Rob Fyfe, the Kiwi national carrier’s flamboyant and successful figurehead, said on Monday that he would step down from his role at the end of 2012 at the same time that his Presidency of global airline network Star Alliance expires.

Mr Fyfe has been recognised in recent years as the man who brought Air New Zealand back to its feet and pushed it to become a major contender among global carriers. But yesterday he said to reporters that he needed to make space for the “talented and capable” people around him to be able to realise their full potential as executives for the airline.

Last year saw Fyfe achieve one of his greatest feats since becoming chief executive in 2005 when he forged a fresh alliance for trans-Tasman routes with Virgin Australia while expanding his carrier’s stake in the company to 20 per cent. Two years earlier, he had mad worldwide news by appearing naked in a TV advert with other Air New Zealand employees with their bodies painted to resemble the company’s uniforms.

Air New Zealand’s board has since responded by saying there was no fixed period of time for appointing a replacement chief.

Meanwhile, industry experts say that Fyfe’s future may hold a top European leadership position with the International Air Transport Association or even a major role with Australian national carrier Qantas.

Delta Airlines, Air Canada and other North American carriers said on Thursday that several transpolar long-haul routs had to be shifter further southward in the effort of avoiding disruptions to radio transmissions, which resulted in flights lasting about 15 minutes extra in most cases.

Australian flag carrier Qantas said it was also forced to divert some flights amid the solar storm, which was the worst to hit Earth since 2003, whilst Air New Zealand said its flights were unaffected.

Aviation experts said that airlines transiting the poles use high-frequency radio systems instead of satellite-based communications. Solar Physicist Doug Biesecker from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said solar storms can cause significant interference with such signals.

Around 8,000 commercial flights transit through the polar regions each year, primarily those travelling on the shortest routes between Asian and North American cities. Delta said that its flights between its hub in Detroit and Chinese gateways were among those affected last week.

No serious disturbances were reported through the storm, though many carriers not diverting flights said they remained on high alert through the end of the ordeal on Friday.

The news comes via a recent study released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which said that over the next several decades Britons will be less likely to travel abroad for holiday whilst residents of continental Europe will head to Britain in increasing numbers for breaks.

However, the agency said that the change would bring an increase in flooding that is likely to cost billions of pounds. The report said that heavy rainfall in the winters would affect as many as 3.6 million UK residents by 2050 and may entail damages of up to £12 billion.

The group also said that intense heat waves may lead to the death of 6,000 additional people each summer and business will face staffing problems due to the difficulty of working in hot conditions. Additionally, the authors say that hosepipe bans and crop shortages will become common due to prolonged droughts, particularly in the South East.

Environment secretary Caroline Spelman said that the report provides “comprehensive” evidence on why the UK needs to adapt to the increasingly strong impact of climate change.

The captain of Aer Lingus Regional flight ATR72, operated by Aer Arann, was set to fly 24 passengers from Bristol to Ireland last week before authorities boarded the plane and administered the pilot a breath test. After reportedly being found to be “over the limit”, he was taken off the flight to a local police station.

Airport workers had notified authorities after the pilot was seen in street clothes trying to pass through a passenger security screening point rather than crewmembers’ designated security area. Another source told reporters that the man had checked into a hotel with a member of the flight’s cabin crew during the six-hour stop in Bristol.

Those on the flight had to deal with a delay of more than four hours whilst the carrier scrambled to find another pilot to captain the aircraft. Passengers said that they had been told there was an “operational issue” with the flight.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police revealed that the pilot later passed a second alcohol test and was released without charges.

Aer Arann has said it will continue investigating the incident and said that safety has always been the airline’s “utmost priority”.

The airline said in an official statement released on Monday that its route between Heathrow airport and the Libyan capital would recommence flights on 1 May, more than a year after the service was put on hold as a result of the country’s uprising and civil war that culminated in the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Officials for the UK flag carrier said the company would comission one of its smaller jets – an Airbus A320 – for the service, which will depart thrice weekly on Tusdays, Thursdays and Fridays. BA had operated daily flights to Tripoli before the suspension early last year.

The re-establishment of the link was made possible thanks to fresh agreements between the UK government and Tripoli, as well as the October lifting of a NATO-backed no-fly-zone over the whole of Libya, the company said.

BA’s chief executive, Keith Williams, said that by resuming the London-Tripoli route that the two countries could again benefit from a “vital economic link” for many years. He added that the carrier was “delighted” to reconnect the capital cities.

However, official advisories from the Foreign Office are still urging UK nationals to forgo all but essential travel to numerous parts of Libya, including the capital.

The company said on Tuesday that bookings during the two weeks leading up to 13 January saw a 33 per cent decrease despite being a key booking period for travel operators.

