MORE ROOM AT THE AIRPORT

There’s a silver lining to the credit crunch for travellers fed up with overcrowded airports: the number of passengers using the seven airports owned by BAA, which include Heathrow, Gatwick, Glasgow and Edinburgh, fell sharply last month. The company handled 13.3m passengers in September, down 5% on last year. Blaming the financial situation, BAA said it expected business to pick up, but its old sparring partner Ryanair disagreed. “The figures prove yet again that high-cost, price-increasing, badly run airport monopolies like the BAA simply don’t work,” it said.

SIMPLER SAFARIS

Multi-country trips around East Africa could be made easier now that five states – Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi – have agreed in principle to introduce a single visa covering the entire region. All except Rwanda currently require separate visas, costing between $50 and $100. Prices for the scheme, which is expected to be introduced in about three years, have not yet been decided.

US AIRPORTS ALLOW GUNS

Despite the threat of terrorism, American airports are allowing members of the public to carry loaded guns inside the terminal, a new survey has found. Federal law prohibits taking firearms through security, and most airports have banned them throughout their buildings – but seven, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, told researchers that people are free to bear arms in all public areas. Some cited local cultural mores. “We like our guns in Michigan,” said a spokesman for Detroit airport.

THEY SPOIL THOSE KIDS

The cruise giant Royal Caribbean has unveiled plans for a shipboard play area that will be half the size of Wembley Stadium. The Youth Zone will contain nurseries, an arcade, a science lab, a theatre, a disco, a mocktail bar and a DJ academy. It will be installed on the 5,400-passenger Oasis of the Seas, which will be the largest cruise ship in the world when it launches in November 2009.

FREE BAGS FOR BABY

Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways are to introduce a baggage allowance for infants. Children under two years old, who are generally expected to travel on their parents’ laps, have not previously been entitled to an allowance – but the move, which comes into force on flights from May 1 next year, will permit travellers to take 10kg of luggage per infant free of charge.

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