- Low Cost Airlines
- Aer Arann
Aer Arann is making a growing impact on the UK-Ireland travel market with a recent franchise agreement with Aer Lingus enabling them to take on more routes from Dublin and Cork City. They smaller ATR 72-500 aircraft with many seats sold through Aer Lingus branding as “Aer Lingus Regional”. Aer Arran have introduced new services to Ireland from Bristol, Blackpool, Cardiff, Doncaster/Sheffield, Durham, Glasgow and Edinburgh in addition to new seasonal services from Cork to Jersey in the Channel Islands and La Rochelle in France.
- AVRO plc
AVRO is the UK’s leading charter flight operator having been in business since 1967. It is owned by Monarch Airlines and is part of the same group as Cosmos Holidays. AVRO flies from 8 UK regional airports to over 40 destinations across Europe, mostly beach holiday destinations like Malaga, Faro, Rhodes, Cyprus, the Balearic and Canary Islands. You can book direct but much of their business is from the UK travel trade.
- Air Baltic
Air Baltic is a Latvian listed company 99.8% owned by the Latvian State. You can reach many cities in Eastern Europe with Air Baltic via Riga from London Gatwick and Heathrow, but the fares are generally high. You can fly as far as Dubai and Tel Aviv with Air Baltic.
- Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus was founded by the Irish Government back in 1936 and has been the Irish Flag carrier ever since. In recent years it has been forced to submit to the low cost model employed so successfully by Ryanair. It now has a code share agreement with both BA and KLM enabling access to Dublin from just about any UK airport.
- Air Berlin
Now Germany’s second and Europe’s sixth biggest airline. Air Berlin fly all over Europe. Mostly to holiday destinations like the Balearic Islands and Greece, but now offer North Africa, Asia, North America and the Caribbean. Its biggest hub is at Berlin Tegel Airport, followed by Dusseldorf, Nuremberg and increasingly Palma in Majorca. Air Berlin carried 34 million passengers in 2010.
- Air Prishtina
Air Prishtina is the main airline for access to Kosovo and Macedonia, but are headquartered in Switzerland. Air Prishtina has a strategic partnership with another low-cost airline, Albanian “Belle Air Europe” enabling access to Kosovo from 18 destinations across Europe mainly from Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria.
- Arkia Click
Arkia are mainly an Israeli domestic airline but who operate charter flights to Europe as well. It is a cheap way of getting from Paris, Munich, Barcelona or Amsterdam to Israeli cities, plus charter flights from London and other European cities.
- Atlas Jet
Atlas Jet is mostly a Turkish Domestic Airline but has flights from London Stansted as well. Use Atlas jet to reach Turkish regional cities like Antalya, Bodrum Cidde, Dalaman, Erbil, Izmir, Lefkosa, and also Pristina in Kosovo.
- Aurigny Airlines
Established initially on the Channel Island of Alderney (or Aurigny in French) this airline is now based on Guernsey Airport with flights from Bristol, London Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester, Southampton and East Midlands. They also fly to the French mainland, to Dinard and Grenoble. Aurigny uses smaller propeller-driven ATR 72-500 aircraft.
- Belle Air
Belle Air was founded in 2005 in Tirana, Albania to act as a link with mostly Italy. You can fly to 20 cities in Italy including Milan and Treviso plus a daily flight to Pristina in Kosovo. It is now starting to add destinations in Turkey and the Arab Gulf.
- Blu Express
An Italian Airline with eclectic mix of destinations including other Italian cities, Nice, Moscow, Burma, Thailand the Middle-East and East Africa. It acts as carrier of Italian Tourists to the Greek islands and to the Balearic Islands. Blue Express can take you to central America as well.
- Blue 1
Fly non-stop to Helsinki from Paris, Marseilles or Nice, plus London Stansted or Edinburgh. Use Blue 1 to reach the regional Finnish cities of Kittila, Kuusamo, Oulu, Vaasa, Kuopio, Turku and Tampere. This airline has a strategic relationship with SAS to open many options for passengers travelling to Finland from European regions.
- Blue Air
Blue Air is a Romanian Airline with flights from the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain to Bucharest, Bacau and Sibiu.
- Blue Islands Airlines
A Channel Islands Airline with a route to the Isle of Man, plus Zurich and Geneva from Southampton, Bournemouth, Bristol, and Manchester. They also fly from London city Airport to Jersey and Guernsey.
- BMI Baby
Formed in 2002 as a subsidiary of BMI, it is now of the largest low cost airlines in the UK. You can catch a flight with BMI Baby from Belfast, Birmingham, East Midlands, Stansted, Edinburgh, and Newquay. BMI Baby is particularly useful for reaching Paris, Amsterdam or Venice from regional airports.
