Yellen: Recent US talks with China show ‘progress’

big enough for both of our countries to thrive.”

The project faced criticism for high fares with its £4.90 fee ousting Heathrow Express as the most expensive transfer service in the UK by distance.

Luton Rising – the Luton Councilowned enterprise who financed the DART – have hailed the new rail sys- tem’s success, announcing earlier this week that the route had served 650,000 passengers in its first 100 days.

The airport enterprise estimates this has saved customers more than ten years of total journey time already, with a 32-minute total journey time to the airport for passengers travelling from St Pancras.

“Even with ongoing rail strikes, which are keeping a lid on the rail sector and the number of passengers who can use the DART, we can see the benefits that customers are receiving in terms of convenience,” said councillor Javeria Hussain, chair of Luton Rising.

Luton Airport itself is currently plotting to up its passenger cap from 18m to 19m, with the Department for Levelling up and the Department for Transport reviewing a planning application submitted in February.

Martin told City A.M. that the airport also intends on investing £20m on refurbishments for its security hall – installing new body and CT scanning technology, as well as longer security lanes to boost capacity.

“We will also be looking to expand our route network and continue growing the range of shops and restaurants in our departure lounge,” he said.

The airport’s expansion plans, which it hopes will help it compete with rivals London City, Stansted and Heathrow, come amid a slew of activity in the sector.

Gatwick last week announced it had submitted an application to the Planning Inspectorate for a £2.2bn second runway.

Meanwhile, London City awaits the outcome of a consultation from Newham Council today over plans to raise its passenger cap to 9m – largely by extending the airport’s operating hours.

London Stansted Airport has also asked for permission to handle 43m passengers a year.

US TREASURY secretary Janet Yellen said 10 hours of meetings with senior Chinese officials in recent days were “direct” and “productive”, helping stabilise the superpowers’ often relationship as her four-day Beijing trip ended.

Before departing China on Sunday, Yellen said the United States and China remained at odds on a number of issues but expressed confidence that her visit had advanced efforts to put the relationship on “surer footing”.

“The US and China have significant disagreements,” Yellen told a press conference at the US embassy in Beijing, citing US concerns about what “unfair economic practices” and recent punitive actions against US firms.

“But President Biden and I do not see the relationship between the US and China through the frame of great power conflict. We believe that the world is

With US-China relations at a low over national security issues, including Taiwan, US export bans on advanced technologies and China's state-led industrial policies, Washington has been trying to repair ties between the world's two biggest economies.

Secretary of state Antony Blinken visited Beijing last month, the first trip by the top US diplomat in Biden’s presidency. Climate envoy John Kerry is expected to visit this month.

The US diplomatic push comes ahead of a possible meeting between Biden and President Xi Jinping at September’s Group of 20 summit in New Delhi or a Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering scheduled for November in San Francisco.

Yellen said her visit aimed to establish and deepen ties with China’s new economic team.

Yellen said she expects more communication

Threads launched last Thursday in over 100 countries, providing a platform for text-based conversations