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Travel duo plan round-world flight for charity

A leading member of the travel trade and a consultant to the industry plan a seven-day trip around the world in aid of charity.


British Airways head of UK and Ireland sales Richard Tams will join TIA Global managing director Andrew Solum in flying around the world on airlines belonging to the Oneworld alliance.


They aim to raise a minimum £10,000 for the Comic Relief charity Flying Start, which operates in partnership with BA.


Flying Start raises money for children in the UK and around the world.


Tams and Solum will depart New York on September 15, flying to Chicago and then on to Tokyo and Hong Kong, returning to New York from London on September 22.


They will cover more than 29,000 miles and spend almost 73 hours in the air, with four brief nights in hotels along the way.


The pair will complete their itinerary with flights aboard American Airlines, BA, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, LAN, Finnair, Iberia, Royal Jordanian, Japan Airlines, S7 Airlines and Malaysian Airlines.


Tams said: “We want to raise money for charity, but not by running a marathon. We asked ourselves whether this could be done and found there are not that many options.


“Flying Start was the logical charity to choose because it works with the airline industry. It is a charity we both felt strongly about.”


Solum said: “Flying Start has raised just short of £3 million and has a goal of raising £5 million by next March. We hope we can help towards that.”


He added: “We are determined to get back in seven days. This is around the world on 12 airlines. We are going to test the Oneworld tagline: ‘Oneworld revolves around you’.”


You can pledge to sponsor the pair by emailing richardtams@ba.com

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