Continental Airlines Passengers face charge for extra legroom in economy class

Continental Airlines flies to the United States from seven UK Airports: Bristol Airport, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast and London Heathrow.

From the middle of April it is introducing a £130 levy on exit row seats which have an additional seven inches of legroom. This would add 33% to the airline's cheapest return ticket to Newark which is one of the airports serving New York.

In the past passengers have not been expected to pay extra for different seats in the same cabin. But gradually cash-strapped carriers have imposed additional charges. The price will vary according to the length of the flight and also demand on the day so passengers will only be told of the additional cost when they check in at the airport. A charge of £65 for a one-way flight across the Atlantic has been given a 'guide' price by Continental, but they have also said it would be based on 'market demand' and admitted it could go even higher.

Last year British Airways announced fees for passengers who wanted to choose their seat in advance. It put a £50 price tag on exit row seats, and £20 for anyone picking an aisle or window seat. However it does not push the price up when a plane is full. Given that airlines tend to follow one another, similar charges could be introduced by other carriers.

Ryanair Launch New Ski Routes From Birmingham

Ryanair has announced two new winter ski routes from Birmingham International Airport to France and Italy.

The new destinations are Grenoble, France and Cuneo, near Milan, Italy. The routes will run weekly from the 20th December until April. This brings Ryanair's route schedule for 2008/2009 to 101 routes - up 40% on last year.

Monarch Publishes Winter 2008/2009 Flight Schedule

Monarch has published its new 2008/2009 winter flight schedule, with several new flight routes and additional services on existing routes from London Gatwick, London Luton, Birmingham International and Manchester Airports.

London Gatwick and Manchester Airports will see their first winter flights to Larnaca, with up to three flights per week.

The Manchester to Gibraltar route will be re-started, operating three times per week, and the number of flights operating between London Gatwick, Lanzarote and Tenerife, will be doubled.

Monarch Launches Winter Flight Schedule

Monarch Airlines have just launched their new winter 2008/2009 flight schedule from Luton airport and Birmingham airport.

In response to customer demand, there will be more flights to Tenerife and Lanzarote from both airports, plus more flights to Alicante and Malaga from Birmingham. Luton airport will see more flights to Gibraltar.

Winter schedules for Manchester airport and London Gatwick airport will be announced shortly.

Check out the Monarch website for more information and to book flights.

Flybe launches new flights

Low cost airline Flybe is starting 34 new flights to UK and European city destinations, including flights from Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh airports.

There will be two new year-round routes from Jersey to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and Dublin to Glasgow. Flybe will also be operating two new routes under a franchise agreement with Loganair from Dundee to Birmingham and Belfast.

Exeter airport will also see new flights operating to Brussels, with prices starting from 29.99 GBP one-way, and Dubrovnik starting from 69.99 GBP one-way.

Busy London Airports driving passengers to regional hubs

Regional hubs such as Birmingham Airport and Manchester Airport are currently experiencing substantial growth, partly as a result of rising congestion in London according to the Civil Aviation Authority.

42% of all UK passengers travelled through airports outside London in 2006 and annual passenger numbers at regional airports have exceeded 100 million for the first time. According to the CAA local hubs have met the demand for flights that cannot be fulfilled at airports in the capital.

Monarch introduces new self service check in at Birmingham

flyMonarch has announced that it is introducing a self-service check-in option at Birmingham Airport to speed up the check-in process and reduce the amount of time passengers spend in queues.

Travellers will be able to use new common use self-service kiosks (CUSS), situated in the middle of the concourse of terminal one at Birmingham airport on all scheduled Monarch flights by swiping their passport through a machine.

Passengers with baggage can then take it to the fast bag-drop point, where the items will be tagged as normal and placed on the belt to be loaded on the aircraft