With the Manchester Airport planning to join the proposed industry action next week, those Britons heading on with their late summer holidays might face misery during this period. Following the voting by the baggage handlers and check-in staff for action, two 24-hour strikes have been called at the airport scheduled on Wednesday, the 27th of August and Monday, the 1st of September.

At the outset, the staff under these two segments has been appointed by ground services company Swissport. The stoppage announcement at the Manchester Airport follows the two 24-hour strikes that have been already called by Unite at Gatwick and Stansted. Most notably, those strikes have been scheduled to take place on Monday, the 25th of August and Friday, the 29th of August.

The principal reason behind these demonstrations is that Unite is totally unhappy with the 'paltry' pay offer of Swissport and is not ready to accept the new arrangements pertaining to sick-pay. Things are highly probable that action could eventually and rapidly escalate across the nation, with the members of the Unite at Swissport also to be balloted at Birmingham and Newcastle airports very shortly.

In an important milestone at enhancing the security process and reducing the passenger congestion at the Manchester Airport, the airport is trialling facial recognition scanners. This move also comes as part of the initiatives taken by the government in this regard. Most notably, adult biometric passport holders from the UK and the Europe can effectively use this system. The system works by scanning the faces of passengers and comparing them to the photographs digitally stored on their passports. On the other hand, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) have raised a concern that the technology is untested and untried.

It is important to note that the facial recognition technology is part of the e-Borders programme of the Home Office, which aims at significantly enhancing the border control at UK besides ensuring greater efficiency and security. According to the ministers, the facial recognition technology will help in identifying criminals and terrorists attempting to enter the UK illegally.

Analysing the efficiency of the process, the machines require only 13-15 seconds per passenger, while a human takes about 20 seconds for the same process. Provided the trail run comes our successfully, the ministers would like to see that the machines replace the majority of front line airport immigration officers over the next five years.

Addressing Crain's an aviation industry expert has pointed out that the recent decision by Singapore Airlines (SIA) to bring down the number of its services from Manchester Airport is a clear example of the danger faced by the regional airports by the arrival of giant new Airbus A380.

According to the recent move, SIA has decided to bring down the number of direct flights operated between Manchester and Singapore from seven services a week to five services a week. This move comes into effect on 5th November, which will see the scrapping of the outbound flights operated on Tuesdays and Thursdays. As an alternative, those passengers who wish to fly between the two cities on Tuesdays and Thursdays need to take a bmi shuttle to Heathrow to get a connection from there.

The entire scenario follows the increase of capacity by SIA on its Heathrow to Singapore route by introducing the Airbus A380 aircraft with effect from September. The gigantic double-decker A380, that can carry 471 passengers, will offer two flights every day from London. In addition, a Boeing 747 will offer a third daily flight.

In a strategic move to combat the challenges haunting the airline industry, Singapore Airlines (SIA) has decided to reduce the frequency of its direct services operated between Manchester and Singapore route. Once implemented, the move will see that the frequency in this route comes down by two flights per week. With effect from 5th November, the national carrier will suspend its outbound services operated on Tuesdays and Thursdays to these destinations, which will eventually see the number of weekly flights coming down to five.

Alternatively, any residents of Manchester wishing to make a flight between these two cities on any one of these days must now make use of a connecting service to Heathrow offered by bmi, the alliance partner of the airline.

Over and above, the airline has also made arrangements to free up the extra seats on the carrier's flagship connection between London and Singapore. In this regard, the airline has deployed its brand new A380 superjumbos.

A report published in the Dorset Echo notes that delays caused over a proposed expansion project at Bournemouth Airport will not completely stop the project from taking off. Over and above, the owners of the Manchester Airport Group appear to have injected an extra £13 million in cash into the venture, growing up the total value of the project to more than £45 million.

On the other hand, the commencement of the work at the gateway has been delayed as the New Forest National Park requested to conduct a judicial review into the decision taken by the Christchurch Borough Council to give the green light.

The High Court considered the request at length and finally rejected the arguments put forth by the park, which paved the way for the development of the new terminal as per the original plans without any further interruptions.

