Hi all,
I was recently trawling the Scalea Property website and found a note on there about some new proposed flights to Lamezia from Gatwick, due to run from April to October 2011. Please see the information posted at the following link:
Scalea Property Services
After doing a little more "digging", I found some more detailed information on the "In Calabria" site, at this link:
Calabria Homes Forum • View topic - DIRECT FLIGHTS FROM LONDON GATWICK TO LAMEZIA CONFIRMED
It would seem this is a chartered flight, leaving on Saturday mornings, being laid on by Monarch Airways to form part of specific package holiday deals, which will be sold through various UK tour operators. However, it also seems that one third of the plane's seats will be made available to the general public to make their own private bookings. If the flight is well-supported, it seems they will also be willing to lay on some Manchester/ Lamezia flights.
All of this comes as good news to those of us who need a more direct route to Calabria since Ryanair stopped flying to Lamezia but it remains to be seen how competitive Monarch's prices will be (as opposed to making the round trip from another Italian airport). The first time we visited Calabria, some seventeen years ago, there were no Ryanair flights and we had to book charter flights, which were expensive at the time. Here's hoping Monarch will make their prices attractive enough to those of us who don't need to book a package holiday to visit Calabria but would like a more practical and direct route to our destination and then they will be assured of plenty of support for this new route.
Anyway, I thought that members of the forum would appreciate hearing about these new developments, which look promising and could be the solution to some of the current travel problems.
In any case, I hope all who are either over there at the moment or who are planning to travel soon are having a great time in the Calabrian sunshine and that you have a very safe and pleasant journey both ways.
Ciao a tutti,
Frances.
