A few days ago, BMI Regional announced that they were closing their service between Edinburgh and Stornaway due to insufficient demand. The airline ensured there would be no inconvenience to their customers already booked by transferring their tickets to the continuing British Airways service.

When the route was introduced a couple of years ago, many might have been puzzled as to why a remote Scottish island would be interested in another daily service to the capital. However, increases in tourism, and the developing governance of the Scottish Executive would have been good reason to believe that passenger numbers were likely to increase. Whilst numbers have increased, so has the capacity of the Loganair planes, and there are simply too many empty seats to make it worthwhile for BMI to continue.

We're pleased that BMI have immediately rebooked passengers on the alternative flights. It contrasts with the practice of some low cost carriers who try to avoid rerouting passengers, instead thinking that a refund will be satisfactory. We take a brief look at passenger rights when a route is closed.

The budget airline Ryanair has announced an almost immediate closure of its Dublin to Cardiff route having failed to reach an agreement with Cardiff Airport over passenger charges.

The route closed on May 1st, with passengers only being offered a transfer between the two airports until May 10th. The situation starkly demonstrates how passengers can be quickly inconvenienced when a carrier fails to agree terms with an airport or other supplier.

The train operating company in the Midlands, Central Trains has been awarded an extension to its franchise until November 2007.

The company has been given new terms to encourage service improvements. It will be required to operate the existing timetable. The extension helps facilitate the re-mapping of franchises in the Midlands, which was announced by DfT in October 2005. Three new franchises - East Midlands, West Midlands and Cross Country - will replace the current four franchises operated by Central Trains, Silverlink, Virgin Cross Country and Midland Mainline.

The Premiership team and officials of Blackburn Rovers were involved in a major scare on Monday as their plane was hit by lightning en route to Manchester Airport.

Players reported hearing an explosion as the 31 seater Dornier 328 aircraft chartered from Scot Airways flew through a storm and turbulence. The lightning strike cause a bolt to be blown out from the back of the plane, but the aircraft landed safely at Manchester Airport shortly afterwards.

In a recent interview given to the Manchester Evening News, British Airways Chairman Willie Walsh has expressed satisfaction with the launch of its low cost offering, BA Connect.

BA Connect was launched in March 2006, and is a makeover of its regional airline CitiExpress. With the exception of the London City to Edinburgh route, complementary food service has been withdrawn, but otherwise things are much the same.

The largest difference with BA Connect is its pricing structure. The cheapest seats now start from £25 each way, flights are available as single legs, and a premium service for business travellers offers flexible ticketing and lounge access. The biggest savers will be those booking first, with few last minute bargains available, as is common with all low cost carriers.

Passengers travelling on the line between Manchester Airport and Blackpool can look forward to new trains now that Transpennine Express have officially taken over the franchise from Northern Rail.

Transpennine Express (TPE) have been operating the line on behalf of Northern Rail since December 2004. Now that they have been awarded the franchise, they will be introducing brand new Pennine Class 185 trains over the next few months.

Ticketing in the form of smart card is set to be introduced on South West Trains when the franchise is renewed next year.

The smart cards will operate like London's Oyster card which can be used for Pay As You Go travel or hold an electronic travelcard or season ticket. The card is read by special devices at stations and on buses. The system introduced by South West Trains will also have to accept the Oyster card.

The franchise winner will also have to improve security at stations and on trains. No major changes to the timetable are planned.

The first car sharing lane to be built on a UK motorway will soon be operational on the M606 and M62 between Bradford and Leeds in West Yorkshire.

The new lane will cost £2.5 million and open in 2007, improving journey times by up to eight minutes at busy times. Vehicles with more than one occupant will be able to use the one mile lane to skirt around congestion at Junction 26 on the M62 and gain priority onto the eastbound M62. Other vehicles are unlikely to suffer an increase to journey times.