- BravoFly
Bravo Fly is a member of the BravoFly Group, one of the largest European travel operators. The website is a booking engine for all airlines, low-cost and scheduled so are worth using to compare prices and to search for destinations from your local airport.
- Condor Airlines
Originally a Thomas Cook Airline, Condor was formed as long ago as 1955 and is based in Germany with flights all over the world. With Condor you can take holiday flights right across the Americas or vice versa, Africa and south-east Asia. From the UK you can fly from London Heathrow, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh and Manchester for holiday destinations in the Mediterranean.
- DAT
Danish Airline that covers Norway and Denmark only with short hops from Billund and Esbjerg to Norwegian regional cities. Does not fly to the UK.
- EasyJet
Easyjet is now one of the most prominent low-cost airlines in Europe having been a trail-blazer for low-cost air travel during its early years in the 1990’s. Known for its reliability and punctuality, we recommend Easyjet as probably the best airline on this list.
- FlyBe
FlyBe (used to be called British European Airlines) is originally a Channel Islands Airline now covering most of the regional Airports of the UK. If you live in far-flung parts of the UK like Newquay or Norwich, you can get to the other side quickly and easily with these guys. FlyBe has some useful destinations in France, like the Auvergne from Southampton, Bergerac, Rennes, Brest or Tours.
- Fly on Air
Fly on Air is an Italian regional airline with its base in Pescara, Abruzzo. It flies to Catania, Crete, Croatia, Ancona, Olbia, Paris and Prague direct. Pescara is a small regional city in the central eastern coast of Italy with 125,000 inhabitants, and capital of the Abruzzo regional which is increasing in popularity with tourists.
- Fly Thomas Cook
Established in 2004 as a low-cost offshoot of the larger travel company, Flythomascook flies from 18 UK regional airports to holiday destinations throughout southern Europe. It also flies tourists to the middle-east and the Americas. Thomas Cook has attracted a lot of bad publicity about its financial position in recent months.
- German Wings
German Wings flies from London Stansted Airport to German regional cities. Passengers booking with this airline can buy discounted train fares for Deutsche Bahn, which is especially useful for those passengers arriving at the rail hub of Cologne, enabling quick, easy and cheap means of accessing regional German towns. Passengers can also find cheap fares for many destinations across Europe direct.
- Golden Air
GoldenAir is a Swedish regional airline serving Umea, Trollhattan (base), Gothenburg, Vaxjo, Visby, Halmstad, Malmo, Angelholm and Stockholm Bromma Airport. It has two international destinations in Arhus in Denmark and Brussels. GoldenAir is unique in its commitment to environmental sustainability, unlike many other airlines.
- Hapag Fly
Part of the TUI travel conglomerate, Hapagfly flies tourists from German and Swiss regional cities to the holiday destinations of Europe. You can book a flight plus rail deal with this company in the same way with a few other German low-cost airlines.
- TUIFly.com
TUI Fly is more or less identical in ownership as Hapag Fly and flies mainly tourists to southern Europe but also from Edinburgh, Manchester, Dublin, East Midlands, London Stansted, Gatwick and Shannon.
- Helvetic
A Swiss airline with direct flights from Zurich and Berne to Bristol, Cardiff and Inverness in the UK, and to Bari, Olbia and Brindisi in Italy.
- Intersky.biz
Intersky is a small German airline serving regional Swiss and German airports to Italy, Croatia and Menorca. Flying in smaller turboprop aircraft, it prides itself on its reliability and economic sustainability. Fares start at EUR 69,99 including many domestic routes within Germany.
- Iceland Express
Iceland's low-fare airline flies every day to Reykjavík from both Copenhagen and London Stansted, and three times a week from Frankfurt Hahn, offering flexibility and the lowest fares available.
- Israir Airlines
Israir operates direct flights to Eilat from Ben Gurion and Haifa airports. Offers holiday flights to Israel from Moscow, Rome and Berlin. You can book hotels, tours and car hire through its website because it is part of a larger group of travel companies.
- JAT Airways
JAT is the successor to Yugoslavian Airlines, and is now the Serbian National Airline. You can catch JAT flights from London Heathrow and Gatwick direct to Sarajevo, Skopje, Ohrid, Ljubljana, Podgorica, Pula, and other cities of the former Yugoslav countries.
- Jet2.com
Jet2 is seen as a mainly northern UK low-cost airline with most of its departures from Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and Edinburgh Airports. Based in Leeds, it flies to mainly holiday destinations in southern Europe, plus Amsterdam, Berlin, Bergerac and Istanbul. Jet2 recently won an award for the most punctual airline.