In a highly interesting move, Airbus A380, the largest passenger aircraft on the globe is to make a stopover at Manchester Airport this weekend. This move comes as a part of a series of flights around the northwest. The massive airliner is all set to perform a standard approach at 1.20pm on this Saturday, the 12th July. At this moment, crowds of people are expected to descend on the northern gateway to have a sight of this most awesome landing. Notably, this is a double decker plane with a total capacity of 853 passengers. Following this event, the aircraft will fly to Liverpool by way of paying a tribute to this city heralding its state as the European Capital of Culture 2008.

It is useful to note that Manchester's T1 & T3 car parks are well positioned to enable the audience get the best possible views of the behemoth landing. For Liverpudlians, the best vantage points are said to be the Liver Building and the New Brighton promenade.

According to the statement made by a spokesman for Airbus to the Liverpool Echo, the visit comes as a 'thank you' of sorts to appreciate the thousands of Merseyside employees who involved themselves in making the A380.

Recently released figures show that not less than 2.5 million passengers fly into Heathrow Airport from several British destinations in an average year. Following the release of these figures, the campaign for developing a high-speed rail network has gained a significant momentum. 

Typically, passengers get transferred to a regional hub for connecting with a longer-haul flight. This group becomes the battleground for the debate going on presently concerning the construction of a third runway at the Heathrow Airport. Those opposing the idea of the third runway claim that the data proves that several Heathrow slots are taken up by flights and that this would be unnecessary is there was a high-speed rail service made available.

A transport spokesman noted, "If the case for domestic flights diminishes then the case for a third runway is also weakened. It's absurd to have large numbers of people taking short-haul flights in this country when there is much more extensive use of high-speed rail in other European countries."

Manchester Airport, will be celebrating its seventieth anniversary on the 25th of June.

Initially called Manchester (Ringway) Airport, the facility today is the largest regional (non-London) airport in the United Kingdom and the forth largest in the UK on the whole. This is a great occasion for the airport, as it has provided a great base for passengers who are not travelling from London to travel to various destinations around Europe and the world.

A number of special events have been designed which will take place during the year to mark the occasion. Some of these celebratory events include an M Fest family day, the long awaited completion of the new Concorde hangar and a dinner for dignitaries.

Mr. Andrew Cornish, the managing director of Manchester Airport, has said that air travellers are dealing with inaptly extreme levels of stress when passing through the terminals of the country, which are quite right now and passengers are quite stressed.

The airport's managing director said that the once attractive impression of air travel had been changed by the sceptre of worry and fear due to strict security procedures and serious delays.

He warned that the latest restrictions on carry-on baggage, especially in relation to electronic items and liquids, took the chance of putting a large number of travellers off flying.

According to a report by the Manchester Evening News, a new luxury-class carrier is going ahead with intentions of introducing flights on the route from Manchester Airport despite the problems engulfing the sector, with all three all business class carriers flying from the UK going out of business in the last 6 months.

Premjet, the luxury class airline, is getting ready to launch flights next spring, making use of 80-seater Boeing 737 jets. So, passengers still have the chance to have more flights from this airport though lots of airlines have discontinued their flights in the past.

The carrier is planning to operate flights to Malaga and Alicante in Spain, Faro in Portugal and Palma, Majorca, with a total of fourteen flights per week.

XL Airways, the British carrier and scheduled airline, is to increase the number of seats available on number routes it operates from its base at Manchester Airport, as part of its investment in a new generation of flying machines. Recently, Manchester Airport is in limelight due to many airlines increasing their services from it or starting new flights from this airport.

Starting from the 29th of May this year, the carrier will use Boeing 737-900 aircrafts to operate its services. The new flying machines are fitted with 26 more seats than the B737-800 planes currently used by the carrier, and as such, travellers will have more space on the airline's flights from the northern base. This increased capacity will benefit the passengers a lot, as they would be able to make ticket bookings according to their limited schedule.

From its base at Manchester Airport, the airline operates services to various destinations including Spain, Egypt and the Canary Islands. So, if you are looking to visit any of these destinations, you would have more options of available seats in the flights of XL airways.

Officials at Manchester Airport are on their way to China in an attempt to obtain direct routes to Beijing and Shanghai, reported Crain's.

