Travel Warrior: airport expansion and hotels for sale

Three years after plans for the expansion of London City Airport were submitted to London Council of Newham, the UK government has agreed to the £344 million expansion.

The application has had a rollercoaster ride, and at one stage former mayor Boris Johnson had blocked plans for the expansion, siting noise fears and looking for support for a new airport on a Thames island.

This week the new mayor, Sadiq Khan, has withdrawn objections for the airport buying the extra land it needs from the Greater London Council.

Chancellor of the exchequer Philip Hammond, transport secretary Chris Grayling and communities secretary Sajid Javid all approved the project last week.

The plans will include more efficient taxiways and an extended passenger terminal. The expansion is expected to create 1,600 airport jobs. Last year 4.3 million passengers used the airport.

Luxury hotels for sale

High-class hotels in London and New York are always popular with wealthy families for investments. Latest to come into the bidding game is the swanky Grosvenor House, the New York Plaza and the Dream Downtown New York. A consortium of Saudi and UK family wealth funds has started a bid with $1.3 billion for the hotels currently owned by India’s Sahara

India

Priwar

group.

Qatari investors are also believed to be interested in the hotels. The 110-year old Plaza Hotel, a New York landmark, was formerly owned by Donald Trump, who purchased it for $407.5 million in 1988.

New Belfast hotel

Belfast’s newest hotel is on track to open in October. The

Bullitt Hotel

, named for the Steve McQueen film, will take the corner of Victoria and

Ann Streets

. The boutique hotel will have 43 bedrooms in the first stage. It will provide a work, stay and play venue in the city with meeting rooms, themed bars and a courtyard garden. The hotel is a brainchild of the

Beannchor

group, proprietors of more than 40 pubs, the Merchant Hotel and restaurants in the North.