European cheap flight updates

Wizz Air is having a sale, with seats for flights from departing 10 February 2006 to 30 April 2006. They start at £14.97 one way including all taxes and charges. The routes on offer are(prices are one way inclusive of taxes and charges):

London Luton to Budapest from £22.97
London Luton to Warsaw from £14.97
London Luton to Katowice/Cracow from £14.97
London Luton to Gdansk from £14.97
London Luton to Poznan from £22.47
London Luton to Kaunas from £29.46
London Luton to Zagreb from 27 March 2006 from £26.46
London Luton to Split from £32.46
London Luton to Bourgas from £42.46
London Luton to Ljubljana from £22.47
London Luton to Sofia from £37.46
Liverpool to Katowice/Cracow from £35.36
Liverpool to from Warsaw
Liverpool to Kaunas from £31.92
Liverpool to Gdansk from £20.38
Glasgow-Prestwick to Gdansk from 28 March 2006 from £20.18
Glasgow-Prestwick to Warsaw from 28 March 2006 from £20.18
Malmo to Budapest from 334kr.
Malmo to Warsaw from 373kr.
Malmo to Sofia from 510kr.
Malmo to Kaunas from197kr.
Brussels to Warsaw from €39.99
Brussels to Budapest from €39.99
Brussels to Ljubljana from €25.49
Amsterdam to Budapest from €42.00
Amsterdam to Sofia from €64.64

The booking period is Tuesday 31 January 2006 to Monday 6 February 2006.

Atlasjet, the low cost airline based in Istanbul, Turkey has placed an order for three 90 seat Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft. The order is worth $107 million USD. The airline has been operating two previously owned 70 seater CRJ700 on its domestic routes in Turkey.

Atlasjet started up in 2001 with two Boeing 757 aircraft. Its fleet comprises of six Boeing 757, nine Airbus A320 (with three Airbus 319 on order) and two Bombardier CRJ700 jets. The airline serves more than 50 scheduled and charter destinations in Turkey and Europe.

Alitalia SpA the Italian flag carrying airline has stated that if its bid for Volare is accepted, it will become the company's low cost airline. Alitalia has bid €38 million for Volare, the failed Italian budget airline. Alitilia is not accepting any of Volare's debt.

Acquiring Volare would give Alitalia a ready made low cost operator. It plans to manage Volare as a separate entity to the main airline. In addition to Volare the purchase includes the Volareweb and Air Europe brands as well as slots at Milan's Linate Airport, five leased aircraft and 700 airline employees.

With St Valentine's Day a fortnight off, Vueling is already in a loving mood. They have decided to sell 100,000 seats for just 10 one way, plus taxes and charges. The flights can be booked in February, March and April.
Vuleing are based in Barcelona and fly to numerous Spanish Mainland and Island destinations as well as Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels, Rome, Lisbon and Milan. In all it serves 15 airports and 20 routes which include Ibiza and Minorca in the Summer.

Centralwings is now selling seats for 1 euro (one way) on the following routes:
Bologne to Warsaw
Milan to Wroclaw or Warsaw
Rome to Krakow or Warsaw.

The 1 euro deal is available for booking from tomorrow (30 January 2006) until 5 February 2006. Please note that fares don't include taxes and charges.

Today's Observer continues the debate on the environmental impact of cheap flights and the expansion in the aviation industry. The article discusses the likely contribution to climate change that increased flights will have. Again the emphasis is on climate change and not the closer peak oil production. The article relates that a number of influential figures including Mark Ellingham, founder of Rough Guides, one of the leading travel guidebook publishers has vowed to reduce his flying and to publish warnings regarding the damage caused by flights in his travel guides.
The positive side of this story is that the people who have given up flying are still travelling and enjoying the experience even more than before. Journeys take longer but the experience is an adventure in itself and you get to get a feel for the distances between your home and your travel destination.
One thing is for certain, this debate isn't going to go away.

