Olympic double gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes has been appointed as a non-executive Director of TUI Education; the Education Division of FTSE 100 listed travel giant TUI Travel PLC. Sporting legend Dame Kelly, who was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005, will commence her engagement this month.

Authorities in Beijing have granted licences to three foreign companies to organize tours for outbound Chinese tourists. TUI becomes the first European tour operator, along with CITS American Express Travel Services for the US and JTB New Century International Tours for Japan. The move is seen as key to opening up the country’s lucrative outbound market.

TUI Travel has released financial results for the six months to March 31st revealing the tour operator minimised the impact of the unrest in the Middle East and narrowed losses overall. The FTSE 100 giant – which is majority owned by TUI AG of Germany – confirmed it lost £29 million over six months due to the Arab Spring, less than the expected £30 million.

TUI has said unrest in the Middle East in recent months will cost it £25-£30 million. Demand for trips to Egypt and Tunisia have been particularly hard hit, but both now represent “exceptional value” to travellers, according to the tour operator.

TUI AG has sold a significant proportion of its stake in shipping container giant Hapag-Lloyd as the company seeks to refocus on tourism. At the same time subsidiary Tui Travel had added fuel surcharges to the cost of its holidays as it contends with rising prices prompted by unrest in the Middle East.

A passenger plane has overshot its landing at Newcastle Airport as arctic conditions continue to sweep across the United Kingdom. Nobody was injured following the incident, which occurred at 21:00 GMT on Thursday evening.