This week, Andrew Cornish, managing director for the airport will be meeting officials at Air China to discuss on flight connections, before speaking at the China Regional Airport Conference 2008 in Chengdu.

In the month of September last year, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) made an announcement that it had granted approvals for 27 new routes to Europe: one of these was a daily service to Manchester. CAAC said that the new routes would begin in 2009.

Monarch, the charter and scheduled airline, has said that it is resuming its service on the route from Manchester to Gibraltar. This is a very good news for passengers visiting Gibraltar from Manchester.

From the 12th of September, the Luton based low-cost carrier will operate three times a week service on the route: on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The carrier will offer one-way tickets for its services at a price starting from just £48. All the taxes and charges are included in the ticket price. So, you can book your tickets straight-away with such a low price.

Amazingly, over 200,000 people are to fly off through Manchester Airport during the next four days alone. This speaks of the multitudes of people who are thronging to the airport to carryon their journeys to various destinations over the Easter Bank holiday weekend including the Canary Islands, Spain, Las Vegas and Spain. On the other hand, the opinion of airport analysts states that due to the nature of holidays this year, the traditional Easter getaway might stretch over three weekends. Since Easter is quite early this year, quite a many schools are yet to break up for the holidays.

The above said conditions foresee that a further 200,000 passengers might pass through the Manchester Airport during the next weekend also.

Manchester Airport's Managing Director Andrew Cornishremarked, "Easter is a really popular time for people to get away and get some sun, or ski or visit popular destinations like Florida, but this year we have seen a new trend emerge. There are obviously thousands of people going away this weekend for the Easter break, but some schools are not breaking up for the spring holiday until a couple of weeks later. That means lots of families will be travelling in April."

Lisa Corcoran, the stylish travel connoisseur is introducing Travel Notebook, an online directory featuring up to date news, information and tips on the chicest places to stay, shop and eat around the world.

Aiming at independent travelers, couples and business travelers, the site has identical categories in which Lisa gives a wonderful introduction to quality travel gems from Manchester to Marrakech.

The book is set out in a simple but elegant notebook form to provide a snapshot and flavour of each of the items shown. The various sections of this book include 'Travel notes' featuring highly informative city guides, amazing weekend breaks and launches of luxury hotels in addition to 'Suite notes' featuring a collection of the most admirable hotel suites available; and 'Business notes' a compilation featuring the best boutique hotels offering first class business comforts like high tech meeting rooms, 24 hour assistance for concierge and translation services. The compilation also offers links to a select range of travel sites.

Plans to developing a second airport in the Manchester have been uncovered by Manchester Airport owners--certainly a great news for passengers from Manchester.

According to the owners of the Manchester Airport, the new development would complement the hub already serving passengers.

Recently, Barton Aerodrome has been re-named by the owner of the airport as City Airport Manchester and Andrew Simpson, Managing Director the company told the Manchester Evening News that more advancement was anticipated.

American Airlines, US-based carrier, is offering cut-priced tickets on return-journey flights from Manchester, London Heathrow and London Stansted this April. Bookings can be made by the 6th of March.

All the taxes and fees are included in the quoted fares. The offer prices are available for midweek travel (from Monday to Thursday), and for the weekends (Friday and Sunday), seats are available for little higher prices.

For travel between 1st April and 30th April, the fares available in the offer are:

If you would prefer a sunshine destination for this Easter having been fed up of British weather, you can take advantage of the wonderful packages and offers announced by Tropical Sky and Africa Sky, the reputed long-haul holiday specialists.

Over Sunshine and Spa Treatments in St Lucia, you can save up to £500 per person, with the offer valid throughout March. Throughout March, Tropical Sky is offering seven nights on an all-inclusive basis at the four-star deluxe LeSPORT starting from £1,099 per person for two sharing. Departures are scheduled on 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th March. The cost includes return flights from London Gatwick on XL Airways, a comfortable double room accommodation, resort transfers, surcharges and taxes.

The award-winning hotel is ideally located on a beautiful sandy beach offering a wonderful range of exciting activities, delicious cuisines and a world-class spa. Daily spa treatment is included in the price as a compliment. Also guests can conveniently choose from facials, ocean wraps, a wide range of massages, body scrubs and hydrotherapy. Departure from Manchester is also available starting from £1,199 per person with Virgin Atlantic.

