Ryanair’s chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs.Ryanair’s chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs.

Ryanair has targeted corporate travellers by launching its version of ‘business class’ earlier this week.

Benefits of the budget airline’s new Business Plus fares include the flexibility to change tickets on the day of travel, 20kg check-in bag allowance, fast-track airport security at selected airports, priority boarding and premium seats if selected at the time of booking.

Business Plus is displayed as a separate fare option on the website and follows a dedicated family service that started in July.

Chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said: “Businesses are becoming smarter with their travel and over 25 per cent of our customers already travel on business, choosing Ryanair for our low fares, industry leading punctuality and the largest route network in Europe.”

Fares with these benefits start from €69.99 on Ryanair.com. See www.ryanair.com/mt/business-plus for more information.

Out of office but never off duty

More than half of office workers check their e-mails while on holiday, according to a British survey.

Figures from online travel agent Travel Republic show that 52 per cent will log in for work when they should officially be chilling out and 26 per cent of those said they would respond to e-mails.

Researchers, who quizzed 1,000 UK-based office workers, found that younger employees were the most conscientious, with 38 per cent of them claiming to read and respond to e-mails when they are away, compared with 29 per cent of people aged 45-54.

Among those aged between 35-44, 45 per cent said they let their out-of-office message do what it’s intended and never checked their e-mail inbox. (PA)

A warning sign blocks the road to Bardarbunga volcano, some 20 kilometres away, in the northwest region of the Vatnajokull glacier, Iceland. Photo: Sigtryggur Johannsson/ReutersA warning sign blocks the road to Bardarbunga volcano, some 20 kilometres away, in the northwest region of the Vatnajokull glacier, Iceland. Photo: Sigtryggur Johannsson/Reuters

Volcanic ‘cauldrons’ in Iceland

Ice over Iceland’s rumbling Bardarbunga volcano has melted to reveal a row of one-kilometre wide “cauldrons”, possibly due to a sub-glacial eruption, the country’s meteorological office said earlier this week.

Rumblings at Iceland’s largest volcano system for about a week have raised worries of an eruption that could spell trouble for air travel once again.

In 2010, an ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano closed much of Europe’s airspace for six days.

The Met Office said on its website it had not observed an increase in the level of tremors in connection with the discovery of the four to six-kilometre-long line of 10 to 15-metre deep “cauldrons”.

Palmi Erlendsson, a geologist at the Met Office, said the warning code for possible volcanic disruption to the aviation industry remained orange, the second-highest level.

Red, the highest alert, indicates an eruption is imminent or underway, with a risk of emission of ash.

The Met Office said on Wednesday that seismic activity in the area remained high after two earthquakes measuring more than 5.0 in magnitude hit the volcano overnight and another quake shook a nearby volcano.

The night before saw a magnitude 5.7 quake – the biggest one yet at Bardarbunga. (Reuters)

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