Freedom Travel of Douglas have announced that they will be mounting a series of flights linking the Island directly with the Mediterranean holiday resorts of Majorca and Menorca.
For the first time, Island residents will have a choice of summer departure dates to European sun spots with departures in May, June, July and August.
Flights to Menorca will be available for those wishing to escape the TT period on the Island, while those for Majorca will depart weekly during July and August.
The Freedom Holidays charters will be flown by Flybe using an aircraft based in the Isle of Man to ensure optimum Saturday morning departures. The return flights depart on Saturday afternoons, ensuring that passengers are home by Saturday evening.
Airport Director Ann Reynolds is delighted with the Freedom announcement: "Not only has this initiative by Freedom given the Island the direct holiday services we have always needed, but it underlines the confidence that Freedom has in the recovery of the air transport and holiday market," she said.
"We are also confident that, whilst the coming winter will still be a challenge, there remain opportunities to be developed for 2010."
September Sees Drop in Air Passengers
According to newly released figures, the number of passengers travelling through Isle of Man Airport last month was down on the previous September.
However, Airport Director Ann Reynolds insists that the decrease was only slight, and believes that the general improvement in Isle of Man routes will bring better results going forward.
"After a disappointing August, marred by poor weather, September has again shown encouraging signs, with a shortfall on last September of just one third of a percent," she comments.
"This is 2% ahead of our predictions for the month and indicates that the Island’s air service network is generally recovering well.
"Moreover, markets that generate the highest volumes of passengers, such as links to the North West and to London, have for the first time for many months, shown increases in regional traffic over last year."
London routes, in particular, have shown promise, with 9% more passengers flying between to the three London destinations with Flybe and Aer Arann. Aer Arann flew almost 5,500 passengers on its London City route, the highest carried by the airline so far since the start of the service in January.
In the North West, although the Flybe Manchester service saw a decrease of almost 9%, their flights to Liverpool were up by about the same percentage, and the Manx2 route to Blackpool saw an increase of almost 20%. Some of the smaller routes to UK regional destinations also showed promise.
The Flybe service to Edinburgh posted an increase of almost 5%, Gloucester was up by nearly 10% and Leeds flights, which have been hit hard by the recession, also saw a slight increase over last year.
The Newcastle route, taken over by Manx2, was almost two-thirds full for the airline’s first month of operation.
