bmibaby has announced four new routes from East Midlands Airport to Almeria, Manchester to Toulouse, Manchester to Amsterdam and Cardiff to Lisbon.

All summer 2009 flights are now available from bmibaby with some great savings if you book before November 17th!

The low cost airline is offering flights to a number of European destinations from just £18.99 one way, including taxes and charges.

Ryanair have posted a 47% drop in profits for the half year.

The budget airline says it will make a loss over the next six months after forecasting a drop in average fares of between 15% and 20%

They remain confident that they will break even over the full year as the recent fuel price reductions take effect.

I have just been updating the Almerimar Life Flights page which to be honest was pretty depressing with the lack of flight options for people from the UK and Ireland at the moment. We have Sands mum arriving next week (November 5th) but as she will no doubt be using her broom the lack of flights wont bother her, and my parents are here for Christmas (flying out of Manchester which is one of the few options still available).

Despite previously bullish statement Ryanair have just announced more bad news:

Budget airline Ryanair has confirmed it will close its base at Valencia airport, with all flights leaving the city being cancelled from 4th November. The move comes after a dispute with Valencia’s regional government, which refused to negotiate the allocation of marketing funds to promote the airport and its routes across Ryanair’s network in Europe despite recently granting local airline Air Nostrum 12 million euros for the same purpose.

Two routes – to Valencia and Almeria – will be stopped entirely, with operations instead moving to Gatwick.

That is the depressing news in the Telegraph today!!! Overall they are cutting 12% of their capacity, as they announce a probably drop of 45% in pre tax profits.

EasyJet’s director of communications, Toby Nicol, said rising fuel costs were “99 per cent” to blame for the cuts, citing high charges at Stansted as a secondary factor.

An average family faces the threat of nearly £45 being added to the cost of a holiday if the European parliament rubber stamps a plan for green curbs on airlines this week. (Telegraph)

It appears that once again there is talk, and in reality a serious likelihood, that not only will air travel costs go up, but a number of low cost airlines will go out of business.

Tonight we will be in Al-rruz watching the Spain match ‘as usual’ and from around 8.30pm I will be shooting some video clips from time to time that will be broadcast live on the feed below.

Oh and as a surprise ……… I have brought the Mac down with me so we can live blog. Check out the images and updates below the video.

Please note the video was a live feed, it has been updated since the game. You can see the clips shot during the game here

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This is what we call an ‘open thread’. It will get updated throughout the strike via the comments section. The violence seems to have got worse with strikers run over in Granada and Portugal, and a strike breaking lorry driver set alight in his cab. The government has out together a 54 point offer, but it seems not to address the central demand of a cap on diesel costs and minimum transport prices.

Heard last night that come October (ish) Monarch are going to be stopping flying from Birmingham to Almería. I haven’t been able to verify this online yet, but I heard from an estate agent friend who I think had received a ‘trade’ email earlier in the day.

If true this is not good news either personally as Sands and I use Birmingham from time to time (I use it to get to Dubai), and my parents and Sands Mum have been known to use it from time to time, although we can all use Manchester easily enough.

It was interesting to hear the CEO of Ryan Air saying on the TV this morning that they were guaranteeing not to pass on any fuel surcharges to their customers in the next 12 months and that they thought that would reduce this years 420m€ profit to zero next year.

It reminded me as well that I cam across this new route from easyJet the other day that I had meant to post!!!

Anyone who has listened to the news in the last few days cannot have failed to miss the woes of Heathrow terminal 5. Whilst I don’t buy into how this has affected the UK’s image and standing with the rest of the world! I do think it is all rather embarassing, and it does make you wonder who was checking the new systems prior to the grand opening. However when it comes to people and training I do have some sympathy, from past experience. I was once project managing the switch over to a new system at a small independent travel agency, and noone on the ticketing side thought it relevant to mention that they couldn’t understand the new printouts for travel vouchers. Minor chaos ensued and a number of irate phone-calls. However I was one very overworked harassed person; it does seem hard to imagine how an organisation the size of BA could get it SO wrong. I was further amused to read the first of I’m sure a number of articles entilted How to avoid Heathrow terminal 5. Travellers to Spain will be relieved to know that flights to Barcelona and Madrid will continue to go out of Terminal 1. This is also a relief for anyone thinking of getting to Almerimar with BA via one of those cities!

This is a fun one, that I thought I’d share. I read an article yesterday about some wacky new EU directive which is forcing people on and off buses.

“Bus passengers who travel along a route of more than 30 miles must get off the vehicle midway through their journey to comply with new EU laws. The Brussels ruling dictates that drivers must pull over and let everyone off their bus after 30 miles, to ensure they do not spend too long behind the wheel.”

Just thought I’d let you know that Monarch have some offers on again.

“Get up to £30 off return flights this spring! Travel in March and April. Book by Tuesday!”

“Get £20 off return flights this summer! Travel between May and October. Book by Tuesday!”

Monarch currently fly between Almeria, and Manchester, Birmingham International, and London Luton. For more information click below:

Monarch

It appears that the EU is planning to tighten its borders further with new security proposals which civil liberties groups believe is “a bridge too far”, and represent a significant advance in the surveillance society. Proposed new measures will involve children as young as 6 having their fingerprints checked.

“By 2019 all travellers, including children, will be required to enter a closed booth on their own, where their biometric details, stored digitally on microchips in passports, will be checked against their real fingerprints.”

Happy belated Valentines Day everyone. So has anyone got a great restaurant review for me following a fantastic Valentine’s meal / evening out?

For those who haven’t bought their significant other something special yet, there is always the option of a trip away.

EasyJet have used Valentine’s day as an excuse for a £10 off on all flights offer over the next few days, titled: “Love is in the Air”! Bit corny but may be worth a look, as this includes flights from Almeria, OR to Almeria for anyone who fancies a visit to Almerimar.

I’ve just come across a brilliant site to find flights to and from Almeria (or anywhere else in the world). It works on the basis that at each stage of your search it indicates where the cheapest options are, so the more flexible you can be the better deal you can get!

Further to my previous article today, I have now seen a brief interview with Ryanair’s chief executive, Mike O’Leary, on UK news. He is, as usual, very bullish about the future for Ryanair and sees lower prices as the outcome of the current credit crunch and increased competition for fewer passengers. He believes the consumer will benefit from this and it will be rival airlines who will suffer, and maybe go out of business.

For anyone here fancying a cheap trip home, or for anyone in the UK who has had enough of the winter gales, here is an incentive to think about that trip:

Monarch Airlines are offering up to £30 off all of their Winter flights.

“Up to £30 off for travel before end of April - Book by Tuesday 5th Feb!”

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost airline has today warned that profits could fall by up to 50% next year, due to high fuel prices, the weakening pound and a decline in consumer spending. This is not great news for expats in Spain wanting cheap flights home, OR anyone in the UK looking to escape to some sunshine.

Ryanair Air is one of a number of low-cost airlines flying into Almeria from London Stanstead and also into Granada from Liverpool.

A new train link between Madrid and Barcelona is set to open this month, which isn’t immediately helpful to us here in Almerimar, but does open up a new fast way to visit both the major cities in one trip i.e. cheap flight to one, train link and then cheap flight home!

The super-slick AVE S103 service is going to run at speeds of nearly 220 mph, definitely taking on the airlines.