This summer holidaymakers can fly direct to an action-packed family break on the sun-kissed Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba.
Thomson Airways has launched its first ever weekly charter from London Gatwick, allowing families to seek their fill of summer sun holidays. 
The new weekly flights commence on May 6th, 2009 replacing the previous fortnightly service and are available to book through both Thomson and First Choice Holidays.
Young ones can chase multi-coloured butterflies at the Aruba Butterfly Farm, pet inquisitive donkeys at the island’s sanctuary or learn swim in the shallow warm waters of the sheltered Baby Beach.
Keep restless teenagers entertained on and under the water with kite-surfing lessons, an adventurous SeaTrek along the ocean floor, and Snuba – a cross between snorkeling and scuba diving – to see the WWII German ship wreck, Antilla.
Kids of all ages can then get wet and wild at the new Morgan’s Island water park, the largest in the Caribbean, before heading off road through the rugged desert landscape on a jeep safari or on horse-back to gold mine ruins and stunning natural bridges.
Filed under: airlines news, cheap flights, main | Tags: flights, news, travel
Flying to popular destinations such as Las Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, Fla., without stopping at one or two airports is becoming more difficult for local travelers.
Passengers on major commercial airlines departing Indianapolis International Airport have nine fewer daily nonstop options compared with this time last year.
And more cuts are on the way, according to Chris Matney, airport service director, as the economy keeps business and leisure travelers grounded.
This month, Northwest stopped nonstop service to Austin and San Antonio in Texas, and US Airways dropped nonstop service to Pittsburgh. That’s in addition to the nonstop cuts made in the last quarter of 2008 by AirTran to Las Vegas (one), and by Northwest to Philadelphia (three) and Kansas City, Mo. (two).
That reduced the airport’s average daily departing flights on major airlines to 155, Matney said. Those numbers peaked at 208 in 2005, before ATA pulled its operations in early 2006.
In April, Northwest will temporarily suspend nonstop service to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando in Florida, and Hartford, Conn.
“Those three markets have offered typical year-round service, but with the way the economy is going, they’re pulling things back,” said Matney. “You’re going to see a lot more in-and-out stuff like that. For example, AirTran took Vegas out the last quarter of 2008, but they are bringing it back for spring break.”
Although Hartford may not return to the schedule until business travel increases, warm-weather travelers can expect Orlando and Fort Lauderdale routes to resume when the demand does.
Earlier this month, Northwest resumed its perennial seasonal nonstop to Cancun, Mexico, through August, when hurricane season grounds service.
“Airlines will fly a route nonstop only if there’s enough demand for the route,” said George Hobica, president of Airfarewatchdog.com. “If there’s not, they’ll feed you into a hub.”
Indianapolis passengers can take that option to those destinations where nonstop service has ended, or they can still fly nonstop to Las Vegas on Southwest and Northwest, to Philadelphia on US Airways and to Kansas City, Mo., on Southwest.
Overall, the number of airline flights arriving at and departing out of Indianapolis dropped 7.05 percent, to 29,270, in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared with the fourth quarter a year ago, airport officials said. That’s a decrease of 2,219 flights, but that number includes five daily nonstops each on Cape Air to Evansville and South Bend in Indiana.
“We’re talking about losing a Cape Air flight with nine seats on it versus a Northwest flight with 137; . . . that’s a big difference to the impact on the market,” Matney said. “Take those out, and that would improve our percentage considerably.”
The airport’s decline in domestic flights is less severe than at many other large U.S. airports. It ranked 30th best out of 75 airports. In the fourth quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009, Indianapolis will see a projected 10.16 percent decrease, compared with the national average of 10.59 percent. Cincinnati took the worst hit among area airports, with a 25 percent drop, while Detroit fell off only 5 percent.
The drop in passengers will cost the new airport revenue in parking, retail and landing fees, which officials hope will help repay the bonds that financed the $1.1 billion project. In 2005, 8.52 million passengers passed through the airport. Last year’s count was 8.15 million.
Landing fees account for about 5 percent of the airport’s operating budget.
Matney said the nonstop route eliminations for the first quarter likely are over. Any flight in the reservation system is usually safe for 90 days from the scheduled date of departure, although airlines may drop flights as few as 30 days away.
Filed under: airlines news, cheap flights, main | Tags: flights, Las Vegas, news, travel
The airline announced Tuesday it will begin offering nonstop flights twice each week from Grand Rapids to Las Vegas.
The flights out of Gerald R. Ford International Airport will be offered on Mondays and Fridays starting May 1.
The Las Vegas-based budget airline initially will offer special rates of $99 each way.
Grand Haven radio station WGHN and The Grand Rapids Press report the airline already plans to begin air service next week from the airport to Florida, with flights to Orlando and St. Petersburg, Fla.
Filed under: airlines news, cheap flights, main | Tags: Boston, flights, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, news, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, travel, Washington
Beginning April 30, Virgin America will add service to the John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif. The carrier will fly five daily round-trip flights between Orange County and San Francisco, the airline’s home base 
and busiest airport. John Wayne will be Virgin America’s ninth destination. The others: San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Las Vegas, Washington Dulles, New York JFK and Boston. Virgin America will offer connecting service to Orange County from Seattle, Boston, New York JFK and Washington Dulles.
Virgin America will have competition on the route, however. Just two weeks ago, Southwest Airlines announced it would add its own nonstop service between San Francisco and Orange County –- a move some speculated might be a preemptive strike against Virgin America, which had previously signaled its interest in adding flights to the Southern California airport. Southwest’s flights -– also five daily round trips –- begin May 9. And Southwest won’t be Virgin America’s only competition on the route. American, Alaska Air and United also offer nonstop service between San Francisco and Orange County.
Filed under: airlines news, cheap flights, main | Tags: Business, flights, news, travel
A combination of the recession and the plunging value of sterling has hit demand for overseas holidays dramatically according to Hitwise, a company which analyses internet commerce.
January is traditionally one of the busiest months for the travel industry as consumers start thinking about where they will go during the summer.
However the latest research showed a dramatic drop in inquiries in the week after Christmas compared to the same period last year.
“As a result of the weak pound, people are switching from holidays in the Eurozone or USA and considering cheaper destinations such as Turkey and North Africa, or considering taking their holidays at home,” Hitwise noted.
With the pound having lost more than a quarter of its value against the dollar in months, interest in holidays to the USA has dropped by 52.2 per cent.
The fall against the euro has seen a 44.8 per cent decline in flight inquiries to countries where the currency is in use.
Inquiries for flights to cheaper countries has also fallen – as a result of weakening consumer demand, but not to the same extent.
For example there was a 24.6 per cent drop in searches for tickets to Turkey. compared to 42.8 per cent to Spain.
The slump in internet inquiries is the latest evidence of the threat to the airline industry from the global recession.
Earlier this week the normally profitable British Airways predicted that it would suffer an operating loss of £150 million during the current financial year.
The last time this happened was in the aftermath of September 11.
Last year the International Air Transport Association, the industry trade body, predicted that average air fares would fall by five per cent as carriers tried to fill empty planes.
Meanwhile Lufthansa Italia, a new operation set up by the German flag carrier, has sought to drum up business by offering two seats for the price of one for bookings made before February 10, with a pair of return tickets to Milan on offer for £99.
