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Restaurants and cafés inside Heathrow Airport have swapped the croissants for crumpets, and the pizza for pork pies, as the first ever British Food Fortnight gets underway at the London hub.

The event, which lasts from August 26 to September 12, is designed to introduce foreign travellers to traditional UK cuisine.

Culinary staples such as Yorkshire puddings, bangers and mash, and a host of bizarrely named ales (Young’s Waggle Dance and Bishop’s Finger) will be served across the airport’s five terminals, at such swanky outlets as Prunier Seafood Bar, Caviar House, and the Rhubarb Food Bar.

The Harlequin pub in Terminal One will also be serving a unique, one-time-only, ale imaginatively known as ‘The Harlequin.’

Foul-mouthed TV chef, Gordon Ramsey, has prepared a special three-course meal for the Food Fortnight, to be served at his Heathrow restaurant, Plane Food.

The starter, which includes beetroot and goat’s curd, is followed by pan-fried sea bream with wild garlic, and a serving of mashed potatoes.

Other, more common dishes, such as jam roly-poly, char-grilled Tandoori chicken, and even the humble scone, are available at 20 different food outlets inside the airport.

Heathrow’s duty-free stores are also offering discounts on bottles of whisky and various cheeses for the duration of the event.

“We can be proud of our culinary heritage,” explained airport boss, Malcolm Robertson. “As the global gateway of the UK, Heathrow is well placed to promote British food.”

Mr Robertson claims that the airport is “very happy” to be able to offer the best UK cuisine to travellers, many of whom will be taking their first steps in the country.

As smartphones continue their march towards becoming very much the norm for mobile phone users, BA has decided to try to keep up to date with technology by launching an app that allows customers to check in and confirm their seat on the plane.

At present, the app is only available to members of BA’s ‘Executive Club’ (which is free to join), and is only applicable to those travelling between London Heathrow and Edinburgh. However, BA plan to make the app available for use on all domestic flights by the end of August, and are eventually looking to expand the app for use on all its flights.

Chris Davies, head of digital marketing at BA, stated that “the Mobile Boarding Pass feature for Executive Club iPhone users will be especially welcome for those customers unable to print off their own boarding cards when returning from overseas”, continuing to suggest that the focus for BA is “all about improving the customer experience. We’re committed to putting our customers in charge, making the British Airways travel experience even easier.”

With the app free for those who join the ‘Executive Club’ and available on iPhones, Androids, and Blackberries, it is highly likely that it could soon be the normal way of checking in, especially as passengers look to avoid delays and having to carry around mountains of paperwork just to check in for flights.

Although the app is currently available only at BA, should it prove successful it is likely that other airlines will join BA in offering the technology, with easyJet already announcing plans to launch a mobile platform commerce site to capitalise on the increase in smartphone usage.

It has been a bad year for holidaymakers, with the chaos caused by heavy snow, the Icelandic volcanic ash crisis, strikes by BA and tour operators such as Goldtrail and Sun4U going out of business, leaving thousands stranded abroad and others disappointed that they would not be going on holiday.

More misery was predicted for those flying over the August Bank Holiday weekend from Heathrow, Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Southampton and Aberdeen as BAA staff threatened to strike over pay. It was therefore a relief for many when the strike was called off on Monday after an improved pay offer was made and Unite, the union involved, said it would recommend that members accept.

BAA had previously offered a 1% pay rise with the promise of another 0.5% if the union agreed to changes in sick-pay conditions. Staff were unimpressed and voted three to one to strike, with 50% of Unite members voting in the ballot.

The new offer is for a 2% pay rise with the promise of at least another £500 lump sum depending on how BAA does with its earnings targets. If it meets them, the lump sum will be increased to £700 and if it exceeds them by 10% the lump sum payable will be £900.

BAA has stated that it needs to keep costs down after such a disastrous year for the industry. Unite, on the other hand, has argued that the industry is coming out of a recession and that it expects the BAA offer to “set the standard”.

Following a year to forget for British Airways, with strikes, volcanic ash clouds and the recession costing the company hundreds of millions of pounds, the beleaguered airline has received a boost after it was named the most punctual airline at Gatwick Airport.

Statistics released reveal that 87% of all BA’s short haul flights left on time, with only 1% less of its long haul flights also leaving on time.

Speaking about the success, Alan Peever, British Airways general manager at Gatwick, said: “We recognise that time is important and that regular punctuality is a key factor when customers choose which airline to fly with. I would like to thank everyone for a real team effort.”

As well as discussing the performance of BA, Peever also gave an insight into BA customers' destination preferences, announcing that customers have been eager to enjoy the company’s cheap deals to Florida. As well as Florida, BA customers have also been looking to the Maldives as well as the Dominican Republic as Brits look to enjoy a summer break.