With the refurbishment work having started at Manchester Airport, Outwood Lane, one of its main access roads will remain closed until early March. The airport has announced alternative measures for those using this lane.

The airport has launched a £15 million scheme to provide an extra platform at Manchester Airport's station. As a part of this programme, Network Rail will be sliding a new bridge into position below the road to enable the construction of the third platform. So, passengers coming to Manchester Airport will be able to use this bridge.

Presently, the Outwood Lane is closed and will not be available for transits until the early hours of March 3. However, as the road works are on progress, a diversion has been arranged as an alternative arrangement for those travellers who travel by car to Terminals 1 or 3.

Manchester airport has decided to recruit 30 more immigration officers in a significant move to reduce the queues at passport control besides increasing airport security. This move is expected to highly benefit the passengers using the Manchester airport by reducing check-in time.

According to a report published by The Manchester Evening News, it appears that the airport has paid the Local Border and Immigration Agency heads to recruit this additional staff to join the 17 other new employees who joined just recently. Notably, the announcement of enhancing the number of staff follows after the newspaper published the complaints from passengers regarding long queues requiring passengers to wait for up to 50 minutes at the passport control office of the airport.

Responding to the complaint, Mike Lowe, assistant director for the border agency, remarked, "We have to maintain the security of the border and to do that we have to check every traveller who arrives. There will be some queuing for passengers while we do this, but our aim is to minimise the disruption and we are working towards that in a number of ways."

Next month, the second runway at Manchester Airport will be closed for a period of nearly three weeks to allow for planned maintenance work. From the 5th of February to the 29th of February, all planes will be operated (both take-off and landing) on the airport's Runway 1. Passengers who have made bookings from Manchester Airport should take care about this and make sure that they go to the right place.

However, officials from the higher management of the airport said that the runway closure was not likely to have any significant disruption to travellers, making a mention to the point that it was taking place during a normally quiet period for travel-just before the busy summer season.

Andrew Cornish, managing director at Manchester Airport, said, "This is important but routine engineering work and we have chosen to do this during February which is traditionally a quieter time before the busy summer period".

A new valet parking service is set to benefit passengers passing through the Manchester Airport. This would turn the car parking problems of travellers off, as now they would be able to avail this value parking service.

The new service, which mainly is aimed toward the travellers using the airport's Terminals one and three, will enable car drivers to pull up in an enclosure outside T1 which is dedicated to VIPs, before they hand over car keys of their vehicle to one of the members of a specially-trained group.

The car will then be parked in a secure and safe vehicle parking space, before being handed over back to the owner when they return back at the VIP enclosure after completing their journey.

Women living in Manchester will be helping in creating a fascinating exhibition which will be taking place on March 8th 2008-the International Women's Day.

All the women groups and individuals living in the city are welcomed to participate in the event, entitled as 'What Manchester Women Want'.

By dong so, they will be able to get a chance to work with Charlotte Newson, a professional artist, to create their bit for the exhibition. All skills and media including knitting, sewing, IT, music, visual art, poetry and film, can be of great use.

Manchester's new website www.manchester.gov.uk has been voted as the best local government website in the nation, by thousands of visitors of internet users.

The website received this recognition in a poll ran over the last three months and was conducted by BT Total Broadband, offering surfers an opportunity to vote in a total of 17 categories.

Among these categories, the local government category is one and Manchester secured the top position leaving behind others including Camden, Glasgow, Hounslow and Blackburn.

The Government's accord on the regulation to button up prices at London Stansted and Manchester, has been appreciated as a boost for rivalry and customer decision.

Before now, the power of both of these airports to introduce charges on airline companies for using their facilities has been buttoned down by the Civil Aviation Authority--the independent regulator.

However, on January 15, Ruth Kelly, the transport secretary, said that the Manchester airport was to be de-designated from control by the CAA, making a reference to the growth of neighbouring airports as the compelling circumstance.

In the near future, people coming to the iconic Concorde aircraft at Manchester Airport will be able to witness it converted into a super hangar and visitor centre of £1 million.