In today's Independent two pages and a third of the comment section is devoted to explaining how cheap flights could potentially prevent the United kingdom meeting its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A number of surveys have indicated that overseas travel is growing between five and six percent per year. At present trends, the Commons Environmental Audit Committee believes that aviation will be producing 43 million tonnes of carbon in carbon dioxide in 2050. The article and comment then discusses the implications of the expansion in overseas travel, fuelled by cheap flights. It concentrates on climate change and carbon dioxide emissions but strangely doesn't mention that air travel will be unable to grow at present trends until 2050.
We will reach a point at which oil production will peak and then fall off long before that. Of course oil will be with us for a good number of years yet, but not in ever increasing supply like it has up to now. Once demand for oil exceeds its supply, there can only be one result in a market economy. Plain and simple it will be a rapid escalation in the price of oil, unlike anything we have seen up to now. Of course oil crises have come and gone but they occurred due to wars, and disasters like Hurricane Katrina. These were transient, but still caused the price of crude oil to quadruple in some of the cases. Just imagine what will happen when the under supply is due to exhaustion of reserves and not a temporary blip. Even the proposed application of tax to aviation fuel will be slight in comparison to the price escalation due to dwindling oil reserves.
At this stage even Ryanair will have to factor in the price of oil into its fares. Air travel from that point on, will return to the pattern around before the advent of the budget airlines. It will be costly. The only cheap flights will be on high capacity charter flights the Airbus A380 fitted with 800 seats may well come into its own on the long haul routes and the high speed train network will become more popular on shorter European routes. The stag party in Prague will be too costly to contemplate for the majority of the United Kingdom, unless of course Eurostar and Germany's ICE train run an special offer.
Climate change is a serious problem facing our planet but the depletion of oil reserves will affect us well before we the predicted temperature changes start to be felt. In any event action to prevent damage is the same. Consume less energy from unsustainable sources. The Independent article has 10 tips to lessen the impact of travel. They include not travelling First or Business Class, meaning travel on aircraft with high load factors. Pay to offset your carbon emissions with organisations such as www.climatecare.org. Using the train for shorter trips as it is up to 8 times less polluting than air travel per passenger. More...
My advice for what it is worth, is to think carefully before flying off to a destination just because it is cheaper than the taxi home from a night on the town. The faster the oil is used up, the sooner the oil price will spiral upwards.

Monarch Airlines have a sale running until 31 January 2006. Flights in February and March 2006, start at 29.99 GBP each way. They offer a number of destinations in the Balearics, Spanish Mediteranean Coast, Portugal and the Canary Islands. The airline offers a number of extra "frills" not offered by other budget airlines such as seat reservations, free newspapers and tea and coffee.
For example on 20 March 2006, the London Gatwick to Alicante route has seats for 29.99 GBP one way including all taxes and charges.

A new route from London Luton to Rheims, starts up on 28 March 2006. The airline will operate a daily service. Air Turquoise the small French budget airline will be the operator. Rheims Champagne Airport is close to the historic town of Rheims in France's Champagne region. Rheims Cathedral and the surrounding champagne vineyards, make it an excellent area to visit.
For French passengers Luton is only 30 minutes from London and Coventry and the airport itself is a hive of activity by other budget airlines such as EasyJet, Wizz and Monarch.

The second route being opened up by Air Turquoise is Rheims to Toulouse. This will commence operations on 4 April 2006 and offer 3 flights per week.

EasyJet have a sale on to eleven European Cities up until Wednesday 3 February 2006. Savings of up to 35% are available on some routes. Flights can be booked up until 20 September 2006. Some of the available routes are:

• Belfast to Berlin,
• Bristol to Berlin, Madrid
• Edinburgh to Amsterdam
• Liverpool to Barcelona, Madrid
• London Luton to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest
• London Gatwick to Cork, Madrid, Milan, Rome
• London Stansted to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Valencia
• Newcastle to Berlin, Budapest
• Nottingham East Midlands to Prague

I looked up a flight from Liverpool to Barcelona and quickly found one for £14.99 one way, which came to £20.99 including taxes. Flights actually start at £8.99 one way excluding taxes and charges.

Germanwings has a sale of 100,000 tickets for flights in February, March and April 2006 from a paltry €1 Euro one way, plus taxes and charges. The booking opens at 18h00 Central European Time (17h00 in the United Kingdom) and runs until midnight CET (23h00) on Sunday 29 January 2006.
Germanwings flies to over 40 destinations throughout Europe from Lisbon in the West to Moscow in the East, Crete in the South and Helsinki in the North. Its main hubs are Koln /Bonn, Hamburg, Berlin and Stuttgart.

