Manx2.com is launching a major new competition to help promote the Isle of Man to potential visitors.

The company already displays a top photo of the Island on the front page of its website, but from next month, customers will have the chance to send in their Manx photo and see it displayed to tens of thousands of people worldwide on www.manx2.com. A different photo will be chosen each month, and the winners will receive a pair of return tickets to a Manx2.com destination of their choice.

Entries can be e-mailed to photo@manx2.com along with contact details of the photographer and entrants must be prepared for their photo to be published on their website free of charge.

“If taking great photos is just a hobby for you we have a way to turn your outstanding shots into free tickets on or off the Island”, says Manx2.com’s Communications Director, James Filleul. “We use a photo of our home, the Isle of Man, as the main feature of our website – and we want that photo to be taken by you. You might live in the Island and take plenty of local pictures, or you might have a gem tucked away on your camera following a recent Manx holiday. We think it’s a great way to celebrate the natural beauty of the Isle of Man, and an incentive for you to get that great picture – happy snapping!”

Most companies in aviation have pictures of aeroplanes on their website, or are full of flashing adverts, but Manx2.com has relaunched its site featuring great photos of the Isle of Man instead.

“We firmly believe that the destination is far more important than the means of getting there, and we are lucky that our home base, the Isle of Man, is so photogenic. So we took the decision to feature top photos of the Island on the very front of our website, which is clicked on by tens of thousands of people every month. As well as encouraging them to fly with Manx2.com, we think it’s also great publicity for the Island as a whole”.

Jet2.com has rebranded to become the ‘friendly low-cost airline’. The new look was unveiled yesterday by the boss of the Leeds Bradford Airport-based airline.

The airline, which has six UK bases and flies to 45 destinations, mainly in Europe, recently introduced a 30 per cent increase in hold baggage and for the New Year a generous customer loyalty programme is planned.

Philip Meeson, boss of the airline which previously used the strapline ‘The North’s low cost airline’, said that Jet2.com fares would always remain low, but it wanted to build upon its award-winning reputation as the friendliest low fares airline.

He said that Jet2.com will now be known as the ‘Friendly low fares’ airline, a message which better reflected how its customers felt about the business.

Philip Meeson said: “For the last three years we have been the UK’s favourite European short-haul airline and we have an exceptional reputation among our customers, but many airlines within our sector treat their customers very poorly, often with indifference.

“Just because we offer low fares does not mean we cannot offer great service, friendly service, the old fashioned service-with-a-smile philosophy that some businesses have simply forgotten about.”

The airline recently launched 22 new routes for summer 2009 across its six UK bases and has just been voted the UK’s best short-haul airline by readers of the Guardian and Observer, an accolade it has won for the last three years.

Jet2.com has six UK bases, serving: 40 destinations from Leeds Bradford; 16 from Manchester airport; 13 from Newcastle airport; ten from Blackpool airport; 14 from Belfast International airport; and 11 from Edinburgh airport.

Air Southwest has teamed up with Plymouth Argyle to become the team’s official airline for 2008/09 season.

Over the last four years, the low-fare Plymouth based airline has flown the team to away games across the country and this deal for 2008/09 builds on the existing agreement in place during 2007/08.

Argyle strikers Jamie Mackie and  (pictured) joined Air Southwest cabin crew members Clare Faulkner and Vicky Triggs during a recent training session at the ground to formally mark the relationship between the club and the airline.

Supporting advertising in match day programmes, hoardings at Home Park and reciprocal links to their websites is included in the partnership.

Air Southwest recently celebrated its fifth anniversary with the naming of one of its aircraft at Plymouth City Airport.

The airline offers year-round flights to London Gatwick, Manchester airport, Leeds-Bradford airport, Glasgow airport, Newcastle airport, Bristol airport, Cork, Dublin and Jersey.

Manx2.com is to add further services to its timetable between the Isle of Man and Gloucester (M5) in response to record booking levels.

From 24 November extra flights will now leave the Isle of Man at 11:10 on Monday, 14:10 on Thursday and 13:40 on a Friday, and depart Gloucester (M5) for the return legs at 12:30, 15:40 and15:05 respectively. This makes a total of 3 flights in both directions on these key travel days.

Since the start of the route just over a year ago, Manx.com has carried twenty thousand passengers in total.

“We’re delighted that despite all the gloom in the aviation world at the moment, we are seeing increasing numbers of passengers wanting to travel on our Gloucester(M5) route”, says James Filleul, Communications Director for Manx2.com.

