relaunch

A MAJOR airline has revealed plans to restart UK flights – and you might just get the best sleep onboard.

Air New Zealand last had flights between the UK and New Zealand back in 2020.

However the route – which went via Los Angeles – was axed during Covid.

The London-Auckland route first launched in 1982, and was the first commercial airline to welcome a royal when the Queen broke with tradition in 1995 to travel onboard.

And now the airline’s new CEO has revealed future plans to start up again, alongside a number of routes in India.

Nikhil Ravishankar told local outlet Stuff: “Places we would go tomorrow if we could, and we want to get there as quickly as we can, would be London [and India] – those are places that we know New Zealanders are interested in being connected to.

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“I think all three of those are equally important for us, but India and London are top of the list.

“There are a lot of reasons why New Zealand should be connected to the United Kingdom – it’s a very, very important, almost a cultural highway for us, and so we need to get that route up and running.”

It isn’t clear when this could restart, or where the airline will connect via.

Due to the long nature of the flight – often taking around 24 hours – connections are often in destinations such as Singapore or Hong Kong.

If it does restart, its good news for passengers as Air New Zealand is the only airline in the world set to have bunk beds onboard.

Launching in early 2026, the Skynest will include six bunk bed sleep pods that both economy and premium economy passengers will be able to book.

Each bed can be booked for a four hour slot, and will have new pillows, sheets and blankets per passengers, as well as earplugs, charging points and a personal light.

A curtain will be able to be closed to offer some extra privacy.

They were initially set to launch in 2024 on flights from New York to New Zealand but have since been delayed.

While prices are yet to be confirmed, it was previously suggested that the four hour sessions could be between NZ$400-$600 (£173-£260).

However, you can only book one slot per flight – so make the most of the four hours.

Otherwise there is also the Skycouch, where you can turn a row of three sets into a lie flat bed.

Rather than pay for three seats, passengers can buy two seats and then upgrade to the Skycouch, with then includes the third seat.

Passengers don’t need to buy three seats – instead, you pay for two seats and then upgrade to the Skycouch which automatically includes the third seat.

Prices start from £104 each way.

In the mean time, Brits can fly to New Zealand with other airlines such as Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific.

Flights include stopovers in Dubai, Singapore, Doha and Hong Kong, respectively.

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Another airline has revealed plans for non-stop 20-hour flights to London.

And here is the regional UK airport that has revealed plans for long-haul flights.

US President Donald Trump and his Middle East envoy both claimed the talks could happen next week, following the Iranian president’s comments on being open to dialogue.

Iran says it has not requested talks with the United States over its nuclear programme, as claimed by US President Donald Trump.

“No request for a meeting has been made on our side to the American side,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Tuesday in comments carried by the country’s Tasnim news agency.

The clarification came a day after Trump, during a dinner in the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Iran was actively seeking negotiations on a new nuclear deal following the 12-day war with Israel last month, which the US also joined.

“We have scheduled Iran talks. They want to talk,” Trump told reporters. “They want to work something out. They are very different now than they were two weeks ago.”

Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff – also present during the dinner – had even said the meeting could take place in the next week or so.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in an opinion piece published in the Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday that Tehran remains interested in diplomacy but “we have good reason to have doubts about further dialogue”.

Sanctions relief

On June 13, Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign on Iran that targeted military and nuclear sites as well as residential areas, killing senior military commanders and nuclear scientists. Iranian authorities say the Israeli strikes killed at least 1,060 people. Israel says retaliatory drone and missile fire by Iran killed at least 28 people.

The US joined the war, bombing Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz, just days before a planned meeting between Tehran and Washington, DC on reviving the nuclear talks. Trump then went on to announce a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

The negotiations, aimed at limiting Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief, would replace the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – a deal signed with the US, China, Russia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the European Union – which Trump ditched during his first term in office.

Floating the prospect of more talks on Monday, Trump also dangled the prospect of lifting punitive US sanctions on Iran, imposed after the US withdrawal from JCPOA, with further restrictions piled on this year.

