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.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to