Today is the final day of the four sale nights by Virgin Express. Between 18h00 CET (17h00 UK) and 06h00 CET (05h00 UK), Virgin Express are offering all of their routes from €39.99 one way inclusive of taxes and charges. The airline offers routes from Brussels International to:
Barcelona, Berlin, Faro, Hamburg, Madrid, Malaga, Milan, Murcia, Palma, Rome, Toulon, Valencia start at €39.99
Athens, Catania, Geneva and Lisbon start at €49.99

The offer is valid for flights in February and March but expect there to be limited availablity for school holidays and carnivals.

Hlx.com (Hapag Lloyd Express) has today announced a new connection between Manchester, United Kingdom and Hannover, Germany. HLX will begin services on this new route on 27 March 2006. To get the service off to a good start they are selling seats on the first flights from £0.01 GBP one way, excluding taxes and charges. It doesn't end there though as many of the flights are being sold from as little as €19.99 euros one way inclusive af all taxes and charges.

This offer runs from 18h00 today (Thursday, 26 Jan 06) to Midnight on Sunday 29 January 2006.

The new route brings the total number of routes flown by HLX from Manchester to three. The other two being Koln / Bonn and Stuttgart. HLX flies to destinations including Paris, Rimini, Catania, Dubrovnik, Stockholm, Oporto, Mallorca, Marseille, Berlin and Salzburg.

SkyEurope has a seat sale running from 19 January 2006 until 28 Janaury 2006. Flights on routes from London Stansted, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh start at 15 GBP, one way inclusive of all taxes and charges.
Sky Europe operates a route network of 38 destinations in 19 countries from bases in Budapest, Krakow, Warsaw and Vienna Bratislava.

Routes on offer include:

• London to Krakow from 15 GBP
• London to Warsaw from 16 GBP
• London to Bratislava from 17 GBP
• London to Budapest from 17 GBP
• Manchester to Salzburg from 22 GBP
• Manchester to Krakow from 22 GBP
• Copenhagen to Bratislava from DKK 249
• Birmingham to Krakow from 25 GBP

Prices are one way and include all taxes and charges.

Today (Wednesday 25 January 2006), between 18h00 CET (17h00 UK) and 06h00 CET (05h00 UK), Virgin Express are offering some of their routes at €49.99 one way inclusive of taxes and charges.

Tonight's offer (Wednesday, 25 January 2006) is 7,000 seats from Brussels to these Western European destinations:

• Athens, Greece
  
• Catania, Scicily, Italy
  
• Geneva, Switzerland
  
• Lisbon, Portugal
  
• Nice, France
  

The offer is valid for flights in February and March but expect there to be limited availablity for school holidays and carnivals.

XL Airways are extending their January Sale until 11 February 2006. Fares have been reduced by up to 50%. Passengers buying holiday packages can receive up to £50 per head discount. Seats from 12 major UK airports to destinations on the Mediterranean and in the Canaries and Egypt are on sale from £39 return excluding charges. The offer is valid for flights up until the end of March 2006.

They also still have a number of late booking offers to airports close to ski resorts such as Chambery and Geneva, from £16 return (Manchester to Chambery 12/03/2006 returning 19/03/2006), excluding taxes.

Spanair the Spanish budget airline which is part of the Scandinavian SAS Group is to start a new Barcelona to Alicante route on 1 February 2006. The low cost airline will operate four daily flights from Monday through to Friday and 2 daily flights on Saturdays and Sundays.

Flybe the Exeter based low cost airline is to improve its service for business travellers. It is to inject £4 million into its ‘Economy Plus’ service. With British Airways cutting services for business travellers, flybe is hoping to attract new business class passengers.

The airline will:
Improve sixteen lounges across its United Kingdom airports
Ensure it delivers the United Kingdom’s most generous frequent flyer programme.
Install WiFi across flybe lounges including Jersey, Guernsey, Belfast, Southampton and Gatwick.
Introduce an online check in facility to reduce waiting at airports

Currently 40% of the passengers on flybe’s flights are flying for business purposes. Its research has shown that there is a lucrative market for low cost business travel.