This month, the US issued a new wave of sanctions against Iranian oil exports, the first penalties against Tehran’s energy sector since the US-backed ceasefire ended the war between Israel and Iran.

“I would love to be able to, at the right time, take those sanctions off,” said Trump.

Towards the end of last month, Trump said he was working on “the possible removal of sanctions”, but dropped his efforts after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed “victory” in the Iran-Israel war.

Tehran’s denial regarding talks with the US came after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told US journalist Tucker Carlson that Iran had “no problem” resuming talks so long as trust could be rebuilt between the two sides.

The interview, aired on Monday, provoked a backlash in Iran, with the critics accusing Pezeshkian of being “too soft” in the wake of last month’s attacks on the country.

“Have you forgotten that these same Americans, together with the Zionists, used the negotiations to buy time and prepare for the attack?” said an editorial in the hardline Kayhan newspaper.

The conservative Javan daily also took aim at Pezeshkian, saying his remarks appeared “a little too soft”.

In contrast, the reformist Ham Mihan newspaper praised Pezeshkian’s “positive approach”.

The season’s opening night served up a cruel reminder that netball players risk serious injury every time they take to the court.

Teams are offering better training facilities and more opportunities to spend time in the gym, but women in sport remain far more susceptible to non-contact serious injuries than men.

That was highlighted when London Mavericks’ Vicki Oyesola crumpled to the court floor after landing a little awkwardly against Cardiff Dragons.

It was the dreaded anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury, the bane of many a netballer’s career – a season-ender on day one.

NSL says women are six times more likely to sustain such a non-contact injury than men, while a National Ligament Registry study has shown there are only more ACLs suffered by women in skiing than in netball.

More setbacks have followed, with Birmingham Panthers goal shooter Sigi Burger suffering a complete tear of her medial collateral ligament.

Manchester Thunder captain Amy Carter, who is a junior doctor and missed the 2022 season with an ACL injury, explained to BBC Sport why netballers suffer so badly.

“It’s a few different things. Your hips are a little bit wider, your knees are a bit closer together, you’re more likely to do your ACL,” Carter said.

“You’ve got the menstrual cycle to take into account, which can increase your risk when you’re on your period. The nature of the game, the change of directions, the high impact, the stopping still straight away, that can also contribute to it.”

Research continues into how players might mitigate risk, but knees are not the only problem. Panthers’ Gabby Marshall retired in May after a second concussion injury in a month.

A record 1.26m television audience for Bath’s victory, combined with demand outstripping supply for the 82,000 tickets, suggests the Premiership is nurturing new fans.

There has been big growth in engaging supporters between the ages of 18-34, while Red Bull’s reported interest in buying Newcastle Falcons would tie in perfectly with a parallel aim of attracting youth-orientated brands.

It is a brief Calder has worked to before.

Before he arrived in rugby, he was the commercial director for the Hundred, the neon-spattered, slog-heavy cricket format that launched in 2021 and raised more than £500m with the sale of its franchise sides earlier this year.

That was revolution. In rugby, Calder is aiming for evolution.

“With the Hundred, we were clear that a distinctly new approach was going to be critical to get to the next generation,” he says.

“When I did research on the Hundred though I looked at rugby clubs and how they compared in terms of appeal to younger audiences and they actually performed pretty well.

“There are some strong brands in there – be it Harlequins or Leicester Tigers or others – with legacy and awareness of those identities.

“So I think we’re starting from a different level with rugby.”

The rebrand will include more behind-the-scenes content from the league’s bright, young things and more intelligent highlights, with dramatic moments, such as shuddering hits, try-saving tackles and interactions between players, included alongside the scores.

Some of the strategy is more mundane than the marketing, but just as important.

“The first time people come to rugby grounds, we have got to make them welcome,” says Calder.

“We’ve got to point out where everything is, to make sure there’s enough toilets for women, that the facilities are clean and the rest of it.

“Rugby is probably a little bit behind where some sports are, but that’s a massive focus for us.

“We’ve invested in gathering match day experience scores from fans and match day experience training with the clubs.”