Work on the steel, glass and high tech PVC structure measuring 68 metre by 38 metre, will be started soon. And by the end of the month of July, the entire work will be finished and it will be opened to the general public.

In a year, nearly 250,00 visitors come to the aviation viewing park of the airport, with Concorde G-BOAC its prime attraction, and its new home which has been designed in order to guard the aircraft and the fans from the elements.

New flights from Manchester and Gatwick to the holiday destinations of Larnaca in Cyprus and Menorca will be accessible in this year. From March onwards new flights from Gatwick to both locations and from Manchester to Larnaca are assured to be provided by the low-fares airline Monarch.co.uk.

This is a very good news for passengers visiting these two famous places for holiday making. Cyprus has been a favourite destination for holidaymakers and Monarch's offer would come to a good help for passengers.

These benefits will make the total number of Monarch set flights among UK and Larnaca to be 14. Clearly, there are lots of routes that passengers can choose from and travel to their favourite destination.

The passengers suffering from the present running rail disturbance have been increasingly moving to domestic flights to get around the UK. According to flights operator VLM Airlines, the issue on the national rail network have encouraged passenger numbers on flights among London City and Manchester Airport.

This is of course opposite to the demanded trend of using the rail system instead of regional flights due to concerns over global warming and carbon emissions caused by aviation industry. However, at the same time, failure of railways put a great pressure on airlines to handle the inflow of passengers who want to travel between regional destinations.

Train services in the West Midlands and the north-west have been strongly disturbed by engineering work which was assumed to have been completed by New Year's Eve. Rail routes out of London to Birmingham, Northampton, Liverpool and various other places have been disturbed, and various passengers have opted for air travel to reach their destinations. Only after rail system gets streamlined, passengers will be able to use it.

From the coming week, travellers at Manchester Airport will not have to attend strict hand luggage restrictions. From 7th January, passengers will be able to take more than one item of hand baggage on their flights.

Manchester airport is one of the first Twenty UK airports to get approval from the Department for Transport to lift the one hand bag limit that was introduced the over airport security concerns.

Airport officials said that they were granted the permission because of a big investment in a new scanning system and additional security staff.

Monarch is introducing scheduled services to Cyprus from Manchester next year. Starting on 18th May, the new service will be operated on Mondays, Tuesdays (from July), Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Prices begin at just £78 one way.

flyMonarch.com's Managing Director, Liz Savage, said, "We are delighted to be expanding our network to the Eastern Mediterranean with the launch of this service from Manchester, a market that has historically been dominated by the flag carriers and charter services. We have seen overwhelming demand for our service from London Luton to Larnaca, carrying 50,000 passengers on the route since its launch in March this year and have been inundated with requests from the public to introduce further services to Cyprus from our UK bases. I am sure that the people of the North-West will warmly welcome the introduction of this service from Manchester offering more choice of direct flights and low fares".

Flight times: departs Manchester at 4 p.m. and reach Larnaca at 10.40 p.m. (Mondays); departs Manchester at 5.25 p.m. and reach Larnaca at 12.25 a.m. next day (Tuesdays); departs Manchester at 2 p.m. and reach Larnaca at 8.40 p.m. (Wednesdays and Fridays); and departs Manchester at 3.30 p.m. and reach Larnaca at 10.10 p.m. (Sundays).

A new direct rail link has been opened this week which connects travellers in Penrith, Carlisle and Lockerbie with Manchester Airport. This would be welcome move for passengers who want to board the flights from Manchester Airport and live in the areas of Penrith, Carlisle, and Lockerbie.

The new cross-country service is operated by First Transpennine Express it offers a regular rail link to the people living on the routes between the airport and both Edinburgh and Glasgow. So, this would be a great addition for passengers to have Manchester Airport as well in the route.

There will four services operated on all weekdays, between Edinburgh and Manchester with another three leaving Glasgow. All of these services will call at Penrith and Carlisle, and the services to and from Glasgow also stop at Lockerbie.

Introducing a Meet and Greet service, Airparks is rebranding Q-Park airport car parks all over the UK. Passengers can note the changes and plan their travel accordingly.

