Manx2.com has nominated the Royal British Legion IOM as their charity of the year for 2012.

The support for the Isle of Man branch of the Royal British Legion will include flight tickets to help raise money for the charity and also travel support for Isle of Man-based service personnel – who are having their travel warrants withdrawn in the near future.

Manx2.com staff have also committed to raise money and awareness for the charity throughout 2012 – and as in 2011 they will participate in events such as the Parish Walk and a sponsored Plane pull and for this summer they are planning a Swing Night with 1940’s music, food and a static Spitfire display.

Colonel Charles Wilson, Royal British Legion IOM: ‘Following on our 90th anniversary last year we are thrilled to receive support from Manx2.com and all their staff. The contribution will undoubtedly prove a real boost to our work here in the Isle of Man and will be very much appreciated.”

Noel Hayes, Chairman, Manx2.com added: “Royal British Legion IOM is a key Isle of Man charity and continues to make an invaluable contribution here providing financial, social and emotional support to those who are serving or who have served in the armed forces, and their dependants. We are looking forward to working with them to ensure Manx men and women serving in the forces are not disadvantaged when returning home from duty and also helping the Legion’s fund raising throughout 2012.”

Flybe has announced the introduction of an additional six brand new routes from the start of the 2012 summer season.

The news adds up to an extra 34 flights a week from 25 March, further expanding the airline’s schedule to a total choice of 208 routes across its extensive network.

There are two brand new routes from Newcastle to Newquay and Bergen (Norway); and new routes from Belfast City to Newquay; to Knock and Waterford (Republic of Ireland) from Leeds Bradford and Birmingham respectively and from Southampton to Tours in France.

The six additional new routes have been chosen so that both leisure and business travellers have a wide variety of travel options available to them and, in the case of the Newcastle- Bergen route, re-instates a much-awaited link between the two twinned cities.

The six new services, which commence on 25 March 2012:

• Birmingham to Waterford – Daily flights
• Newcastle to Bergen – Flights operate three times a week Tues/ Thurs/Sat
• Newcastle to Newquay – Flights operate Saturdays starting 5 May
• Belfast City to Newquay – Flights operate Saturdays starting 5 May
• Leeds Bradford to Knock – Flights operate three times a week on Tues/Thurs/Sun
• Southampton – Tours – Flights operate Wed/Sat from 16 May 16th

Flybe’s Managing Director, Andrew Strong, comments: “Flybe is committed to developing our route network throughout the regions and to keeping business and leisure travellers moving during these continued economically challenging times. The introduction of these six attractive destinations to our already extensive schedule for summer gives our passengers a large choice of affordable travel options and we look forward to operating our first flights to these new destinations.”

Following the wintery conditions experienced last year, George Best Belfast City Airport has invested £500,000 in two snow clearing machines from Norway.

The huge apparatus can remove 6 inches of snow from the entire runway in less than an hour.

Seamus MacMahon, Belfast City Airport’s Senior Fire Officer, is pictured receiving the equipment from Jan Eric, Service Engineer at ØVERAASEN.

Flybe’s flights from George Best Belfast City Airport were delayed this morning, 5 December 2011, due to a technical issue with its de-icing equipment.

The airline apologised for the fault, which affected a total of eight flights. There were no cancellations.

Olympic legend and unlikely superstar Eddie the Eagle took to the skies to spend the day in Belfast yesterday (29 November) to help launch low cost airline bmibaby’s new route to Geneva.

The new ski route straight to the slopes, launches on 17 December from Belfast City Airport and will operate twice a week Saturdays and Sundays with a Friday service over Christmas.

Following the launch of Amsterdam at the end of October 2011, this is the second European route bmibaby has launched from Belfast City Airport this year.

During 2012 the low cost airline will launch six new sunshine routes from Belfast City Airport. bmibaby is currently on sale with flights to Mahon, Malaga, Alicante, Palma, Faro and Ibiza for summer 2012.

Julian Carr, managing director, bmibaby, said: “Who better to launch our ski route than larger than life ski jumping legend Eddie the Eagle. The new Geneva service offers Northern Ireland customers the opportunity to get to the slopes conveniently from Belfast City Airport and whether you are a beginner or a seasoned skier, the many resorts close to Geneva will cater for your needs.”

bmibaby has announced the launch of a new service and increased frequencies on some destinations from Belfast City Airport for summer 2012.

