Ryanair has decided to cut flights between the UK and Belfast at the end of October. The decision comes as Belfast City confirmed that a public inquiry into a proposed runway extension would be further delayed.

Ryanair had threatened the withdrawal earlier in the year as my previous blog detailed, so the move is no real surprise.

In a statement the airline said: “Ryanair had planned to open up a wide range of low fare European routes from/to Belfast City once the promised runway extension was delivered, but this has sadly failed to materialise.

“Today’s closure of Ryanair’s Belfast City base means that Belfast and Northern Ireland tourism will lose up to one million passengers annually.”

Ryanair will switch its one Belfast City-based aircraft to another European airport at the start of November.

Skyscannerhas revealed that 59% of travellers would like a ‘families only’ section onboard flights in a recent survey of 2,000 people.

The survey was prompted by the news that a woman claimed that a baby’s screaming on a Quantas flight made her ears bleed. It found that 68% of non-parents liked the idea, but less than a third of parents surveyed were in agreement.

It also found that almost 70% ‘wanted to sit as far away as possible from children’ and almost 25% of non-parents said that they would prefer to flights that were free from children altogether. 45% of parents said they didn’t want a families-only section because they didn’t want to sit next to ‘other people’s horrors’.

Skyscanner users also put forward suggestions as to how to solve the problem of noisy children on flights, these included the provision of a baby nursery, only allowing well-behaved children to travel, and on user (we hope as a joke) suggested “children should go in the hold”!

Skyscanner PR manager Mary Porter said: “As a relatively new mum myself I can still remember that feeling of dread when you found yourself seated next to a baby on a long flight; however since regularly flying with my one year old, I am much more aware of what a stressful, and often embarrassing, situation it can be for parents.

“However, I’m not surprised that in a previous poll we found young children were deemed to be the “most annoying” factor on flights. When tempers are frayed, a screaming child can cause a major disturbance for fellow passengers.

“If passengers are prepared to pay extra for child-free flying, perhaps the solution is a premium adults-only section, rather than a pre-allocated families section, giving airlines yet another extra they can charge for?

“I am sure this service would prove really popular on routes that attract a lot of families such as flights to Orlando.”

Long gone are the days of many suitcases! Picture by Flickr User kthread

It may come as a surprise that women are better at packing to go on holiday, according to a Holiday Extras survey. The misconception is that women pack more, which may be true sometimes, but the survey revealed that women will wear most of the clothes they pack, whereas men return with 20% of the clothes in their suitcase unworn.

In the web survey of 600 customers, men were far more savvy when it came to shoe packing however. 92% of them get away with three pairs or fewer whereas a quarter of women surveyed claim to take between four and nine pairs, with 7% even admitting to taking over 10 pairs!

Holiday Extras beauty expert, Michele Betzner, advises laying clothes out before packing to avoid taking similar items, restricting your colour range so more things coordinate and settling on three multi-purpose pairs of shoes plus some flip flops.

Follow these tips and you could have cheaper hold luggage or avoid charges altogether by reducing your luggage to carry-on only. It will make travelling easier too as no one enjoys lugging a huge suitcase around a new holiday destination, especially if you have to get to your accommodation by public transport.

Ryanair is starting four new routes from London Gatwick in October, these are: Bologna, Faro, Milan Bergamo and Portoand will also increase the frequency of its London Gatwick to Oslo Rygge route to 10 flights per week.

Bologna picture by Flickr User B a m s h a d

 Porto flights will operate five times a week, Faro and Bologna four, and Milan Bergamo daily.

In an agreement with Finnair, Flybe is to provide regional services in Scandinavian and the Baltic Sea.

From 31st October Flybe will start services to key Scandinavian and Baltic markets from Helsinki airport, including Tampere, Turku and Tallinn.

Flybe and Finnair will also begin discussions on a potential wider co-operation agreement. This could see Flybe providing a range of services across Nordic and Baltic Sea markets.

Picture by Flickr User Klearchos Kapoutsis

Another new Ryanair route has been announced, this time from London Stansted to Plovdiv in Bulgaria.

It will operate a twice-weekly service starting on 2nd November. Fares for Plovdiv will start from £32.99 one-way inclusive of taxes.

A spokesperson said: “Plovdiv is Bulgaria’s second largest city with a rich and varied history dating back 8,000 years. Plovdiv makes a great city break destination and is also within easy access of the ski resorts of Bansko and Pamporovo.”

Eurolines, part of the National Express group, has expanded its services between London and Paris. It has launched a new 11am departure from Victoria coach station which brings the number of coach operator trips a day to eight to the French capital.

To celebrate Eurolines is offering 1,000 tickets at a discounted fare of £15 one-way until 16th September.

Other destinations that Eurolines covers are Amsterdam, Brussels, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Prague, The Baltics and Poland.

In an article in the Metro newspaper last week it was reported that in a recent survey of popular beach holidays Sydney has gone from a popular destination to the bottom of the list. The Aussie city scored 18 out of 100, with crime ranking as a particular low point in the survey.

Budget destinations  most favoured by Brits abroad include North Tunisia, Turkey and Bulgaria’s Back Sea Coast.

Of the different categories to help rate destinations, Egypt’s Sharm el Sheikh came top for climate. Brit’s priorities in choosing a destination consist mainly of affordability, closely followed by security, weather and good food.

Ryanair passengers flying to Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Tenerife and Fuerteventura will have to pay peak season  baggage check-in costs all year round it was announced today.

This means that while check-in baggage prices on all other routes will revert to £15 (£25 for heavy bags) on 1st September, baggage fees on flights to the Canaries will remain at peak fees of £20 per bag (£30 for heavy bags) each way. The only way around the high fees is to travel with only hand luggage.

The airline claims that the move is ’to encourage passengers to travel light’.

“By increasing our optional checked-in baggage fees this summer the number of checked-in bags reduced while passenger numbers increased,” said spokesman Stephen McNamara.

“Almost 70% of Ryanair’s Canary Islands passengers will be unaffected by these changes because they already travel without checked-in bags.”

Bmi is holding another ‘bmifriday’ of offers today, 30th July.

It is giving away up to 50% discounts on flights every last Friday of the month from midday until 5pm.

Routes for this sale include cut price flights to Vienna, Zurich, Brussels, Washington and Chicago.