Ryanair have indicated they would like to reduce the amount of hold baggage for some time now. They even hinted they would charge for handlingand stowing checked in baggage. Flybe beat them to it when they introduced a discount for passengers with only carry on luggage and charged economy travellers for checking bags into the hold. Ryanair have now announced their own scheme, which they will implement from 16 March 2006.
In it passengers with only compliant carry on bags (must not weigh more than 10kg and be less than 55cm x 40cm x 20cm, in dimensions), will get a discount of £2.50 (€3.50 euros). In addition these passengers will be given priority boarding. Passengers with hold baggage will get an increased allowance of 20 kilograms, up from the present 15 kilograms. However they will need to pay £2.50 (€3.50 euros) per bag if booked in advance via the Ryanair website. This fee rises to £5.00 (€7.00 euros) if not pre booked, prior to turning up at the airport. Effectively this means that these passengers will not experience a rise in fares uless they fail to pre book their luggage or travel with more than one item. In fact they get an increased allowance for no extra cost compared to the present time.
The effect will be to reduce air fares and the time spent at the airports for passengers with only carry on hand luggage. The remaining 75% of passengers with hold luggage will pay more than them and spend more time at the airports.
Up until now 25% of Ryanair passengers don't check in baggage to the hold when travelling. The airline's view is that these passengers subsidise those with checked in baggage. The changes will redress the balance.
The scheme will reduce the airline's operating costs by reducing the need for staff to check in luggage, making electronic check in a practical proposition. It should also encourage the carrying of less luggage making aircraft lighter and thus more fuel efficient.
I feel it should stimulate some imaginative ideas for travelling with a bag less than 55cm x 40cm x 20cm, weighing less than 10 kilograms.
What do you think?

Everyday this week between 18h00 CET (17h00 UK) and 06h00 CET (05h00 UK), Virgin Express are offering some of their routes at 39.99 euros one way inclusive of taxes and charges.

Tonight's offer (Tuesday, 24 January 2006) is 5,000 seats from Brussels to these Western European destinations:

• Milan
• Rome
• Faro
• Toulon
• Hamburg

The offer is valid for flights in February and March but expect there to be limited availablity for school holidays and carnivals.

The city of "star crossed" lovers has just been added to Blue Air's timetable from 11 February 2006. The Romanian low cost airline will fly there from its main base in Bucharest as well as Arad in Romania. Prices will start at €€38 euros plus taxes for a return journey.


Today the airline also started flying into Barcelona's main airport El Prat instead of Reus its previous destination in the location. El Prat is close to the city and has an excellent affordable rail connection. Barcelona has plenty to offer from the Gaudi's extraordinary architecture including the Sagrada Familia (pictured), Parc Guell, and numerous buildings around the city. There is a diverse range of museums, a zoo, gardens, the 1992 Olympic Stadium and a bustling port. Shoppers are also very welcome. Along the coast there are also attractive sandy beaches.

Aer Arann has added a new route from London Luton to Lorient in Brittany. It starts operating the new route on 26 March 2006.
The Irish low cost airline also flies to this Breton port from Cork, Galway, Kerry and Waterford.

helvetic the Swiss budget airline has added two new routes to its network. Starting on 12 April 2006 it will fly to Pisa, Italy three times weekly and from 18 May 2006 to Rimini, twice weekly. It has dropped its route to Nice in France at the same time as its announcement. The competition on the Nice route had forced the decision.
When the two new routes start operating, helvetic will become the only Swiss airline offering flights to Pisa and Rimini.
Pisa is well located in Tuscany with easy road and rail links to Florence. Pisa itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site with its famous leaning tower. Other attractions within easy reach of Pisa include the beaches of Northern Italy, the Tuscan countryside and vineyards.

Everyday this week between 18h00 CET (17h00 UK) and 06h00 CET (05h00 UK), Virgin Express are offering some of their routes at 39.99 euros one way inclusive of taxes and charges.

Tonight's offer (Monday, 23 January 2006) is 5,000 seats from Brussels to these Spanish destinations:

• Barcelona
• Valencia
• Palma
• Murcia
• Malaga
• Madrid
  

The offer is valid for flights in February and March but expect there to be limited availablity for school holidays and carnivals.

FlyMe the Swedish budget carrier flying out of Goteborg, Sweden has an offer of flights in April for 99 SEK (£7.50) plus taxes and charges. The offer is open between today, (Sunday 22 January 2006) and Thursday 26 January 2006. The airline will be serving twelve western Europe destinations including London, Paris, Amsterdam and Nice.

