In Brief

BA sacks two after T5 fiasco

BA has sacked two senior executives after the opening of its flagship Terminal Five at Heathrow turned into a shambles.Gareth Kirkwood, director of operations, and David Noyes, director for customer services, were both appointed to their positions when Willie Walsh took over as ceo two years ago.They were members of the airline's management team and had both worked for BA for more than 20 years.

BA said it now planned to appoint a chief operations director who would carry out both roles.

The airline has also postponed the move of its long haul services to Terminal Five. The move of 120 services was due to have been made at the end of this month but have now been put off until June 5 at the earliest.

Willie Walsh, BA's ceo, warned this week that the full transfer could take until October.

The move has angered others carriers whose own operations have been affected. A joint statement by BA and BAA, which owns Heathrow, said the two were working together "to iron out any remaining problems, including the baggage system and its operation."Mr Walsh said: "It is only sensible to ensure that Terminal 5 is operating consistently at a high standard before the move begins."BA said the Terminal had been operating normally since last Tuesday (April 8).

But the delay has been criticised by other airlines, including bmi, the second biggest user of Heathrow after BA.

Nigel Turner, its ceo, said: "It is an absolutely outrageous announcement by BAA and done with no thought, consideration or consultation of any other airline other than BA. The sequence of moves affects over 50 airlines, including bmi, at Heathrow."

The programme and timescale of changes was agreed in joint consultation with all airlines that are now geared up to undertake the moves as agreed.

"BAA and BA have shown a total disregard for all other airlines and their passengers at Heathrow in coming to this decision because of their own shortcomings and their inability to implement an agreed plan."

Good month for Berlin hotels

Berlin hotels enjoyed a good February with a 14% increase in achieved average room rate (AARR), according to the latest HotStats from TRI Hospitality Consulting.

The 11-day Berlin film festival which was attended by 20,000 people, pushed rooms rates up to €164.44 Jonathan Langston, TRI's managing director, said: "Major international events are an important driver of hotel demand, and the growth trend of Berlin's convention and event business looks set to continue this year."

The city's MICEMeetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions industry generated 4.48m bed nights in 2007, an increase of 11% on 2006. But Paris stayed as the European city which had the highest sales growth with revenue per available room increasing in February 2008 compared to the same month in 2006 by 15.3% to €152.78. But London remained the most profitable with income before fixed costs of €95.13 per room compared to €62.05 in Paris, TRI said.

Hotels in Eastern Europe are faring less well with occupancy in Budapest and Vienna "relatively low." Occupancy in Budapest at 54.1% was the lowest in the survey.

UK hotels in "strong position"

UK hotels are in a "strong position to weather the current global economic storm," according to Hotel Britain 2008, a new guide by consultants PKF.

The guide said that British hotel had had an "impressive" 2007 after a period of "robust growth."Robert Barnard, a partner at PKF, said that the industry might see slower growth in 2008 but "strong investment and new concepts will shape and drive the UK hotel market."

With customers set to tighten their belts, Mr Barnard said that budget hotels, like Premier Inn and Travelodge were "set to benefit."

He added it would be difficult for hoteliers to put up average achieved room rate (AARR) while hotels already had good occupancy."

This may result in small occupancy and AARR increases to push rooms yield up," he said.

Silverjet in talks on take over

Silverjet, the loss-making all business class transatlantic carrier, confirmed that it is in talks with other carriers which may lead to a take over.

The UK carrier which started services in January 2007, said it was in talks with "several different parties."

Silverjet had said that it hoped to break into profit in March but figures announced last week showed it was still in the red.Shares in Silverjet, which was floated on AIM in May 2006, rose to 220p in March 2007 but have since been in decline.

They were at 17p on the London Stock Exchange on Monday (April 14).

Hilton to launch Doubletree brand in Russia

Hilton Hotels has signed a franchise agreement to launch its Doubletree by Hilton brand in Russia.

The new brand will be introduced as part of a deal with ZAO Russkaya Kompaniya Razvitiya, a wholly owned subsidiary of the London & Regional group, to build “approximately” 25 new hotels across the country.

The 25 new properties will include selected Hilton brands with the first Doubletree, with 188 rooms, due to open in Novosibirsk, Russia's third largest city, at the end of this year.

Germany to sell stake in DB

The German government has agreed to sell off a 24.9% stake in the state-owned rail company Deutsche Bahn. The sale was agreed in principle by the country's coalition government led by the Christian Democrats with the Social Democrats as the junior partners.

The sale, possibly later this year, is expected to raise up to €5bn.