- Jet 4 You
Jet4you is a Moroccan-based low cost airline involved in flying tourists in and out from Agadir to France, Belgium, Germany and Italy. It is owned by TUI travel PLC. Reach Casablanca, Rabat, Marrakesh and Tangier with this airline.
- Malmo Aviation
Malmo Aviation can transfer you from Stockholm Bromma Airport to many regional Swedish cities at low cost with checking-in closing just 10 minutes prior to departure. This airline has a route to Nice and partners with Brussels Airlines to allow passengers access to its broader network.
- Manx Airlines
Manx Airlines is unique in that it has a booking site in Welsh. Mainly flies to the Isle of Man, Manx has an eclectic mix of departure points including Oxford, Anglesey, Belfast, Blackpool, Gloucester, Jersey and Newcastle.
- Meridiana Fly
Fly from LGW to Florence but also have a number of other European routes. Recently merged with Eurofly to form Meridiana Fly. Meridiana flies to all the major airports in the South of Italy, Sicily and Sardinia
- Monarch Airlines
As well as being one of the UK's major providers of low-cost scheduled flights from bases at London Gatwick, London Luton, Manchester, Birmingham and Malaga airports, Monarch is a key supplier of airliners to the tour operating industry.
- Norwegian.no
Fly all over Europe incl. London Stansted. Great way to access cities all over Scandinavia. Claim to be the third-largest low-cost airline in Europe, which is somewhat unbelievable.
- Onur Air
Onur Air Flies to 12 Turkish Domestic destinations, plus 80 destinations internationally. If you need to reach some far-flung part of Turkey, Onur Air would be the choice from Istanbul.
- Ryanair
Ryanair is Europe’s largest low-cost airline by far. Famous as much for its cheap publicity as it is for outrageous and unjustified supplementary costs, Ryanair can still deliver the lowest fares from London Stansted as long as you’re prepared to be treated like scum.
- Sky Express
A small airline based on the Greek Island of Crete, Sky Express is very useful to get you from regional towns in Greece as well as many islands. If you land in Athens and need a quick way to get to Heraklion, Kastoria, Kozani or Skyros, these are the guys to look up.
- Sky Ways
Use Skyways to reach Gothenburg from Manchester or Birmingham, and then on to Stavanger and Bergen. Skyways fly direct from Gothenburg to Lyon, Prague, Vilnius and Kiev. Regional towns in Sweden can be reached with this airline as a mainly Swedish airline.
- Skywork
Skyworks is a Berne-based airline which flies out of London City Airport for access to the Swiss Alps. This airline flies direct to Berne from many major European cities including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and Berlin. Skyworks has grown rapidly in recent years.
- Smart Wings
Smartwings connects Prague with southern Europe, flying as far as Tenerife to the west and Tel Aviv to the East.
- Snowjet
Snowjet is the exciting new low cost provider of ski flights to Chambery Airport in France. Chambery is the the airport that is located closest to the best and most snow sure ski resorts in the Alps. Fly to Chambery and transfer to the resorts of Meribel, Val d'Isere, Tignes, Courchevel, and many more in little over an hour. With Snowjet you get free Ski or Snowboard Carriage, a generous 20kg baggage allowance and flights on brand new Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
- Sverige Fly
Currently the lines Visby-Stockholm and Helsingborg/ Ängelholm-Stockholm are operated by Gotlandsflyg and Kullaflyg respectively.
- Thomson Flights
Thomson Flights to holiday destinations from many UK airports
- Thomson Fly
Large charter airline turned low-cost, owned by Thomson Travel Group.
- Transavia
Large low cost operation based in the Netherlands
- VLM Airlines
VLM Airlines started operations in May 1993 with a scheduled service between Antwerp and London City Airport.
- Volareweb
Italian Airline that does only Italian Routes and another to Paris Orly
- Vueling Airlines
Formerly called Clickair, Vueling have recently begun flying to Cardiff from Barcelona , Alicante and Palma in Majorca. Vueling are quite useful for getting from London to La Coruna, Galicia, Bilbao and Vigo. You can also reach Barcelona direct from Edinburgh and Southampton. Based in Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Malaga, Valencia and Bilbao.
- Welcome Air
Austrian Airline that serves many German and Nordic Destinations
- Wideroe Airlines
Mostly Inland Norwegian Airline that also has routes to Aberdeen, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Copenhagen.
- Wind Jet
Originally a Sicilain Airline that now goes as far as Moscow.
- Wizz Air
The first flight took off on 19th May 2004 from Katowice. Today Wizz Air has 5 operating bases in the region: Katowice, Warsaw, Gdansk in Poland, Budapest in Hungary and Sofia in Bulgaria. Wizz Air also offers flights from a number of other cities in CEE region and as a part of its Eastern European expansion.
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