Airport Guide
Airlines wake up to growing gap year interest
As recruitment in most sectors slows down, particularly in terms of businesses taking on new graduates, growing numbers of people are opting to head on a round-the-world adventure rather than struggle with futile job applications at home.
Quick to cotton on to a trend, Virgin Atlantic recently rolled out the final link in its round-the-world services, with travellers now able to circumnavigate the globe without having to fly with another airline.
Launching the Sydney to Los Angeles services in the Australian city, Virgin chief Sir Richard Branson revealed that passengers can choose between a 'West' or 'East' package, taking in London, Hong Kong, Sydney and then LA in whichever order they wish.
"Passengers now have a choice to make - which way to go around the world with Virgin," the entrepreneur said.
"The combination of Virgin Atlantic and V Australia offers travellers huge flexibility in their global planning and some of the best value round-the-world fares available. The destinations are also some of the most exciting in the world."
At the same time, passengers are also able to benefit from a massive spider-web of flight routes, with complex corporate partnerships throwing up some enticing combinations for round-the-world trips aside from the obvious journey down under with just one stopover.
Indeed, South America, South-East Asia and even Africa are now staples of a global journey, particularly now travellers are looking to take an extended break while they wait for the job market to get moving again and even put themselves at an advantage when they get back to the applications.
According to Nadia Daer, Trekker Coordinator at Gapforce, jetting off on a socially responsible break can give a CV a valuable boost as well as being an eye-opening experience in itself.
"It's a more kind of meaningful way of travelling and there's so many skills that you can then put on your CV[as a result of] living and working in extreme environments," she said.
Fortunately for gap year students or professionals taking some time out, with airlines suffering from falling sales among leisure travellers as the credit crunch prompts consumers to cut back on the number of short breaks they take, a brief online search for long-haul flights or even round-the-world tickets can uncover some bargains that would have been unheard of just 12 months ago.
Given the turbulence of the economy as a whole, which has seen return flights from the UK to India fall to around £275, it could even be financially more astute – and certainly more adventurous – to book a series of one-way flights around the world, particularly now that budget services linking Australia and Asia and even Asia and the UK are now readily available.
Quick to cotton on to a trend, Virgin Atlantic recently rolled out the final link in its round-the-world services, with travellers now able to circumnavigate the globe without having to fly with another airline.
Launching the Sydney to Los Angeles services in the Australian city, Virgin chief Sir Richard Branson revealed that passengers can choose between a 'West' or 'East' package, taking in London, Hong Kong, Sydney and then LA in whichever order they wish.
"Passengers now have a choice to make - which way to go around the world with Virgin," the entrepreneur said.
"The combination of Virgin Atlantic and V Australia offers travellers huge flexibility in their global planning and some of the best value round-the-world fares available. The destinations are also some of the most exciting in the world."
At the same time, passengers are also able to benefit from a massive spider-web of flight routes, with complex corporate partnerships throwing up some enticing combinations for round-the-world trips aside from the obvious journey down under with just one stopover.
Indeed, South America, South-East Asia and even Africa are now staples of a global journey, particularly now travellers are looking to take an extended break while they wait for the job market to get moving again and even put themselves at an advantage when they get back to the applications.
According to Nadia Daer, Trekker Coordinator at Gapforce, jetting off on a socially responsible break can give a CV a valuable boost as well as being an eye-opening experience in itself.
"It's a more kind of meaningful way of travelling and there's so many skills that you can then put on your CV[as a result of] living and working in extreme environments," she said.
Fortunately for gap year students or professionals taking some time out, with airlines suffering from falling sales among leisure travellers as the credit crunch prompts consumers to cut back on the number of short breaks they take, a brief online search for long-haul flights or even round-the-world tickets can uncover some bargains that would have been unheard of just 12 months ago.
Given the turbulence of the economy as a whole, which has seen return flights from the UK to India fall to around £275, it could even be financially more astute – and certainly more adventurous – to book a series of one-way flights around the world, particularly now that budget services linking Australia and Asia and even Asia and the UK are now readily available.
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