At Gatwick Airport, the Q-Park will be re-branded as Airparks Gatwick, with per day prices starting from £4. passengers will also be able to take advantage of a new meet and greet service-they will be met by an Airparks driver on their arrival at their departure terminal building, which will remove the need for transfers.

The Airparks facility, where vehicles will be parked, has a 24-hour CCTV eye and security check patrols.

Book by 31st December and grab the opportunity to fly at a cheaper price. Emirates is offering a number of cheaper price flights to destinations around the globe. For travel between 1st January, 2008 and 12th March, 2008, the airline is offering the following discounted flights.

From Birmingham to: Dubai from £376; Bangkok at a price starting from just £525; Beijing at a price starting from just £423 and Johannesburg at a price starting from just £493.

From London Heathrow to: Dubai at a price starting from just £379; Bangkok at a price starting from just £528 and Kuala Lumpur at a price starting from just £494.

The flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates, Etihad Airways is to operate brand new services from Abu Dhabi to Beijing starting from 30th March. The flights are to be connected with the services of the airline in the Heathrow–Manchester route.

In Etihad's first route to China, there will be four flights a week. However, the airline is already operating several services to a range of destinations in the Asia Pacific region including Brisbane, Jakarta, Sydney, Manila, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

Etihad has planned to employ a two class Airbus A330-200 designed to carry 262 passengers in total, with 22 passengers in the business class and 240 travellers in the economy class on the said route to be launched. The services will be available on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, scheduled to depart from Abu Dhabi at 23:45 and to arrive at Beijing at 11:30 on the next day. Eventually, the return flight is scheduled to depart from Beijing on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 19:10 to arrive at Abu Dhabi at 00:20 on the next day.

Among tourism and businesses chiefs, Harnessing waterways of the northwest is a growing trend. A study which stated the canals and rivers in the city are healthy and are also attracting wildlife, has given a boost to the proposals to construct a waterside park along the banks of the River Irwell in Manchester.

According to British Waterways, a large number of reports of kingfishers, for example, are showing that the Manchester's eco-system has significantly enhanced. This could be landmark achievement, as it would be highly productive method for initiating green travel methods in major cities of UK, like Manchester and Liverpool.

A spokesman for British Waterways said, "Good populations of kingfishers--even in urban areas--show the important role waterways have in greening our towns and cities by providing wildlife corridors".

Worldwide flights have been discounted by Emirates from a number of airports in the UK. Book before 30th November and travel is valid between 16th April and 30th June, 2008.

From Heathrow, book a flight to: Auckland at a price starting from £736, Brisbane at a price starting from £713, Melbourne at a price starting from £709, Perth at a price starting from £664 and Sydney at a price starting from £717.

From Manchester, book flights to: Auckland at a price starting from £731, Brisbane at a price starting from £708, Melbourne at a price starting from £704, Perth at a price starting from £660 and Sydney at a price starting from £712.

Launched on 5th November 2007 and continuing until 29 March 2008, the Winter Schedule of Aer Arann is to operate eighteen routes between the UK and Ireland. With continuous expansion, Aer Arann is increasing its flights between London and Galway to about three times for this winter.

This would be a very good option offered by the airlines to the passengers as now they will have more choices to choose the schedule and timing of flights while vising these famous cities in UK.

The routes are operated from various regional airports of the UK namely Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow-Prestwick, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, London Luton, Newcastle, Cardiff, Birmingham and Isle of Man. On the routes of Manchester to Kerry, Edinburgh to Galway, and London to Galway, the capacity will be added up further. Almost all the major cities of UK and Scotland are covered under this plan.

Book a hotel with Thomson and fly to Tel Aviv with Thomsonfly, and you will get free return flights from Tel Aviv to Eilat on a by Thomsonfly. Thomsonfly, the low cost airline has come aboard with the Israeli Tourism Association and top tier Eilat hotels to offer free transfer flights from Tel Aviv to the exciting Red Sea resort of Eilat to all the clients of Thomson and Thomsonfly.

To take advantage of the move, customers have to book a minimum 6 night stay at one of the participating hotels for on the website Thomson.co.uk. Bookings for flying to Tel Aviv from Manchester or London Luton with Thomsonfly are to be made on Thomsonfly.com.