However, the firm disputed reports in the Financial Times claiming that the drop was a result of lower consumer confidence due to recent refinancing efforts. Thomas Cook officials instead said the figures came as a result of capacity cuts amid its cost-cutting initiatives.

But according to the Financial Times, the drop trebled the 11 per cent slump seen by TUI Travel, the parent firm of Thomson Holidays, over the same two-week period.

Following the news, Thomas Cook shares were down 5 per cent on Tuesday morning, just two months after the company’s stock plummeted 75 percentage points in a single day on news that it was looking to extend its debt of £900m by an extra £200 million. The company said at the time that its troubles were the result of hard-hitting unrest in key North African and Middle Eastern destinations as well as flooding in Thailand.

Douglas McNeil, an analyst from Charles Stanley, said that investors should be “concerned” about the news but should not put too much emphasis on a trend from such a short time period.

Several of the company’s A380 routes are currently being flown by other types of aircraft after the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) warned airlines worldwide that new sets of cracks could be present on the model’s wing sets.

A spokesman for the company told AFP reporters on Saturday that the checks were a “precaution” and that six of the company’s ten A380s would be checked completely by midweek and that the remaining four would be examined in the next six weeks. He said that the safety of customers and crewmembers was the carrier’s number one concern and that it will continue to take any steps necessary to ensure safety.

The recommendation from the EASA on Friday said that 30 of the 67 A380s currently in service should undergo checks as soon as possible after the agency found “rib feet cracking” on several of the super jumbo aircraft based in Europe. Officials said this could have potential effects on the “structural integrity” of the Airbus jets.

Meanwhile, additional carriers have also begun to check their own A380s; Korean air said in a statement that after examining all of the five it currently operates that no cracking was found and that it was awaiting further instructions from the EASA.

The warning comes only two weeks after cracking was found on A380 models that was deemed as non-threatening by SIA, Qantas and other carriers.

Statistics from the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) show that some 157,000 individuals were administered drink-driving tests between 1 December and 1 January. Of those, drivers 25 years of age and younger had higher offending rates a 5.7 per cent than those over 25 (4 per cent) during the same period.

The numbers have since drawn fire from road safety campaign groups, who say that it appears that drink-driving warnings are not effective.

Edmund King, president of the AA, said that he was hoping that the number of arrests in the UK would have been reduced this Christmas but admitted that milder weather conditions likely lead to this year’s higher figures.

This year’s anti drink-driving crackdown saw 43 police forces test motorists at hundreds of locations both during the day and the night. Suzette Davenport, Northamptonshire Police’s deputy chief constable, said that drink driving was not only irresponsible in a social manner but also has much further reaching effects for those that are convicted, including driving bans, job losses and even imprisonment.

Scotland and Northern Ireland also saw increases in the number of drink driving arrests this December, with 478 and 408, respectively.

Designed by Pascal Anson of Brighton, the artwork will be rolled out on the British Airways fleet beginning in April and will remain on the company’s planes through the remainder of the year. The carrier also said this week that some of its 747s and A319 jets will boast “Olympic colour”.

Anson, who is a design tutor for Kingston University, said the design was inspired by the view of aircraft on approach to Gatwick airport from his home. The designer said that he often would wonder weather the flying objects were birds or planes and that the idea had been developed from that thought.

British Airways says in spite of major changes to the design of its aircraft that all planes will retain key markings such as the Chatham flag on its tail, whose name comes from the dockyard in which Royal navy flags were once produced.

Tracey Emin, who will act as a mentor on the design project, said that the Dove piece was “stunning” and will be an exciting element for those flying on the new repainted aircraft.

The full design will be unveiled in the spring.

According to recent figures from Sainsbury’s Travel Insurance, some 28.9 million Britons plan to spend a grand total of £22.1 billion on holiday travel over the next 12 months. Although that number appears to be fairly generous at first glance, it actually amounts to about £765 per person.

Among respondents planning any sort of travel in the coming year, some 78 per cent said they intend to be extra conscious of spending and are looking to have lower travel costs this year than they had in years past.

Fewer than half of respondents, about 45 per cent, said they had plans to travel overseas this year, and 13 per cent of that group said they will try to bring down costs by staying with family or friends with property in a given holiday destination. Similarly, about 12 per cent said they would turn to a self-catering break for savings, whilst 10 per cent said they would choose an all-inclusive getaway in the effort of knowing the overall cost before departure.

David Barrett said on behalf of Sainsbury’s Travel Insurance that figures also showed that many travellers would book late in 2012 in the effort of snagging great last-minute deals. He added that the majority of holidaymakers would also be looking to reduce holiday spending money as well.