New Flights to Santiago de Compostela from London

It used to be that flights were only available from London Stansted to the popular city of Santiago de Compostela.  However, we have just learned that Easyjet will be introducing new flights from London Gatwick to Santiago de Compostela starting 18 June 2013.   With more flights operating three times a week, there is no better time to plan a short city break to this city.

Santiago de Compostela - Galicia - Spain

So why would you choose to visit this city?  Steeped in history, Santiago de Compostela is possibly best known as being a place of pilgrimage, with people from all over Europe flocking to the city each year on foot, and to the city's cathedral standing on the Praza do Obradoiro. This cathedral was built in honour of St James [one of Christ's apostles] whose body was supposedly discovered here.

However, if history is not of particular interest to you then you can while away your time doing some retail therapy in the shopping zone for that all important souvenir of your holiday in this lovely city.  With jetware and silverware being the local crafts, you will find plenty of items to choose from, with jewellery being the most popular.   The shops around the cathedral offer a particularly good selection with the opportunity of purchasing jewellery associated with St James.  For more traditional gifts, head to the Old Quarter where you will find craft shops selling goods such as ceramic tiles, lace, and other local crafts. 

As for the evening, Santiago de Compostela is well known for its seafood and you will have plenty of restaurants to choose from that will suit all pockets.   Cheap local dishes can be found, as well as more expensive, upmarket restaurants where menus can be on the pricey side.  Don't forget some Galician wine to accompany your meal  - look out for Ribeiro [red and white] and Albarino [white].

So, you have decided to visit this lovely city.  Now you will need to arrange your hotel in Santiago de Compostela.  We can recommend the 5 star NH Obradoiro Hotel - a modern, centrally located hotel.

Fly from London Gatwick on the 20 July for 3 nights and stay at the NH Obradoiro on bed and breakfast for £344 per person.   Alternatively, visit in September  [14th for 3 nights] for as little as £289 per person including flights from London Gatwick.

If you would like us to arrange your holiday to Santiago de Compostela, then give us a call on Freephone 0800 5 677688 [or you will need to dial 01582 421117 from a mobile] and we will be delighted to talk to you.

New Flights to the Canaries and Balearics

Summer 2013 will see lots of new flights being added to departure timetables for a few flight operators from the UK.

New Flights to the Balearic Islands
COSMOS has added services from East Midlands airport to Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca and from Leeds Bradford airport to Mallorca and Menorca
RYANAIR has added services from East Midlands to Menorca from April

Easyjet to Introduce Allocated Seating

Good news from Easyjet this morning, and probably something lots of us have been waiting for Easyjet to introduce for some time.   Allocated seating is to be introduced on all Easyjet flights from November 2012 after a trial period was held this summer.

Passengers will be allocated a seat for free. However, those wanting to guarantee where they will be sitting will be charged.

There will be 3 bands of pricing, dependent on the seat selected:

£12 for extra leg room [front row and exit rows]
£8 for up front seating [row 2-5 on A319 or row 2-6 on A320]
£3 for any other seat

Easyjet have said "Passengers who do not wish to pay to select their seat will be allocated a seat free of charge.  Passengers travelling on the same booking will be seated together wherever possible by the airlines reservation system which uses the most advanced seating algorithm in world aviation".

Research among 800,000 passengers on 6,000 trial flights found that more than 70% thought allocated seating was better than the budget airline's 'first come, first served' system, due to the improved boarding experience.

Phased introduction starts on November 13 from Gatwick South, Luton, Stansted, Southend, Bristol and Glasgow.

This will be followed on November 20 by Gatwick North and then November 27 by Belfast, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle.

Wizz Air Considers Charges for Hand Luggage

It was reported recently in Travel Weekly that Hungarian airline Wizz Air may introduce a charge for cabin luggage which is currently being trialled on the route between Luton and Katowice, Poland.

For passengers carrying hand luggage larger than 42cm x 32cm x 25cm would need to pay 10 euros online for a "large cabin bag allowance".  However, there is the benefit that customers who pay this fee are given priority boarding.

Wizz Air are reported as saying that the trial that had been introduced on the 1 August had received positive feedback from customers and were considering the full roll-out of this new policy.

Easyjet to fly to Iceland from Luton

It has been announced that EasyJet is to commence flying from Luton to Reykjavik three times a week on a year-round schedule. 

More than 8,000 seats have been sold in advsnce of the first flight on the 27 March 2012.  Tickets for flights from October will go on sale in March.