Located on the Red Sea wedged between Jordan and Egypt, Eilat offers stunning activities including horse-riding, diving, snorkelling, hiking, , watersports and camel trekking. Excellent accommodation is offered with spa, fabulous food and treatments to compete any of the other Red Sea resorts. What's more, year-round sun makes it an ideal beach spot.

Launching its new schedule to be operated till 29th March 2008, Air Malta offers a choice of over 40 destinations and 150 flights in a week for passengers flying from Malta base.

Some of the notable destinations in the list include Amsterdam, Bari, Athens, Benghazi, Birmingham, Berlin, Bologna, Bristol, Bremen, Budapest, Brussels, Catania, Casablanca, Düsseldorf, Dresden, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Hannover, Hamburg, Istanbul, Larnaca, London - Heathrow, London - Gatwick, London - Stansted, Milan, Manchester, Moscow Sheremetyevo, Moscow Domodedovo, Munich, Newcastle, Paris, Palermo, Reggio Calabria, Sofia, Rome, Tripoli, Vienna, Tunis, Washington DC and Zurich.

Air Malta's Chief Officer Commercial, Dr Brock Friesen observed, "This season will be yet another exciting one for our customers. The airline is once again offering the best connections and services at value for money prices to and from the Maltese islands, connecting the islands to major European gateways. We are focusing on our marketing campaigns and aggressively promoting value for money travel opportunities during lean months. Our recent seasonal sales includes '13 has just turned lucky' which is offering our customers the exciting opportunity to travel to 18 destinations from Malta, at the fantastic price starting from Lm 13 one-way."

Thomsonfly will turn out to be the first low-cost carrier to provide air travel services to Israel tomorrow, after it starts new flights from Manchester and Luton airports.

The new services which are offered for a price starting from £79.99 one way and £139.98 return including all the charges and taxes will save huge amounts of money for passengers as compared to the current fares.

The airline will operate three times a week flights from both Manchester and Luton: on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Passengers will be served with kosher meals during their journey, which they can book at the time of bookings for their flights.

With a larger than ever ice rink in Piccadilly Gardens, people coming to Manchester city centre will again have the opportunity to have their skates on this Christmas.

The ice rink will be 810 square metres, with space for 250 people at the same time. It will also feature wonderful lighting.

The night of Manchester's grand Christmas lights switch-on event 'On Ice at Piccadilly' will be opened on the 8th of November and will remain open until 6th January. The timings for its opening will be between 10 a.m. to 10.30 p.m. every day except the Christmas Day.

A spectacular new Santa figure enveloped in 100,000 low-energy lights, which was designed and especially created in France, will be the centre-piece of this year Manchester's Christmas Lights.

The figure which is 10 metres high, 8 metres wide and 6 metres deep, will be placed on a 10 metres high, 10 metres across and 8 metres deep platform over the main entry of the Manchester Town Hall.

The weight of the new figure is 6 tonnes. To bring it from France, in was broken into 89 pieces, which will be reassembled before its installation.

Eastern Airways today started operating its services from Manchester to Stansted, with Dominic Cork, Lancashire and England cricketer, pitching up to make sure that the flight took off to a seamless beginning.

The carrier took the services of Manchester-Stansted route from Air Berlin. It will fly up to 15 flights in a week. This is a welcome news for passengers looking to fly from Manchester to Stansted, as they have now more options available on their hands.

The carrier has updated the timetable of Manchester-Stansted route to add an early morning flight which will take-off from Manchester at 7.15 a.m. The new addition will appeal to business passengers the most.

City Inn is designing, constructing and running contemporary fashioned hotels in UK top city centre areas. Current sites include Bristol, Westminster, Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham. 

Recently, City Inn has come out a fresh contemporary and stylish bedroom design across its hotels in the UK in consultation with Fox Linton- the leading London interior design firm.

City Inn received the Best Hotel Brand at the Business Travel World Awards 2007 and 2006. The hotel company is offering bespoke services for individuals and companies looking for an access to facilities required for their business, with a choice of state-of-the-art conference facilities, meeting rooms and private dining rooms.

