Ever fancied yourself as an astronaut? well your dream could become a reality by the end of this decade. With the removal of a major stumbling block. Bupa, the well known insurance provider, have confirmed that it would now offer insurance for space customers after the removal of a major stumbling block.

With insurance premiums of around £20,000 making up a fifth of the overall estimated flight cost of around £100,000, it probably wont be long before premium costs start to fall as other insurance services follow suit.

Virgin Galactic, a leader in the pursuit of space tourism claims that its space ship could be ready for launch by 2009 following around 100-plus test flights that they plan to conduct over the remainder of 2007 and 2008.

It’s hoped that as time passes and the safety of this new form of space travel is proved, the insurance and flight costs will fall bringing the prospect of space flight a little closer for many people.

So get ready, money, tickets, passport, spacesuit!

Thomsonfly is to add a number of new destinations to it’s program starting from just £19.99 on the 28th October.

The new programme from Cardiff airport will add Jersey, Barcelona and Gran Canaria to Thomsonflys existing schedule, prices are said to include all taxes and charges.

A £3 charge that is to be levied on all passengers flying from Norwich airport has been criticized by the Scottish Passenger Agents Association (SPAA).

The fee that is to be introduced from the 2nd of April is to help fund the £18 million re-development of the airport facilities as set out by Richard Jenner, the managing director of Norwich International Airport.

The SPAA secretary has written a letter of complaint to Norwich International airport and has described the introduction of the £3 charge as “outrageous”

The possibility of a further tax hike on air travel in the form of VAT has been ruled out in the recent budget.

Gordon Brown commented that the measure had “not been properly thought through”. This decision is sure to bring a sigh of relief to the air travel industry who feel that they are being unfairly targeted for environmental reasons.

GB airways, the franchise partner of British Airways is to continue operating flights under the BA Connect branding after BA sold it’s BA connect to Flybe, the low-cost airline.

The airline that operates from Manchester airport will fly to Paphos in Cyprus, Salzburg and Tenerife while the service from Bristol airport will fly a twice weekly service to Tenerife.

London City airport is due to start offering 15 weekday flights to Zurich, the largest Swiss city. Cityjet the subsidiary of Air France, Swiss International Air Lines and BA CityFlyer all plan to add additional flights from London City Airport to existing services or set up new services to the city.

An £18 million five year development plan has been set out to upgrade and improve almost all areas of Norwich International airport including check-in and retail facilities, better airport parking, new taxiways and new equipment for passenger and aircraft handling.

As from April 2nd, each passenger will be charged £3.00 when leaving the airport, the fee which has been defended by Richard Jenner, the managing director of Norwich International airport, will be paid at vending machines and would go towards the investment plan for the airport.

With passenger numbers predicted to increase from 450,000 passengers to nearer 800,000 this year, It’s clear to see that existing facilities like the Norwich airport lounge and the nearby Norwich holiday inn airport hotel will benefit from the investment and re-development of the airport site.

Airport parking provider BCP has further expanded it’s ‘meet and greet’ services. The new expansion offers personal parking at newcastle and Bristol international airports.

With the number of airport parking services on the increase, passengers are advised to research the huge choice of available car parking options in advance and not leave it until the day of travel.

With so much choice and potential savings of up to 60%, it’s often best to use one of the on-line airport parking comparison services to find the best deal in terms of price, car park location and car park facilities. These services take the hard work out of looking for the best deal by searching the main airport parking providers such as BAA, Holiday Extras, BCP, FHR, APH and NCP in a matter of seconds, this allows travellers to quickly and easily compare the results and book airport parking on-line all within a few clicks and a matter of minutes.

Easyjet is to launch a new route in October of this year between Gatwick Airport and Poland’s third largest city Krakow. The new Gatwick airport - Krakow service will be Easyjet’s 38th route from Gatwick and will put it in competition with British Airways who also operate on the same route.

Fares for the Gatwick-Krakow return service are expected to be from £50.00 including taxes.

Green Travel, carbon footprints, carbon off-setting, and carbon exchange programs, what does it all mean, is it a real attempt by the travel industry to control and reduce carbon emissions for the good of the planet or is it just a marketing ploy to tap into the huge environmentally sensitive consumer markets?