It’s getting to that time of year where everything’s just a bit rubbish. It’s always raining, the days end at 5pm, and you have to wear so many layers to stay warm that you always end up dripping in sweat just trying to get to and from the shops. It’s not controversial to say that there are better places to be than Britain in the wintertime, and lucky for us, the options for places to escape to are about to increase.
Multiple major airlines including Tui, easyJet, Ryanair, and British Airways have announced brand new routes which will begin operating this year, or in early 2025, to destinations across Europe and beyond. Brace yourselves, cause there’s a lot to take in here.
It makes sense that all of these extra connections are being added, as the airline industry has finally recovered to pre-pandemic levels, so there may be more of this sort of thing very soon. But without further ado, here are all the new places you can try out this Christmas.
Tui
TUI will be adding nearly 300,000 seats in the next nine months to prepare for an anticipated rush next summer, as well as adding routes from Gatwick to Porto, Stansted to Enfidha, and increased frequency on journeys from ‘19 regional airports from Glasgow to Bournemouth.’ East Midlands airport will gain access to two new destinations including Burgas in Bulgaria and Boa Vista, Cape Verde.
Ryanair
Ryanair is mostly focused on improving their offerings on mainland Europe, but they will be linking up London Stansted with Calabria in southern Italy, ideal for a bit of better weather this time of the year.
easyJet
easyJet is offering improved routes from an oft overlooked London airport, Southend, increasing to three journeys a week to Enfidha, Malta, Dalaman, Pisa, Antalya, Marrakech, Almeria, Reus and Tenerife. Next March, they’re also introducing more flights from the capital to Gran Canaria.
British Airways
BA are opening up new possibilities including connecting us to an underrated holiday spot: Tbilisi in Georgia. You’ll be able to fly directly there with BA this Christmas – what more could a travel-lover ask for?
Enjoy your wintry getaways, adventurers!
Eyes on the skies
How about some better news from the world of aviation? This tiny northern English airport has just been crowned the best in the world (again), a bunch of new routes are running from Birmingham. There’s also been new affordable flights from Edinburgh to New York and the return of direct flights from the UK to this beautiful Caribbean island.
Did you see that British Airways is cancelling hundreds of long-haul flights from the UK?
Plus: The outrageous cheating scandal at this year’s World Conker Championships, explained.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out UK newsletter for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country.