After recent reports suggested that one of its cheaper rivals, Easyjet, had to increase their expenditure by hiring more staff after statistics showed that the month of June saw only 48% of their international flights depart on time from Gatwick, BA will be hoping that customers choose reliability over cost as it continues to look to improve its financial performance.

If BA can continue to deliver its current levels of performance and does all it can to cut expenditure, the airline should be set for happier times.

There will be no high-speed rail link between Heathrow Airport and the rest of the country, according to Tory transport peer, Lord Mawhinney, until the billion-pound scheme is extended to the north of England.

Mawhinney, who is a former MP, claims that the cost of extending the London-Birmingham route to Heathrow would not benefit the economy; rather, it would cost between £2-4bn at a time when the success of the high-speed rail project is not assured.

The news will come as a huge disappointment to airport bosses, who have already had their hopes of a third runway dashed by the Conservatives.

High-speed rail between Heathrow and the Midlands could have eased congestion at the London hub, and benefitted airports with spare aeroplane slots, such as Birmingham, Manchester, and East Midlands.

Lord Mawhinney claims that the rail infrastructure in the ‘spine’ of the UK, running from Edinburgh to London, needs to be improved. Consequently, the MP claims, the number of people wanting to travel from Heathrow would increase, justifying a high-speed station at the London airport.

“A direct high-speed link to Heathrow will only be in prospect after the network has been extended to Manchester and Leeds, at least,” Mawhinney explained. “Over time there will be greater demand for access to Heathrow, making a direct link more viable.”

Government agents are currently buying up properties in the ‘blight corridor’ between the capital and Birmingham. The houses, which could be demolished when high-speed track is laid, are in the towns of Amersham, Wendover, and Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.

The scheme echoes a recently cancelled project by the British Airports Authority (BAA). The BAA forked out millions of pounds to buy homes around Stansted and Heathrow, to save homeowners from the devastated housing market.

Major UK airports including Heathrow, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh have been threatened with closure as a pay dispute between BAA and Unite escalated after Unite called for a strike ballot of its 6,185 staff.

Following a pay freeze last year, BAA staff had hoped to receive a generous pay rise this year. However, key workers, including fire-fighters, security guards and engineers working for BAA, will start voting on what the union has called a "paltry" pay offer of 1%, with a further 0.5% conditional on changes to the sickness agreement.

Following a long running dispute between Unite and BA, this news comes as a further blow to travellers, with any industrial action looking likely to be held during the busy bank holiday weekend.

Despite Unite’s rejection of the offer, BAA maintain that they believe the offer is “reasonable” given the current difficulties facing the industry. In a year that has seen BAA come under severe pressure following the consequences of the recession and the Icelandic volcanic ash clouds, some travellers may feel that the current threat of industrial action is untimely to say the least.

As both sides appear deadlocked, the UK government has attempted to influence proceedings, with Transport Minister, Philip Hammond, stating that: “We have recently seen the disruption industrial action can cause at our airports, and another strike now is the last thing passengers need. I strongly urge both sides to find a resolution to this dispute so that passengers can enjoy their summer holidays free from the stress and concern that a major strike would bring.”

As the threat of strikes looms, it is all too clear that the biggest loser of the current dispute will be those looking to use BAA airports to take a well-deserved summer break.

The British Airports Authority (BAA) has pulled out of the housing market that it created around two London airports in October last year. The aviation giant had been buying up properties around Heathrow and Stansted, to help locals who had struggled to sell their homes in the light of proposed expansions at the two hubs.

Of course, when the coalition government placed a ban on expansions at Gatwick and Stansted, and axed Heathrow’s controversial third runway, the BAA no longer had a use for the land beneath the villages of Sipson and Harmondsworth and pulled the plug on its budding estate agent career.

The BAA was described as a ‘hassle-free’ and ‘generous’ buyer, often paying up to three times the established value of residents’ homes. Londoner, Andy Hood, managed to sell his family house for £2m, despite its £500,000 price tag. The BAA claims that 57 houses were snatched up as part of the scheme.

Stansted Airport, which aborted its house-buying initiative in December 2009, bought 74 homes in the area that would have been destroyed, had any runway expansions gone ahead. The airport also purchased 130 ‘noise-blighted’ homes that had proved difficult or impossible to sell on the conventional housing market.

The villages around Stansted and Heathrow are in a well-known black hole in the housing market, in which the value of properties close to the airports is significantly lower than those in the surrounding area.

Estate agents in Sipson noted that 83 people had tried to sell their homes before the BAA closed the scheme on 22 June. The aviation firm has not abandoned those who chose to stay in noise-blighted areas, however: free sound insulation is available to householders, and the firm will give a small relocation grant to those who choose to sell up in the future.

