Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson flew to the rescue of holidaymakers left stranded abroad after Britain’s third-largest tour operator collapsed, newspapers reported yesterday.
The heavy metal hero is also a Boeing 757 pilot and flew a specially chartered Monarch Airlines flight from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt to London Gatwick Airport.
XL Leisure Group went into administration on Friday, leaving some 85,000 British holidaymakers stranded abroad.
Since then almost 12,000 people have been brought back as part of an airlift mission conducted by the aviation regulator.
“I was just doing my job. I was called out like a lot of other pilots,” the Mail on Sunday newspaper quoted rocker Dickinson as saying.
Dickinson, 50, said he was off to the Greek island of Kos next to rescue more holidaymakers. The Iron Maiden frontman is a captain with Astraeus as has worked for the British charter airline for nine years.
XL Leisure Group grounded all flights on Friday, blaming the global economic downturn and fuel prices for its sudden collapse.
Risk consultancy and administrator Kroll said there would be significant but unspecified job losses at XL, while chairman Phil Wyatt said all 1,700 staff in Britain were at risk.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said many tourists would be allowed to complete their holidays and fly back on special flights arranged by the CAA, although 10,000 people who booked just flights with XL must pay for a new ticket home.
Spain’s Futura International and Zoom airlines, a discount carrier, both collapsed in recent weeks. British Airways chairman Willie Walsh predicted on Friday that 30 more airlines could go bust in the next four months.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
REASSURANCE: The US said Taiwan’s interests would not be harmed during the talk and that it remains steadfast in its support for the nation, the foreign minister said US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would bring up Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea this week. “I will be talking about Taiwan [with Xi],” Trump told reporters before he departed for his trip to Asia, adding that he had “a lot of respect for Taiwan.” “We have a lot to talk about with President Xi, and he has a lot to talk about with us. I think we’ll have a good meeting,” Trump said. Taiwan has long been a contentious issue between the US and China.
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
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