British Airways has had to launch its own investigation after it received complaints from passengers regarding the alcohol-driven behaviour of cabin crew members on board a recent flight to Washington DC.

According to reports, a band of flight attendants, who were off-duty, were seeing heavily drinking and causing a disturbance to other passengers. Apparently, they ran up and down the aisles, fell over, shouted and screamed “like spoiled brats” before rowing with on-duty staff after being refused more alcohol.

A passenger that was on the plane told The Sun that the attendants were incredibly unprofessional. The incident occurred on January 26 and in a premium class cabin of the aircraft, which was travelling to the American capital.

A spokesman representing British Airways offered an apology to fliers that were on board the plane and added that full investigations are taking place with appropriate disciplinary procedures to be implemented if any signs of wrong-doing pop up.

The incident comes only a matter of weeks since an off-duty BA pilot allegedly groped a female passenger on a flight to Tokyo. Reports emerged that the man was drinking throughout his flight and later drunkenly collapsed in a heap in front of passengers. Not surprisingly, the airline has since suspended him.

British Airways and Thomson this week both reiterated the confidence they have in the Boeing Dreamliner, in spite of fears that the aircraft might be grounded for a longer period of time than was originally thought.

Earlier, Japan’s transport ministry made the announcement that safety inspectors discovered no faults whatsoever with the 787’s battery. Initially, it had been believed that the battery was the most likely cause of the recent problems encountered by the aircraft, however other components will now be investigated.

Zafar Khan, a leading Societe Generale aviation analyst, explained that that the findings may “prolong” the grounding as if the battery isn’t the cause of the problems, the amount of cabling on the aircraft means that experts will have to go back to the drawing board. Worryingly for Boeing, the first British carriers that are due to have their Dreamliners delivered say that they are expecting to be able to launch their services at the time they had originally planned, remaining confident of the safety of the aircraft.

A spokesman representing Thomson Airways said that it is still due to have its first 787 delivered in late February, as scheduled, and still expects to fly the aircraft in a commercial manner from May 1 onwards on its routes from UK hubs such as Manchester, East Midlands, Gatwick and Glasgow to Florida and Mexico.

Motorists across Britain have been warned that they should expect to have to deal with dangerously icy conditions as the rain adds to difficulties of being able to keep roads clear by ridding them of the salt that has been deposited by council gritting machines.

Today,  heavy snow fell on much of Britain - causing travel disruption on roads, railways and to or from airports. In many places, the snow turned to rain and sleet, which lead to icy roads or pavements while temperatures dipped below freezing.

The AA commented that the overnight showers will restrict the ability that gritters will have to treat road surfaces. The head of AA’s special operations department, Darron Burness, remarked how rain that will come in after the snow means that gritters will struggle to do as many runs as they normally would while the salt is washed away.

The local authorities that are usually responsible for making sure the roads are kept clear of both snow and ice have said that they are conscious of this problem and will take into account any rain showers as they carrying out gritting. Representing the Highways Agency, a spokesman insisted that further treatments that are required to maintain the motorways and trunk roads around the country, which his employer is responsible for, will be undertaken.

Kenya’s coastal resorts have been reporting a much-welcomed upswing as Brits head to them for some new year sun.

While Kenya’s tourism industry had suffered badly over the course of the summer, visitors from every corner of Europe, and not just the UK, are finally heading back to coastal resorts after successful efforts by Kenyan government forces to make the country’s border with troubled Somalia much more secure.

Much welcomed by those within Kenya’s tourism industry, the Foreign Office lifted its advice against all but essential travel to the usually-popular islands of both Lamu and Manda and has reverted to its former position of suggesting that Britons travel only within 40 miles of the Somalian border. One hotelier on Lamu told of his huge relief at being able to pay staff over the winter and regular guests that have no concerns about security have been welcomed back with open arms.

All of the resorts on Lamu were booked up for both Christmas and New Year, however there are plenty of vacancies for the months of January and February, which includes the popular half-term week.  Elsewhere on the Kenyan coast, hotels have been commended for the high standard of service that the east African country has become famous for, despite some buildings starting to show their age.

Three British men will appear in court this week after an alcohol-fueled brawl on a flight that terminated in  Amsterdam resulted in 17 arrests.

The men – aboard a KLM flight from Glasgow – were charged with a string of offences, such as groping female cabin stewards and threatening crew, according to a report. The group was heading to the popular city of Amsterdam to attend a Swedish House Mafia concert and it has been alleged that they had been spotted drinking Jagerbomb cocktails before boarding their flight at Glasgow Airport.

The other members of the party, known as the “Bundy Boys”, were arrested but released after paying a fine of £600 each. Representing the Royal Netherlands Military Police, Martijn Peelen confirmed that three men have had to be detained until Tuesday as they were charged with offences more serious than their colleagues, such as threatening cabin crew members and touching female cabin crew in a sexual manner.

Mr Peelen went on to detail how the other 14 members of the gang were freed after being hit with fines of 750 euros each. While some paid the fine, others that haven’t yet will be summoned to court if they fail to meet the set deadline.

Australia’s iconic Opera House will  be joined by a brand new landmark after a local council gave plans for a £330 million, Chinese-themed park, which will include a replica of the iconic gates to Beijing’s Forbidden City, the green light.