Manx2.com operators use nineteen seat aircraft on routes between the Isle of Man, Leeds Bradford airport, Belfast (City and International), Gloucester (M5), Nottingham East Midlands airport, Jersey and Blackpool airport.

Air Southwest has just celebrated its fifth birthday by naming two of its aircraft after its regional bases – ‘City of Plymouth’ and ‘County of Cornwall’.

The airline’s first flight was to Gatwick in 2003 and since then it has carried more than 1.3 million passengers across its network.

Air Southwest offers more than 1,200 flights per month to and from Plymouth, Newquay, Bristol airport, London Gatwick, Manchester airport, Leeds Bradford airport, Glasgow airport, Newcastle airport, Cork, Dublin and Jersey.

easyJet, Ryanair and British Airways have all stepped in with special rate fares to help passengers stranded by the collapse of Sterling.

easyJet’s offer of £35 tickets is available until 23:59 Wednesday 5 November for passengers not covered by an airline insurance scheme. To claim the £35 rescue package, passengers from the UK should call the easyJet customer services on 0871 244 2366. Passengers from outside the UK should call 0044 870 6 000 000.

Ryanair is offering a €100 rescue fare available until 5 November for travel on their Scandinavian routes up to 7 November. Check out:  www.ryanair.com/member/sterlingrescuefare.html for further details.

British Airways is offering a rescue deal to allow stranded passengers to fly home for £30 one-way (plus fuel and taxes) for travel up to 13 November.

For more information on the BA offer check out: here

Proof of booking is required by all airlines – check with individual airlines for exactly what proof is required.

Icelandic owned Sterling Airlines is to file for bankruptcy today, the latest airline victim of the credit crunch and high oil prices.

All Sterling flights have been cancelled.

In a statement on its website, the company explains:

“Dear customers, employees and other stakeholders,

During the last few weeks, the management, board of directors, and the shareholder of Sterling Airlines A/S have been fighting a battle to keep the company alive. Sadly, this has not had a positive outcome, and we have therefore decided to file for bankruptcy which will be done later today.

Over a 3 to 4 weeks period, the whole financial system melted down, and that resulted in our shareholder being unable to continue his support to the company. Negotiations have been conducted with several potential investors, but it was impossible to make ends meet.  The inevitable result is that Sterling Airlines A/S has no option but to file for bankruptcy.”

Information for Sterling Passengers from Sterling’s website:

Customers who have directly purchased their tickets on Sterling’s website will unfortunately not be refunded neither will their return flights. You therefore have to book your return flights with another airline company.

If you have paid for a flight by credit card, we advise you to contact your bank or credit card company to ask for a possible refund.

Customers who have booked their flights through a travel agency or tour operator should initially contact them.
Passengers who have booked their tickets through Sterling, but is flying with Norwegian, should contact Norwegian directly on one of the below phone numbers:

+47 21490015 (from outside Norway)
815 21 815 (from Norway)

Passengers currently staying abroad in hotels, or hiring a car through Sterling business partners, are still able to stay in their hotel or keep the hired car for the relevant period of time, as such services are paid for through our business partners and not Sterling. However as for your return flight, you will need to find alternatives for your final destination.

Please note that if you have booked your travel/hotel/car through a travel agency or tour operator, please contact them upon your return for possible refund of expenses for your return flight.

We understand that most travel insurance does not protect holders from airline insolvency but should you have taken insurance please contact your insurance company for clarification.

We will later put on a FAQ and hope that this will help you in this very unfortunate situation.

For the full statement see Sterling’s website (English translation at the bottom).

Finally, an airline has seen sense over baggage allowances for families.

Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways have just announced a complimentary luggage allowance for infants.

The new baggage rule will give infants a 10kg allowance and will come in to effect on 1 May 2009. The transportation of pushchairs and buggies will also be free and will not count as part of the parents’ baggage allowance.

Just when you thought you could forget the credit crunch and the miserable British weather by booking a holiday somewhere warm this winter, the Daily Telegraph is today warning that there could be a shortage of flights this Christmas.

The newspaper predicts a reduction of around 3.1 million seats in the last quarter of this year.

The collapse of several airlines and the grounding of planes to save spiralling fuel costs are seen as factors for the reduction of flights.

For the full story check the Telegraph’s website.

Jet2.com has just increased its checked-in baggage allowance to 22kgs per passenger – up from 17kgs.

The increased baggage allowance is for passengers with bookings made on or after 20 October 2008, or flights departing after 31 March 2009.