Reykjavik is the most notherly capital in the world and an original choice for a stylish city break in Iceland. The name means "Smoky Bay" after the steam clouds which rise from it geothermal springs. Discover the land of fire and ice with active geysers and bubbling mud pools alongside thundering waterfalls.

Extra 13,000 Seats from Newcastle with Easyjet

It has been announced that Easyjet will be increasing capacity on 8 routes from Newcastle.

An extra 13,000 seats are being made available for passsengers with the introduction of an Airbus A320 later this year.  The extra capacity will be on routes to:
Malta [MLA]
Mallorca [PMI]
Paris [CDG]
Bristol [BRS]
Alicante [ALC]
Malaga [AGP]
Barcelona [BCN]
Belfast [BFS]

Ryanair Announces New Routes from Liverpool

It has been recently announced that Ryanair will be adding 2 new destinations to its network of routes from Liverpool John Lennon Airport [LPL] for the summer schedule with services operating to Barcelona [BCN] and Almeria [LEI].

Flights will commence on 25 March and will take the number of destinations served by Ryanair to 40. 

It is expected that the flight to Barcelona will prove very popular, especially for passengers wishing to take a city break to Barcelona. 

AVRO Adds New Departures

AVRO has announced an increase in their 2012 programme with new regional departures.  The new routes with Monarch start in March with flights to:

ITALY
Milan and Venice from Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester up to 6 times per week.
Rome from Luton and Birmingham up to 5 times per week
Verona from Manchester up to 5 times per week

CROATIA
Dubrovnik from Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester up to 3 times per week

GREECE
Heraklion in Crete from East Midlands and Newcastle [East Midlands on Tuesdays from 22 May to 25 September and Newcastle on Tuesdays from May to November]
Corfu from East Midlands and Newcastle on Mondays from 21 May to 24 September

New Flights from Cardiff Announced

It has been announced that the Spanish budget carrier "Vueling" is expanding its network from Cardiff with two more routes this coming summer.

The airline will serve Alicante and Palma three times per week from 22 June in addition to Barcelona flights which start from 27 March.

BMIBABY Announces New Routes

BMIBABY has recently announced it will be launching 2 new sunshine routes this year and also increase frequency to some its most popular destinations.

The airline will offer new flights from East Midlands to Catania in Sicily and from Belfast City Airport to Mahon in Menorca as part of its summer 2012 programme.

Belfast to Mahon will commence on 15 June with twice weekly flights on Monday and Friday until 24 September. 

East Midlands to Catania will operate once a week on a Sunday from 27 Mary until 30 September.

The increase in frequency will affect:
Belfast City to Palma in Mallorca, and Faro in Portugal and Alicante in Spain.
East Midlands to Barcelona and Murcia in Spain and to Malta.

New Routes for 2012

AVRO has recently announced new routes for 2012 to include Dubrovnik in Croatia and Milan, Rome, Venice and Verona in Italy.    Each will commence with departures in March.

Flights to Milan and Venice will depart from Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester up to 6 times per week.

Flights to Rome with operate from Luton and Birmingham up to 5 times per week and to Verona from Manchester.

Flights to Dubrovnik will operate from Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester up to 3 times per week.

Recently, Monarch have reported that Dubrovnik had seen fantastic demand for 2012.

Additionally, AVRO has announded further expansion to its Spanish flying programme for summer 2012 with year-round flights from both Gatwick and Manchester to Barcelona with flights operating up to 6 times per week from Manchester and 11 times per week from Gatwick.

More Seats to Spain and Portugal from Glasgow

Jet2 is to increase summer and winter capacity out of Glasgow with extra seats to Spain and Portugal and a new direct route to Geneva.  The airline was increasing summer capacity to Spain and Portugal after reducing its Egypt programme following the recent political riots.

For this summer, Jet2 flights from Glagow to Faro in Portugal will increase from 3 to 4 times a week from 26 May - 20 October, while flights to Mallorca will go up from 5 to 6 a week from 15 June - 18 September.

For winter, Jet2 are already taking bookings for its Glasgow routes to Alicante in Costa Blanca and Tenerife.

Edinburgh to Benefit from 6 New Services

Good news for customers wishing to travel from Edinburgh airport.  Edinburgh is gaining 6 new routes this year from Thomson and EasyJet.

Year-round charters from Edinburgh to Gran Canaria are to be operated by Thomson, who are also starting flights to Lanzarote for the winter and Rhodes this summer.

EasyJet will also be starting 3 routes from Edinburgh in September including the only service between Scotland and Athens.  The budget carrier will also begin services to Tenerife and Grenoble.