The sprawling park, set for construction in Wyong Shire, which is located roughly 50 miles to the north of Sydney, is also to feature a new nine-story temple building that accommodates a giant Buddha and a city modelled on typical water towns. Doug Eaton, the local mayor of Wyong Shire, commented that the park, scheduled to open by 2020 at the latest, will become one of Australia’s main tourist attractions.

More specifically, Eaton commented that, away from the Opera House and its accompanying Harbour Bridge, the park has the potential to become New South Wales’ biggest tourist attraction. He then added that the proposal will transform Wyong Shire into a mecca for tourists while bringing in millions of dollars’ worth of tourism revenue to the area.

Wyong Shire’s council has agreed a sale of land to the private company responsible for the project - Australian Chinese Theme Park Pty Ltd. Construction is to start with the construction of the Forbidden City’s gates in 2015.

Budget carrier Easyjet has announced its plans to offer flights from Manchester Airport to Moscow as of March next year.

The no-frills airline’s chief executive, Carolyn McCall, said that a route from the northern English city to the capital of Russian has been “long overdue”, before adding that the move will create a guaranteed 80 jobs. In other developments, an eighth aircraft will be added to the carrier’s Manchester base, allowing it to offer services to the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague, and Thessaloniki in Greece.

McCall told of Easyjet’s delight over being able to announce further expansions from Manchester International, as well as the arrival of further aircraft, early next year. It was added that the news will be welcomed by those connected to the regional economy as much-needed jobs will be created in the city.

While Moscow and Prague will be of interest to business or leisure travelers, McCall concluded, Thessaloniki has always been a popular choice with holidaymakers from the north of England. In October, Easyjet expanded other services from Manchester, adding its seventh aircraft to the base it has at the UK’s second-largest airport while also starting flights to Venice in Italy and Reykjavik in Iceland. Similarly, the frequency of flights from Manchester to Paphos in Greece and the Greek isle of Santorini were also increased. As of next summer, the airline will be able to offer 32 routes from Manchester.

The Statue of Liberty in New York has been illuminated again for the first time after being closed as a result of damage that was caused by Hurricane Sandy.

To light up the torch and crown of the statue, temporary LED lights were installed. Other lights powered through the use of a generator will be used to light up the remaining parts of the iconic landmark.

Previously, the Statue of Liberty was unlit since October 29 after damage to Liberty Island by the storm left the authorities no other choice than to turn off its power supply. The statue, arguably New York City’s most popular tourist attraction, had just been reopened before the storm after a refurbishment that totalled £19 million.

As of yet, it remains unclear whether or not the attraction is to be reopened to visitors. Whatever the situation, residents of the city will welcome the relighting of the statue as a huge step towards New York recovering from devastation that was caused first hand by the “superstorm” that has been estimated to have run up a $20 billion bill of damages across New York State.

While the storm claimed the lives of over 100 people around 10 states, New York and its neighbour New Jersey were undoubtedly hit the hardest. An official statement was published on the National Park Service’s website to announce that the Statue of Liberty is again lighting up New York Harbor.

The UK’s flagship carrier, British Airways, has offered its support to the yearly “Movember” charity campaign through adorning an Airbus A319 aircraft in its fleet with a giant moustache.

BA has also been encouraging staff to participate in the campaign that aims to increase awareness of prostate cancer via growing facial hair. Mr Kyle Patchett, currently employed by BA as a cabin crew member, unveiled the new makeover of the aircraft while also sporting impressive whiskers himself.

The carrier has revealed that it hopes it can raise £80,000 for the Prostate Cancer Charity just in this month alone. Ms Liz Wilkinson, BA’s head of health services, remarked that the airline is always keen to express its support for Movember, as it’s a charity campaign that is dear to everyone’s heart at British Airways - especially with ex-CEO Lord Marshall having suffered from the disease.

In addition to raising money, Ms Wilkinson continued, the campaign aims to raise awareness too with regards to early detection and then prevention of prostate cancer and similar illnesses. Representing the airline, a spokesman explained how BA considered various styles of moustache to adorn the aeroplane.

Among them were the pencil made famous by Errol Flynn, Joseph Stalin’s handlebar and Hulk Hogan’s horseshoe. The “connoisseur”, similar to that of Mr Pringle, was finally decided upon.

Authorities in Libya have been looking to reignite their country’s tourism industry after close to two years of unrest.

The North African nation, which still remains off-limits to UK travellers by the Foreign Office, is one of the more unusual destinations that have been showcased at this year’s World Travel Market, the holiday trade show that opened at London’s ExCeL venue this morning. Surprisingly, the efforts have been well received up to now.

From a survey of over 1,300 tourism chiefs that attended the conference, over half stated a belief that Libya has the potential to be a popular tourist holiday spot. Only one in 10 dismissed the idea entirely.

World Travel Market director Simon Press commented that Libya could become one of the world of tourism’s most exciting destinations and pointed to countries such as Vietnam and Croatia, which have both managed to reposition themselves from being conflict zones to popular hotspots. Over time, Press concluded, there is no reason why Libya can’t follow suit.

Before the civil war, the country was renowned for ancient ruins, with those found at Leptis Magna – which is one of Libya’s five UNESCO World Heritage Sites – perhaps the best known. As it is only 80 miles from Tripoli, the former Roman city is easily accessible.