Hot on the heels of a recent sale of seats for Summmer 2006 out of its London bases, bmibaby the budget arm of BMI, has some great deals from United Kingdom Regional airports. They start at £13.99 one way including all taxes and charges.
A few examples:
Birmingham to Belfast (Intl), Cork, Edinburgh - £14.99
Birmingham to Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Nice - £16.99
Birmingham to Alicante,Geneva, Knock, Malaga, Palma, Prague - £19.99
Cardiff to Belfast (Intl),Glasgow (Intl, Jersey, Edinburgh, Amsterdam - £16.94
Cardiff to Alicante, Faro, Geneva, Malaga, Palma, Prague - £19.99
Durham Tees Valley to Cork, Jersey, London (Gatwick)- £13.99
Durham Tees Valley to Paris (CDG) - £14.99
Durham Tees Valley to Newquay - £16.99
Durham Tees Valley to Alicante, Knock, Malaga, Palma - £19.99
Manchester to Belfast (Intl), Cork - £14.99
Manchester to Newquay - £16.94
Manchester to Bordeaux, Jersey, Knock - £16.99
Manchester to Perpignan - £19.94
Manchester to Alicante, Geneva, Malaga, Palma, Prague - £19.99
Nottingham East Midlands to Amsterdam, Belfast (Intl), Edinburgh, Glasgow, Jersey - £16.94
Nottingham East Midlands to Alicante, Geneva, Malaga, Palma, Paris (CDG), Prague - £19.94
Nottingham East Midlands to Faro - £24.94

EasyJet has a few good deals on some of its routes this weekend. They included:

• 6,500 seats to Malaga for £29.99
• 5,500 seats to Alicante for £29.99
• 2,000 seats to Faro for £34.99
• 1,800 seats to Palma for £29.99
• 800 seats to Murcia at £29.99
• 1,500 seats to Almeria at £24.99
• 2,500 seats to Valencia at £24.99
  

A lot of these will have sold out now, but when I looked there was still a good selection of flights at these rates. In fact looking up the calendar view revealed some flights were even cheaper than their offer prices I found a Liverpool to Malaga flight on Monday 27 February 2006 on sale for £19.99 on way (£24.99 including taxes if paid for by Visa Electron).

Wizz Air has added a new service joining the Bulgarian Capital, Sofia with the Italian Capital City, Rome. The new service will initially operate twice weekly via Budapest. Then on 26 March 2006 Wizz Air will offer a thrice weekly service.
Eastern Europe still has a lot of routes that have not yet been taken up by the low cost airlines. I eagerly await more flights to Kiev and Sarajevo.

Jet2.com have today added Bergen to its Newcastle routes. It will bring the number of destinations offered by Jet2.com from Newcastle Airport to six. What I find a little strange is that Bergen was already connected to Newcastle by ferry. Of course the ferry takes 26 hours to get there but also provides a cruise along some of Norway's most spectacular coastline in with that journey. Bergen is obviously a destination worthy of a visit on its own and the £19.99 inclusive one way fare will attract plenty of passengers. The service starts 28 April 2006.
Now if anyone from Jet2.com is reading this, how about some flights from Manchester?

Ryanair the Irish low budget airline which also happens to be Europe's largest is having another sale starting tomorrow (20 January 2006 and running until midnight on Thursday 26 January 2006). It will sell a million seats on 300 of its routes for 10 pence plus taxes and charges. airline, today (19th Jan) announced a mad March seat on sale on its 300 routes. The travel period is in February and March. Although not yet announced, I would expect the usual blackout periods of festivals, sports events, school and public holidays will apply.

Caroline Baldwin, Ryanair’s Head of Sales & Marketing for Europe, said:

“You’d be mad to miss our special offers in Ryanair’s sale. With flights for ski destinations, city breaks and spa breaks going for as little as 10 pence, Ryanair has something to suit everyone looking for a getaway in the coming months. We urge passengers to book their flights early at www.ryanair.com as seats this cheap won’t last long”.

SN Brussels the Belgian airline that flew out of the ashes of the failed flag carrier, Sabena is to reduce prices on 32 of its routes. In a move that emulates the budget airlines, SN Brussels will offer discounts of up to 45% for bookings made over two months in advance. They have embarked on a cost cutting exercise that will enable them to be more competitive.
Tickets will now start at €66 euros inclusive, one way and €125 euros inclusive, return. I personally am very pleased to find that the Manchester to Brussels route is available. The airline has abolished paper tickets and reduced the costs of its airport services. At Brussels it even offers self check in facilities, which save the airline money and the passengers time.

