The Week In Travel

London Stansted Airport’s expansion project has received the green light from the government’s Planning Inspectorate this week. The ambitious plan includes a larger departure lounge, an expanded security hall, and a three-bay extension to the terminal building. Travellers can also expect a greater variety of shops, bars, and restaurants, along with improved facilities including next-generation scanners and enhanced baggage handling.

Elsewhere in Europe, Lufthansa Group has reported its second best quarterly result in its history, with profits surging to €1.5 billion in Q3 representing a 31% increase on the previous year. The conglomerate saw total revenues reach €10.3 billion over the last quarter and passenger numbers also rose, with the group’s airlines recording over 38 million travellers during the period.

Over in Australia, Qantas has announced it will be launching non-stop flights between Perth and Paris from July 12 2024, in time for the next year’s Olympics. Initially operating four times weekly, the service will reduce to three times weekly from mid-August, offering 17-hour flights on Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

In technology news, eVTOL aircraft manufacturer, Archer Aviation, has reached a major milestone with the first full-scale test flight of its Midnight aircraft. Following four years of testing, this un-crewed tethered flight sets the stage for further development, which is to receive certification from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2024. Archer Aviation CEO Adam Goldstein labelled the progress a ‘significant step toward commercialisation’.

And finally, Sweden and Switzerland are tired of being mixed up, and they’ve got a plan to fix it. In their “Sweden (not Switzerland)” campaign, the two countries agree to divide their areas of expertise. Sweden takes sandbanks, and Switzerland gets banks. Sweden tackles rooftops while Switzerland claims mountaintops. The video reached over a million people on day one and went viral in 35 countries.