Oxford to Palma to Start in Summer

Oxford airport will welcome the first flights to Palma - due to start in mid-June. 

The summer programme of Saturday flights are set to be comparable to no-frills or charter services from Luton, Gatwick or Stansted.

The aircraft to be used was previously used in charters for Premiership football clubs and would have a 2-1 configuration [A 50-seat Saab 2000 will be used].  Departures from Oxford will be at 09:30 and from Palma at 14:15.

Ryanair and Monarch - New Routes

Ryanair has unveiled four new routes from Manchester to Alicante, Faro, Madrid and Tenerife.  The no-frills airline will also increase the frequency of its Manchester to Dublin route from 4 to 6 flights a day.

However, Ryanair has withdrawn a summer service to Alicante from the Cornish airport of Newquay blaming the £5 charge per departing passenger imposed by airport owner Cornwall Council in 2006.  The move is the second blow for Newquay after Air Southwest announcied it was dropping flights to Gatwick. 

Monarch Airlines has brought forward its launch of scheduled flights to Paphos this summer in the face of strong demand for Cyprus, announcing it would start twice-weekly services from Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham to Paphos from May.  Now is has brought forward the start of the Gatwick and Manchester services by 3 weeks to 13 April.  The Birmingham flights will be launched as originally planned on 4 May.

Jet2 Offers Onboard Entertainment

Now, if you travel with Jet2 [on a flight of 4 hours or more], then you will have the chance to have onboard entertainment. This low-cost airline has introduced inflight entertainment for the first time and offers movies, TV shows, games and music. High-resolution screens can be pre-booked or hired onboard for £10 or as part of a family bundle of baggage allowance and seat selection.

Monarch to Change Pricing Structure

Monarch Airlines has been reported as being poised to return to inclusive pricing by the end of 2010 in an effort to restore customer trust in airline fares.

Managing Director - Tim Jeans - believes that the public is cynical about low fares advertised on the web, in that the final price will be much higher once fees and charges are included.    The first move will be to put airport taxes, air passenger duty and fuel surcharges back into the advertised faires on the first page of their website.  Customers will still have to pay extra for bags in the hold and other ancillaries such as seat selection as these were optional extras. 

Monarch - More Flights to Mallorca

If you are looking to go on your holidays to Mallorca and like to travel from Gatwick airport, then from the 17 July this year, Monarch will start to fly 3 times a week to Palma - on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands and is a popular destination due to the almost guaranteed fine summer weather and excellent beaches.  There's a wide range of accommodation on the island, as well as as excellent restaurants, entertainment and leisure facilities.   A 2 hour flight from the UK takes you into Palma de Mallorca - the island's capital.  Palma is a bustling city with a Gothic cathedral and a medieval castle.  There's also a very chic marina packed with yachts.

Take a look at our holiday deals for Mallorca - we can arrange flights from all the major UK airports.

New Flights to Venice from Luton

It has been announced by Luton Airport that Venice has returned to its list of destinations with a new scheduled service from Wizz Air.

Flights are due to start to this popular city from 19 June 2010 with a flight operating three times a week.

Venice is built on wooden piles in the middle of a lagoon on Italy's Adriatic coast.  Explored by a gondola, or on foot, the narrow streets and backwaters of Venice reveal all its decorative detail which reflects its past wealth and importance.  Venice Lido is 15 minutes by boat across San Marco's basin and then a short bus trip or 15 minutes on foot.  The beach stretches for 5 miles and has very fine sand and is backed by an unbroken row of hotels.    If shopping is what you are after, there is a good range of top designer boutiques and numerous markets.  The main commercial area is in the San Polo district where the shops connect Campo San Polo with the Rialto Bridge.  Glassware and lace are local specialities - and not forgetting masks. 

Interested in a holiday to Venice? - Just give us a call or send an enquiry.

Additional Flight Services from the UK

Three airlines have just announced additional flight services from the UK.

MONARCH is strengthening its network of flights from Birmingham, Luton and Manchester with a range of new services to the Antalya, Bodrum and Dalaman in Turkey. 

Three weekly flights have been launched from Birmingham to Dalaman. Two weekly services have been added from Luton to Dalaman, Luton to Bodrum and Manchester to Antalya.

KISS FLIGHTS have added departures from Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Glasgow and Newcastle on a weekly basis to Dalaman in Turkey and have also increased Manchester and Gatwick to four times weekly.

JET2 is adding another 5 routes from East Midland.  From May 2011 they will be flying 3 times a week to Alicante, Palma and weekly to Faro, Bodrum and Rhodes.