A hotel chain at Heathrow Airport has banned all vuvuzelas from the premises, after a resident manager was kept awake by the plastic horns. The firm, Premier Inn, plans to enforce the ban until the end of the World Cup, regardless of whether England is ejected before the tournament’s climax.

The hotel chain was initially unable to stop its guests from playing vuvuzelas, as the firm has no policy regarding the horn, but the hotel’s rules were immediately revised following England’s disappointing clash with Algeria on the 18 June. ‘Guests who bring the horns into our bars will be asked to take them back to their rooms,’ a spokesperson for the chain explained.

A hotel in the northeast was similarly affected during England’s qualifying campaign. Football fans created a trail of noise between Newcastle’s Premier Inn, and pubs and clubs in the centre of the city.

In the space of just a few weeks, vuvuzelas have risen from obscurity to dominate the headlines. The instrument, which was originally used to announce community events in rural Africa, has become a hallmark of the 2010 World Cup, featuring prominently in South African football stadiums.

Very few people have fallen in love with the vuvuzela, however, and supporters and commentators alike have taken umbrage with the horn’s incessant parping. The sound produced by a vuvuzela has been compared to that of a chainsaw – 127 decibels - a full 27 decibels more than the human ear can stand.

Neil van Schalkwyk, the original creator of the plastic horn – or at least, the first person to produce them on such an enormous scale – has now begun selling earplugs to football fans, in a bid to protect tourists from hearing loss. The earplugs, known as ‘vuvuzela unplugged,’ are being sold as the official companion to the instrument.

Embattled airline British Airways (BA) has threatened to move the majority of its UK operations to Barajas Airport in Madrid. Willie Walsh, the flag-carrier’s CEO, is concerned that the coalition government is ignorant to the needs of the aviation industry, after the new Prime Minister axed plans for a third runway at Heathrow.

Runway expansions at Gatwick and Stansted were also scrapped – a vote-winner during the Conservative’s election campaign, but a move that could cost the UK billions in lost investment and trade.

BA estimates that a third runway at Heathrow would have been worth £7bn a year – a huge boost to the PM’s efforts to reduce the deficit.

Spain might seem like an unusual place to move a struggling airline, given the country’s spiralling debt problems, but BA is currently pursuing a merger with resident airline Iberia. The two carriers would be better placed to stave off economic turmoil if they pooled their resources in one location – Barajas Airport.

The Spanish government has invested heavily in its airports, and remains open to further expansion at Madrid – ‘Barajas is a fantastic airport with excess capacity', Willie Walsh explained. The executive went on to caution the UK’s heavy-handed approach to cutting air traffic, stating ‘growth does not go away. Growth will just leave the UK and go to other parts of Europe.’

Heathrow is operating at 99% capacity, whereas Barajas, with its four runways, is operating at 75%. Unfortunately, the only way to solve congestion problems in London is to force expansion at other airports such as Manchester and Birmingham. This is unlikely, given that some of the people who voted Conservative had hoped to see an end to ‘overnight’ expansions by airports.

David Cameron is now working to improve rail links between London and Birmingham in a bid to ‘siphon off’ some of Heathrow’s traffic. But whether the plan will help the UK generate the same amount of revenue as an extra runway or terminal remains to be seen.

London Heathrow Airport now has links to the city of St. John’s in Newfoundland and Labrador, thanks to North American flag-carrier, Air Canada. The airline plans to operate the route on a daily basis until the end of September 2010.

Newfoundland and Labrador is a province of Canada, located in the extreme northeast of the country. The region is perhaps best known as the location of the ancient Viking settlement, L’Anse aux Meadows, the earliest known European settlement in North America. The village pre-dates the voyage of Columbus by 500 years.

Air Canada’s new route began on May 27. Marcel Forget, the airline’s vice president, has already noted ‘strong support’ for the route, which is expected to cost around £500 for a return journey. The service will be operated by an Airbus A319 aeroplane, capable of carrying up to 120 passengers.

Heathrow will also add five flights to Melbourne to its books, courtesy of Australian airline, Qantas. The carrier already operates a bi-weekly trip between London and the southern hemisphere, using the largest passenger airliner in the world, the Airbus A380. Qantas intends to bolster links with Los Angeles International as well.

The airline has purchased four more A380s in anticipation of its new routes, but the Melbourne-Singapore-Heathrow trip is not expected to take off until the end of 2010 at the earliest. ‘We consider it a priority to increase the frequency of our Heathrow service when the next tranche of A380s begins arriving from late this year,’ airline boss Alan Joyce explained.

British Airways will also benefit from the expansion of Qantas, albeit indirectly. The Australian carrier plans to extend its codeshare agreement with BA for a further five years, adding six new European destinations to its Heathrow schedules. Tickets for the new codeshare routes will be available from June 14 2010.