Thomsonfly, TUI's budget airline, the third largest in the United Kingdom is offering 200, 000 seats for free. The only fees are the airport taxes and charges. There are ample routes available from Coventry, Doncaster / Sheffield and even London Gatwick to destinations such as Salzburg, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Jersey, Lyon, Ibiza, Alicante, Malaga and Palma. I am saddened to find that there are no flights on offer from Manchester though. Never mind the deal is still a good one and if there are tickets from your local airport, then it is well worth looking a little closer. The offer ends on 24 January 2006.

Florence Airport will be closed from 2 February 2006 until 26 March 2006. Most of the affected operators will fly from Pisa Airport.

Sterling the Danish low cost airline has a few offers on to airports close to some of Europe's best ski resorts. The routes on offer from the airline hub at Copenhagen are:

Oslo from DKK 260 (£24)
Munich from DKK 298 (£28)
Venice from DKK 349 (£32)
Prague from DKK 349 (£32)
Nice from DKK 398 (£37)

Seats need to be booked before 25 January 2006 for travel taken before 15 June 2006.

BAA yesterday announced that it had secured a deal to save the Gatwick Express, airport to London rail service. In partnership with National Express Group the operators of the rail franchise for the route, BAA had submitted proposals to the Strategic Rail Authority which is asessing the Utilisation of the London to Brighton rail route of which the Gatwick to London route is a part.
A compromise was proposed where rail and air passengers share the trains while keeping the express elements of the service alive. The Gatwick Express service has regularly been voted the UK's favourite train service.

Paul Griffiths, Managing Director of Gatwick Airport said: “We believe our joint proposal shows that the differing needs of the commuter and the air traveller can be reconciled. The existence of this compromise plan should enable the Department for Transport to reach a speedy conclusion to the Route Utilisation Strategy, and give air passengers, commuters and airlines confidence in the future of the rail services in which they all rely.”

Vueling the Spanish low cost airline operating out of Barcelona and Madrid has 250 free seats to give away. If you book a flight for Janauary 2006, between now (18 January 2006) and 31 January 2006, you will be entered into the draw. Lucky winners will be notified by e-mail. The seats are free but the winners will need to pay airport taxes and charges so perhaps the deal isn't as good as it appears on the surface. Having said that what have you got to lose?

Flyglobespan the Scottish budget airline is adding two more destinations for Summer 2006. They will be flying from Edinburgh to Pula in Croatia once aweek from 28 May 2006 and from Glasgow to Pula, Croatia, weekly from 30 May 2006. They will also add Mahon, Menorca to Edinburgh's and Glasgow's line up from 27 May 2006.
The two new routes bring Flyglobespan's total to twenty two for Summer 2006. The airline is Scotland's largest low cost airline.


"These are two exciting new destinations for our customers,” said flyglobespan's chairman Tom Dalrymple. “We have always had a strong presence in Majorca so adding on a Menorca flight seems very logical. We are delighted to add Pula to our destinations. The Croatian holiday market is really booming and I am sure these flights will prove popular.”

Wizz Air are doing a great job staying in the headlines. Sales, new routes and now another cheap flight sale. Between Tuesday 17 January 2006 and Monday 23 January 2006 they are offering a seats on a number of their routes for free. You do of course have to pay the taxes and charges but there are some great deals to be found.

The following routes have free seats on offer:
London Luton to Budapest, Warsaw, Katowice / Krakow, Poznan and Gdansk
Liverpool to Warsaw and Gdansk
Glasgow Prestwick to Warsaw and Gdansk

With taxes and charges, the fares from London to Poznan and Gdansk start at a mere £14.97 one way. Liverpool to Gdansk is also £14.97 one way.

We regularly advise surfers looking for a cheap flight to register with the airline websites to receive their newsletters. This way you get to hear of the latest offers, deals and new routes as soon as they are released. Sterling the Danish low cost airline has an even bigger incentive to sign up for their newsletter. They are holding a monthly draw whereby the winner will win a year's supply of airplane tickets for two persons.

Monarch Airlines have chosen their own path in the cut throat / cut service "no frills" price war. They have kept some of the "frills" that make the flying experience a bit more humane. These have been drawn up into the Monarch Passenger manifesto and include:

• Allowing passengers to pre-book seats including seats with an extra 150mm of legroom on each flight. This saves the mad scramble and pushing and shoving during boarding.
  