In a recent move, Etihad has decided to increase its flight services between the UK and Abu Dhabi. As a part of global expansion, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates will fly new services from both London and Manchester. This would be welcoming news for UK travellers looking to get flights to Abu Dhabi. No doubt that Abu Dhabi has emerged as a hot destination due to the boom experience by Dubai tourism.

Commencing from Sunday, the 28th October, the airline will operate flights on daily basis during the mornings from Heathrow Airport. This will add up to the afternoon and evening flight services. In addition, there will be new evening services operated from Manchester on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

With these new initiatives, the number of services offered by the airline in the UK – Abu Dhabi route will increase from 21 to 26 per week-so, there is an increase in choice for the passengers of UK-Abu Dhabi route.

In a significant move, bmi regional is adding up an extra return flight between Manchester and Edinburgh starting from 28th October. With this, the number of flights operated by the UK's most punctual airline goes up to eight in either direction per day raising the total number of flights to 88 on this route every week. By way of improving the schedule for travellers, the airline is also rescheduling one of its existing flights operated on weekdays. According to the latest CAA figures, bmi regional still retains its position as the UK's most punctual airline.

Commercial director of bmi regional, Peter Kenworthy observed, "We are delighted to be introducing this additional service between Manchester and Edinburgh, well-timed for the business traveller in particular. We are also confident that the other timetable improvements between Manchester and Edinburgh will be popular with travellers, which together with our full service offering gives us a unique advantage over our competitor on the route. bmi regional will offer the most flights each weekday between the two cities. We are also delighted to retain our number one position as the most punctual airline in the UK and it is extremely rewarding to see such impressive results being achieved and maintained."

The top attractions of bmi regional are modern Embraer jet aircraft, business and economy fares, convenient range of check-in options, complimentary in-flight refreshments and the diamond club, heralded as the UK's most attractive frequent flyer program.

A security area at Manchester Airport has been blocked by a group of up to twelve climate protesters restricting the working of airport by blocking some passengers from entering the Terminal 3 of the airport.

At 7.30 am on October 8, activists from Manchester Climate Action and Manchester Plane Stupid held up some of the passengers who were trying to reach to the departure lounge at the Terminal 3 of the airport, from where airlines including Air Southwest, Flybe, bmibaby and British Airways operate both domestic as well as European flights.

According to a spokesman for the airport, there were no problems to the routine flights, but that it was taking travellers longer to complete the formalities of security-some of the passengers were restricted by the protesters from entering the departure longue at the Terminal 3 of the airport. Policemen worked to make alternative arrangements for the passengers to reach the departure lounge.

Something will be enclosed for you in the next 10 days from GOURMET or glutton as the 10th Manchester Food And Drink Festival is hitting town, bigger and better than ever.

Since the beginnings of small-scale a decade ago, the Co-operative and in association with the M.E.N supported the mega eatfest- has concluded a 10-day programme in store and its toe in 10 districts that includes, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan, creating it the biggest affair of its type in Europe.

The chefs will get innumerable opportunities as well as a packed schedule of cook-offs awaiting will sample the local cuisine and shop for a negotiation down at the producers' market.

Malaysia is celebrating its 50 years of nationhood.  During this sparkling celebration time, Malaysia is organising Malaysia International Firework Competition.  It is the first of its kind competition which is exclusively happening during the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 celebration. 

Putrjaya International Convention Centre will be the venue for the competition and the skies over Putrajaya will be lit by a sequence of firework performance for two weeks giving a magnificent view across the lake overlooked by the grand Seri Gemilang Bridge.  From 18th August 2007 till 2nd September 2007, artists from Australia, Japan, Italy, Russia, Malaysia and many other countries will be competing for the Merdeka trophy.
The Malaysia International Fireworks Competition will be a festival of light, music, colour and culture; providing magical experiences for all that attend in the lead-up to MalaysiaÂ's Merdeka Day, Hari Merdeka.

It will be the festival to be watched, where renowned international firework teams from around the world will gather in Malaysia to compete in this great competition.  The participant countries will present unique and spectacular fireworks formations.  Splendid splashes of flaming red, bright orange and other vivid colours transform the sky into a grand theatre of pyrotechnics.  The shows will be meticulously choreographed to music; the senses will be thrilled by dazzling incandescent displays that will dance to inspirational compositions.