Travel News | Travel Advice

UK holiday makers appear to be reacting to the weak value of the Pound against the Euro by switching their bookings to non Euro Zone destinations such as Turkey, Bulgaria and Egypt.

To meet this increased demand Monarch (www.monarch.co.uk), has announced further expansion to its Turkey flying schedule for this summer as the Pound remains relatively healthy against the Turkish Lira.

An additional charter flight from Gatwick to Antalya will operate weekly from 27 May meaning that Monarch will operate twice weekly flights from Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham to Turkey’s Mediterranean Coast this Summer. Services to Antalya operate in addition to Monarch’s charter flights to Dalaman and Bodrum, which also depart from Monarch’s key UK bases.

Cheap flights to Turkey with Monarch start from £258 per person inclusive of all taxes, charges and 20kg of hold baggage. Flights can be booked via www.monarch.co.uk.

Monarch currently operates a fleet of 31 aircraft, serving over 100 destinations world-wide. Services are split between scheduled and charter flights, with the airline carrying over 7 million passengers per year.

Monarch’s flying schedule to Turkey during Summer 2009 will operate as follows:

Antalya (Mediterranean Coast)
Gatwick – two flights per week
Manchester – two flights per week
Birmingham – two flights per week
Dalaman (Turquoise Coast)
Gatwick – ten flights per week
Manchester – five flights per week
Bodrum (Agean Coast)
Gatwick – two flights per week
Manchester – one flight per week
Birmingham – one flight per week

Clickair, a budget, low-cost airline based in Spain, has recently launched a new initiative to allow customers to hold seats on any of its flights for a small charge of €2 per seat. This allows the customer to reserve a seat for up to 24 hours before confirming or cancelling the booking.

This may prove popular, because many passengers booking with low cost airlines feel pressured into buying a ticket straight away for fear of the price rising if they delay.

The Clickair initiative is believed to be the first of its kind in the aviation industry and no doubt other airlines will be keeping a close eye on it in order to determine if it is a path they should follow.

If you are looking for flights within the Middle East then you may want to consider booking with low-cost airline Jazeera Airways.

The Kuwait based airline is well known in the region for offering cheap flights and in a bid to secure even more passengers the airline has introduced what it calls “Happy Hour”.

Jazeera passengers looking to book their flight tickets online should wait until 1pm. For one hour until 2pm the airline will offer a different special offer on certain routes every day for at least the next 12 months, so you could grab yourself a real bargain flight.

The airline’s Chief Commercial Officer, Steven Greenway, is quoted saying “We remain committed to constantly giving our passengers even greater freedom to fly within the region and beyond…The launch of Happy Hour is one way that we can drive value back to our passengers.”