• Complimentary tea and coffee
• Hot towels and newspaper on each trip.
• One extra member of cabin crew above the legal minimum

All of this does not cost much, but makes the passenger experience that much better than most of their competition. Above all it does not mean that they do not offer cheap air fares. On their homepage they have a bargain flight of the day. Today for example, this is Manchester to Barcelona, on 27 February 2006. These are on sale for �8.61 one way excluding taxes and charges (�29.99 inclusive).

XL Airways has a useful last minute flight offer page. Today (15 January) they have a return flight from London Gatwick to Geneva leaving Sunday 22 January 2006 and returning one week later for 19 GBP return, plus taxes and charges bringing the inclusive total to 59 GBP return. A flight that caught my eye was a flight from Manchester to Chambery leaving on 12/03/2006 and returning on 19/03/2006 for 23 GBP return plus taxes and charges, making an inclusive total price of 53 GBP. These flights are ideal for anyone wanting a week skiing or snowboarding as Geneva and Chambery are both within easy reach of plenty of ski resorts.
If snow sends the shivers through you then the site has ample bargain fares to warmer destinations including Malaga and Alicante

Now that all Thomson flights are being sold via the Thomsonfly website they are having a January sale for a few days. It ends on Tuesday 17 January 2006, so there is still time to grab some cheap seats to Europe or even Mexico or Florida! Thomsonfly is now the United Kingdom's third largest airline and is owned by the TUI Group in Germany. It flies from 26 regional airports in the UK to 87 destinations throughout Europe, Egypt and the Americas. The Thomsonfly business model was launched in 2004 with flights from Coventry. It has now been adopted across the whole of the former Britannia Airways fleet.

Just a few examples of the deals being offered (one way, including taxes and charges):
Paris, Amsterdam, Jersey and Lyon from £16.99
Malaga, Palma, Valencia and Barcelona from £19.99
Mexico, Florida and Dominican Republic from £99.99

They are at it again! From Monday 16 January 2006 until Sunday 22 January 2006, Centralwings the Central and Eastern European budget airline has sale on. Seats on flights between 16 January and 15 February 2006, are being sold for £1 or €1 euro depending upon the departure airport. These prices are one way and do not include taxes and charges.

Warsaw from Shannon, Edinburgh, London, Lisbon, Grenoble, Bologne, Milan, Rome
Cracow from London and Rome
Wroclaw from Dublin and Milan
Katowice from Dublin and Cologne

Wizzair has added yet another Eastern Mediterranean destination to its summer 2006 schedule. This follows new routes to Rhodes and Corfu. Greek Islands had fewer budget airline services than other parts of Europe, these new routes will address that deficiency.
Wizzair will fly from Budapest to Crete on Sundays between 18 June and 17 September 2006. Seats for this route will start at €€70.99 Euros one way including taxes and charges.

Wizzair will fly to Gdansk and Warsaw from 27 March 2006. The services will operate three times per week. Glasgow Prestwick will then become the third airport in the United Kingdom to offer Wizzair flights. Currently they operate from London Luton and Liverpool.

The seats on these routes will be offered from £30 GBP one way, including taxes and charges. To launch the routes a limited number of seats are available from £20 GBP, one way (including taxes and charges) until 31 January 2006.

József Váradi, Chief Executive Officer of Wizz Air said: "Poland has been rewarding Wizz Air for its continuous commitment and market expansion by flying with us in ever increasing numbers. Today we are offering Glasgow as a brand new UK destination for the Polish people, who can now choose to fly to 3 cities in Great Britain. We are also bringing Poland closer to the citizens of Scotland who will now be able to choose to fly easy and at low fares on our new Airbus A320 aircraft 3 times per week. We are delighted to work with Glasgow Prestwick airport, not only because of their mindset and understanding of the low cost model and particularly Wizz Air’s needs but also, because of their perfect location within Scotland."

Jet2.com are offering hundred's of seats to the French Alps from £21 each way, including taxes and charges. The relevant routes are:
Leeds Bradford to Geneva and Chambery
Manchester to Geneva and Chambery

There are excellent snow conditions in the French Alps at present so why not book a flight now before the pistes get busy at school half term.

Ryanair has extended its latest seat sale. It has 3 million flights at the really cheap price of €€1 / £1 one way (plus taxes and charges). The sale now ends on 16 January 2006. Flights can be purchased for travel between Friday 20 January 2006 and Saturday 25 March 2006. A minimum of seven days advance booking is required and flights must be made on Monday - Thursday and Saturday. Friday and Sunday flights are not included. In addition there are a number of blackout periods covering half term holidays, major sporting events etc. To find out what is available it is easier to look up their farefinder on the Ryanair website.

