The weather outside is frightful, as Doris Day, Frank Sinatra and a hundred other artists have crooned since the song was first penned in 1945. The snow has stopped, at least for the moment, but the subsequent thaw and occasional spot of rain have done little to improve the mood of Brits on the early morning commute.
Fortunately, the winter season is almost as lucrative for the aviation industry as the summer months, which means that flights to subtropical resorts, such as Lanzarote, Malta and Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt, are just a mouse click away.
The winter is also a time when British airlines begin promoting their schedules for summer 2011. Flybe led the charge in September, announcing new routes from Southampton, Gatwick, and Exeter, whilst flag-carrying airline British Airways (BA) has been releasing new flights on an almost weekly basis since October.
BA subsidiary CityFlyer has also been busy, unveiling a route from London City to Stockholm, Sweden, at the end of October, as well as new flights from the Docklands hub to Faro in Portugal and Malaga in Spain. The latter two destinations will be served by three and four weekly flights respectively from June 7 next year. Flights from City to Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Glasgow will also increase in frequency next year.
Summer routes to Palma and Ibiza will re-enter circulation at the end of March following a short hiatus over the winter. The additions combined represent a 40% increase in seats over summer 2010. Luke Hayhoe, commercial manager at CityFlyer, said that the expansion was made possible with the recent purchase of two new Embraer jets.
“There is clearly a large demand for leisure travel from London City and it’s a growing market,” Luke told PR Newswire. The airline chief noted that the addition of Faro and Malaga was a way of “venturing further into the summer sun market”.