New canal to rival Panama

NICARAGUA has approved a route for a $40-billion rival to the Panama Canal. The 277km route is from the mouth of the Brito River on the Pacific side of Nicaragua to the Punto Gorda River on the Caribbean.

The Hong Kong-based HKND group is leading the project. The proposed canal would pass through Lake Nicaragua, Central America's largest lake, and will be between 230m and 520m wide and 27.6m deep, said HKND engineer Dong Yunsong.

Opponents of the plan are concerned about its effect on Lake Nicaragua, an important fresh water source for the country, as well as the impact on poor communities.

The plan is to finish the canal in 2019 and begin operations in 2020.

BUDGET AIRLINE EYES CAPE TOWN

EUROPEAN budget carrier Norwegian Air hopes to start flights from London’s Gatwick Airport to Cape Town soon. The carrier, which already operates no-frills long-haul flights between Gatwick and Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale and New York, believes the Mother City is a viable long-haul destination, Travel Buyer reports.

TAPPING THE UNTAPPED

KHUPHUKA Kings Airways, a cargo airline operating out of Durban’s Dube Trade Port, plans to launch passenger services later this year on “untapped” routes. The carrier told Travel Buyer the plan was to launch scheduled and charter flights from Durban to Nigeria, Swaziland and the DRC. Passenger flights will be operated with a 150-seat Airbus A319 and a 180-seat Airbus A320. The Durban-based airline introduced its cargo flights between Durban and Lubumbashi via Ndola in February.

PARTY LIMITS

OFFICIALS in the Majorcan beach resort of Magaluf have imposed an emergency law to clamp down on drunken and lewd behaviour following the recent surfacing of a video showing sex acts being performed by a British holidaymaker at a club called Carnage.

The resort’s reputation has been deteriorating for years, but recent revelations about bars and clubs where tourists are encouraged to get drunk and engage in sexual behaviour in public proved the tipping point.

TO CHARGE OR NOT TO CHARGE

BUDGET airlines in the UK are not imposing new security checks on electrical devices. This has emerged as confusion reigns over where the rules are being enforced.

Passengers flying to or from any British airport were warned that they should ensure all electrical devices are charged in order to comply with new anti-terror checks imposed on certain routes.

Anyone unable to prove that their devices worked properly by switching them on would be forced to travel without them, they were told.

Australian officials claimed that the new rules referred to flights to the UK from Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

But there was little sign of the rules being enforced by airlines flying to North Africa, Israel and Europe.