Sky Europe a leading Central and eastern European budget carrier has just recorded its 3 millionth passenger. The airline operates from Bratislava, Budapest, Warsaw and Krakow as well as Salzburg, Innsbruck and Poprad.
It currently has a free seat sale on - that is the only charges levied are the airport taxes and charges. The sale ends on Monday 15 January 2006, so there is still time to bag yourself a ticket or two.
The routes on sale are:

Bratislava to Bucharest, Milan (Bergamo), Basel, Cologn, Copenhagen, Roma (Fiumicino), Kosice, Nice, Paris (Orly), Sofia, London (Stansted), Stuttgart, Warsaw

Budapest to Amsterdam, Milan (Bergamo), Roma (Fiumicino), Paris (Orly), London (Stansted), Venice

Innsbruck to Amsterdam, Paris (Orly)

Krakow to Amsterdam, Milan (Bergamo), Dublin, Roma (Fiumicino), Paris (Orly)

Salzburg to Barcelona, Manchester, Warsaw

Poprad to London (Stansted)

Warsaw to Milan (Bergamo), Roma (Fiumicino) Paris (Orly), London (Stansted)

Smart Wings the Prague based budget airline, is to fly the Prague to Venice route, four times per week starting from 1 June 2006.

Flybe the Exeter based low cost airline will connect Cherbourg to is network from 24 May 2006. Chergourg is a port at the top of the Carentan Peninsular in Normandy that has been a popular entry port for ferry passengers for many years. Close by can be found numerous safe sandy beaches, rural Norman countryside and some of the D Day Beaches and museums.
Flybe will service the new route three times weekly, with fares starting at £21.99 one way.
France heads up the destinations flown by Flybe in the Summer 2006 season, with flights to Avignon in Provence and Angers in the Loire Valley also being added to the route map.

From 20 February 2006, Vueling the Barcelona based, Spanish low cost airline is to add three more routes to its Madrid line up:

Madrid - Amsterdam
Madrid - Lisbon
Madrid - Milan

Seats on these flights currently start from €10 Euros plus taxes and charges, one way.

Air Wales the regional budget Airline for Wales and the South West has added a number of new routes this month.

Cardiff - Belfast
On 27 March 2006, a new service from Cardiff International Airport will start services to Belfast City Airport. The route will be operated twice daily on weekdays. Seats will be offered starting at £19.99 one way, excluding taxes and charges. The service is aimed at business travellers and will use their 48 seat ATR42 aircraft. This year Cardiff celebrates its 50th year as Wales' Capital city. It offers an friendly city centre that is equally welcoming to shoppers, sports fans (especially rugby) and tourists wanting to visit one of the many museums.

Cardiff - Brussels
The first flight on this route will be on the 20 February 2006. Two flights daily will connect the capital of Wales with the Belgian Capital. Bruxelles / Brussel has many attractions from the beautiful Grand Place, the Manneken Pis, the Art Nouveau buildings, an unbeatable selection of beers in its bars, mouth watering food, Art Galleries, Museums, the Atomium the list seems endless.





Cardiff - Paris Beauvais

The city of Romance. Air Wales starts flights to Paris on 27 March 2006. Beauvais is well North of Paris but is ideal for a visit to Parc Asterix or the City itself. Paris of course has the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, the Notre Dame Cathedral, Montmartre, the Arc d' Triomphe, chic shops, restaurants, and a buzzing night life.




Rennes from Cardiff, Manchester, Waterford and Jersey
Rennes is right at the centre of Brittany and has strong Celtic connections making it an ideal destination for Air Wales. It is within easy reach of St Malo, Carnac, Nantes and Brest.

Tonight (12 January 2006, from 19h00 CET to 00h00 CET, (6pm to 11pm in the UK), Virgin Express are having one of their evening sales.

Virgin Express operates out of Brussels International Airport to 21 destinations in Western Europe from Faro to Athens and Malaga to Copehagen.

In all 20,000 seats are being offered from 39.99 Euros (Brussels to / from Barcelona, Berlin, Faro, Hamburg, Madrid, Malaga, Milan-Bergamo, Murcia Alicante South, Palma, Rome, Toulon, or Valencia )one way, including a