Traffic, Dover delays, new air routes: Eight France travel updates

Report weekend forward for prepare journey however tickets nonetheless obtainable

SNCF has mentioned that there are nonetheless six million tickets obtainable for summer season prepare journeys round France in August, regardless of 14 million tickets having already been bought. 

This represents a report for the operator, with ticket gross sales for July and August being 10% increased this yr than they had been in 2019.

At the moment (July 29) might be the busiest of the yr for SNCF, as 400,000 passengers are anticipated to board trains throughout the community. 

In complete, greater than 1,000,000 passengers are anticipated to board an SNCF prepare this weekend (July 29 – July 31).

This weekend, the most well-liked locations are the Mediterranean shoreline, the south west and Brittany. 

Having predicted a rise in demand this summer season, SNCF has offered an extra 500,000 seats over the approaching weeks.

Some 60% of the tickets purchased up to now for the summer season had been obtained by the SNCF Join app.

Brittany Ferries sees reserving spike as passengers look to keep away from Dover 

Brittany Ferries has noticed a 50% improve in bookings following the queues which constructed up on the Port of Dover final weekend (July 22-24), the place some passengers waited as much as six hours to get by border management and a vital incident was declared.

Amber site visitors warning in UK, issues over second weekend of queues at Dover

The AA has issued an amber site visitors warning within the UK for this weekend, with roads approaching Dover and the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone anticipated to be notably busy. 

Heavy site visitors anticipated throughout France as July and August holidaymakers cross over 

Folks driving on French motorways this weekend ought to count on heavy site visitors, because the nation’s juilletistes come again from vacation, and its aoûtiens set off. 

5 ideas for saving gas on summer season vacation journeys 

With individuals in France setting off for and getting back from summer season holidays this weekend within the context of excessive gas costs, we take a look at a number of issues you are able to do to avoid wasting petrol or diesel whereas driving.

• Maintain your car in a superb situation. It’s value checking your car earlier than you set off in your journey for elements akin to tyre strain. In case your tyres are underinflated, the car will want extra engine energy to maneuver and can use as much as 10% extra petrol or diesel. 

Equally, your automotive will burn extra gas the much less aerodynamic it’s. When you’ve got an unused bike or roof rack on the car, it’s higher to take it off in order that the physique is extra streamlined. 

• Drive easily. Driving in a constant method, with out heavy braking or sharp acceleration, can scale back gas consumption by as much as 40%, which can even restrict your exhaust emissions.

When you do end up in slow-moving site visitors, it’s generally higher to tug over right into a motorway providers or relaxation space the place you may get out, as a substitute of sitting in a queue with the engine working and the air-con blasting.

• Flip off the engine if in a queue. When you come to a standstill due to heavy site visitors, it’s higher to modify your engine off, as a result of even when not transferring the automotive will devour 0.5-one litre of gas per hour. 

Transavia proclaims 9 new routes from Lyon, Paris, Good and extra

Air France-KLM subsidiary Transavia has introduced 9 new routes from French airports, that are set to launch within the autumn. 

From Lyon, the low-cost airline might be flying to Dakar (Senegal), Hurghada (Egypt), Istanbul (Turkey), Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) and Tenerife. 

It’ll additionally offer flights from Paris to Istanbul, Marseille to Marrakech, Montpellier to Madrid and Good to Tunis.

These new routes will begin working in October and early November.

Eurostar tries to extend London-Paris providers, France says no

France has prevented Eurostar from rising the variety of trains it runs every day between London and Paris due to employees shortages. 

Eurostar sought to spice up providers to 17 per day in response to the continued issues at UK and French airports and on the Port of Dover. 

Ryanair experiences revenue for first quarter of 2022 

Low-cost airline Ryanair has reported a web revenue of €170million for the primary quarter of 2022, in comparison with a web lack of €273million for a similar interval final yr.

Nonetheless, this yr’s outcome remains to be lower than the €243million made within the first quarter of 2020 – simply earlier than the Covid lockdowns started – as a result of ticket costs have been lowered because of the pandemic.

“Whereas site visitors has recovered strongly,” reaching pre-pandemic ranges, “the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February impacted reservations and costs” over Easter, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary mentioned in a press release. 

Ryanair has mentioned that ticket gross sales have multiplied fivefold over the previous yr, to 45.5 million passengers.

The airline has up to now been protected against the rise in gas costs brought on by the battle in Ukraine as a result of it had already purchased 80% of its kerosene provides prematurely.

Regardless of its “sturdy” restoration, Ryanair and different airways “stay weak” to “the chance of latest variants” of Covid within the autumn.

It subsequently judges that it’s too early to make predictions about its complete income for the yr.

From the air to the rails, French prepare operator SNCF has additionally recorded a revenue of €928million within the first half of the yr, after having misplaced €780million within the first half of 2021 and €2.4billion in 2020.

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