codeshare agreement with Air France-KLM, which would come into effect from April 27, 2017. According to an official statement, under the agreement, Singapore Airlines will add its ‘SQ’ designator code to Air France-operated flights beyond Paris to 10 destinations – Aberdeen, Bordeaux, Edinburgh, Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Marseille, Newcastle, Nice and Toulouse. On the other hand, Air France will add its ‘AF’ designator code to Singapore Airlines-operated flights beyond Singapore to Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, as well as on SilkAir-operated flights to Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia, and Phuket in Thailand. Both the airlines would later discuss opportunities to expand the code-share to other airlines within their respective groups. The agreement is intended to provide customers more options and seamless connectivity when travelling between Australia, Southeast Asia and Europe. The airlines will also explore the possibility for Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer and Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue members to earn and redeem miles when travelling on the code-share flight segments