A major new series of holiday flights for Inverness Airport and a first ever Christmas day break departure to Lapland were announced by tour operator Transun Holidays on Thursday 23 May.

Firstly, hundreds of tourists from the South East of England will be flown into Inverness on a special weekly series of six day break flights from Gatwick commencing on July 10.

This tremendous boost for the Highlands tourism economy is being promoted by Transun in partnership with HIAL. It will give visitors from the South East a golden opportunity to visit Loch Ness, Cawdor Castle, the Glenmorangie distillery and to play golf at Tain.

Meanwhile holiday-making Highlanders will also benefit from a completely new series of seven night Autumn breaks flying from Inverness in October to Malta, the Algarve, Sardinia and Madeira.

This will be followed by the first ever day break to the Salzburg Christmas markets and to Lapland to visit the real Father Christmas.

Transun Head of Sales, Trevor Davis, said the exciting and unique new programme had been prompted by the jet-away success of the current summer holiday series to the Algarve, which had also just been extended by a further week in response to demand.

"Our first-ever day break from Inverness to Venice earlier this month sold out within a week and convinced us that this airport is an ideal base from which to develop our day break programmes," he added. "Following close co-operation with HIAL and travel agents in the catchment area we have certainly identified a great demand for a range of holiday products," he said.

Alex Johnson, HIAL’s Commercial and Marketing Manager, said: "The partnership between Transun and HIAL is clearly fulfilling the potential for growth at Inverness Airport. We particularly welcome Transun’s decision to bring visitors into Inverness from London Gatwick. That is a first for Transun in the UK and a major breakthrough for Inverness Airport and the Highlands and Islands tourism industry."

Transun is now celebrating 20 years in the UK travel market and its emergence as the UK’s number one operator for day breaks. The company’s programme for winter 2002-Spring 2003 features 23 destinations from 21 UK airports and 158 fully escorted flights.

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