Scheduled for take off on 15 June 2012, the airline will launch a twice-weekly service (Mondays and Fridays) to Mahon in Menorca. Flights will operate until 24 September 2012.

bmibaby will also increase frequencies on its flights to Palma and Faro – up to 3 per week – and Belfast flights to Alicante will operate 4 times per week.

Tourism Minister, Arlene Foster welcomed passengers arriving from Amsterdam at George Best Belfast City Airport as the airport commenced its first direct European services on Monday, 31 October.

The scheduled flight to and from The Netherlands marked the first of seven new European routes operated by bmibaby, with Geneva beginning in December and Malaga, Faro, Alicante, Palma, Ibiza starting in 2012.

After greeting the first passenger, the Minister said: “The commencement of bmibaby European services is great news for both visitors and business travellers. I believe it will help stimulate further growth between Northern Ireland and Europe, making it even easier for people to come here on business or on holiday.

Brian Ambrose, Chief Executive at Belfast City Airport said: “It has long been our publicly stated ambition to offer direct European services and we’re delighted to welcome our first European visitors courtesy of our partner bmibaby.

“A private investment of £15 million by our shareholders in the last four years has delivered a terminal and facilities that are the envy of many and a gateway that Northern Ireland can be justifiably proud.

“We will continue to invest in enhancing the customer experience and look forward to welcoming the many tourists from across Europe over the coming years.”

A new service between Belfast City Airport and Gloucester Airport took off last week (13 September 2011).

The service, operated by Manx2.com, now operates five times per week via the Isle of Man.

Katy Best, Business Development Director at George Best Belfast City Airport said: “We are delighted with Manx2.com’s new connection service from Belfast City Airport to Gloucestershire. We are confident that this will be a very popular route among our growing leisure passengers, with its close proximity to Cheltenham and very convenient scheduling times making a perfect long weekend!”

Young Carers from Action for Children Northern Ireland have been awarded more than £5,000 from the George Best Belfast City Airport Community Fund.

Five of the children’s charity’s young carers in the east Belfast area will benefit from the funding, which will be spent on helping them learn to drive.

Young carers are children and young people under 18 whose lives are restricted by the need to care for a person who has an illness, a disability or issues with their mental health or with drugs or alcohol.

Louise Warde Hunter, Action for Children Strategic Director of Children’s Services in Scotland and Northern Ireland, said: “So many children and young people in our society, who should be cared for, are having to do the caring. Their lives are torn between looking after the one they love so much and trying to get an education, get into employment or get the sort of life we would want for all our young people. Quite often family circumstances mean there is not the spare cash to afford expensive driving lessons for these young people. Being able to drive will help them and their families gain increased independence.

“We’d like to thank George Best Belfast City Airport for this generous funding for which we are very grateful. Without it these young carers would have no other means of learning to drive. This will help make life for them and their families that little bit easier. They’ll have the freedom to go where they want, when they want.”

Ruth Morgan, Communications Executive at George Best Belfast City Airport, said: “The 2011 census found that there are currently 175,000 young carers throughout the UK. This is a huge statistic and a massive responsibility for anyone of 18 years of age or less to take on daily.

“It was important to Belfast City Airport that our Community fund was not only able to support the young carers, but also to raise awareness of the amazing jobs that these young people are taking on every day within our local community. These children should be congratulated and admired. We hope that the driving lessons will provide them with an opportunity for increased independence and we wish them every success.”

To date the airport’s community fund has contributed over £50,000 to local projects.

The House of Ireland store at Belfast City Airport has been officially opened by Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Niall Ó Donnghaile.

This is the first House of Ireland store in Northern Ireland and offers an array of Ireland’s finest crystal, jewellery, clothing, accessories and crafts. Waterford Crystal, John Rocha, Newbridge Jewellery and Belleek are just some of the well-known international brands that are carried by the store.

Belfast Mayor Councillor Niall Ó Donnghaile, said: “Belfast City Airport is a valuable gateway to the north of Ireland and I am thrilled tourists will be able to take home genuine, quality Irish brands from the House of Ireland.

“I have no doubt the eclectic range of unique, high quality brands available at the House of Ireland store will greatly enhance the travel and shopping experience of the 2.6 million passengers who journey through Belfast City Airport each year.”

Joanne Deighan, Commercial Manager at George Best Belfast City Airport said:

“The House of Ireland store has created up to 10 jobs and I’m sure passengers will be impressed with the vast range of crystal, jewellery, clothing, fashion accessories and giftware.

“We are constantly looking at ways in which we can improve the passenger experience at Belfast City Airport and are very pleased with the latest addition to our newly expanded Departures Lounge.”