Skyscanner

Thanks to everyone who entered our latest prize draw from Air France, who generously offered Skyscanner users a pair of return flights to Paris.

A massive congratulations to Nicki Mehta from Manchester who is the lucky winner of the Paris flights.

Nicki said:

“2 free return flights to Paris – what a treat! I’ve never been to Paris before but I had been planning a trip for the New Year with a friend to go check it out and see all the sights and that’s why I entered the competition.

"I cannot believe I actually won! I will be taking my friend Holly as she is part French and would like to explore her heritage. Thank you Skyscanner!"

Didn’t get lucky this time round? Enter our new prize draw to win return flights to Bali with KLM.

More Brits are booking flights to Egypt and Malta because of the diving opportunities that each country offers.

This is according to the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC), which said both nations are "ideal travel destinations" because flight times are both under five hours.

"Within that short period of time, particularly with the Red Sea, you are on beautiful aqua marine coral reefs with fantastic marine life," explained BSAC marketing and membership manager Alison Dando.

"Potentially in the larger pelagics you've got the sharks, you've got turtles and that's just five hours away."

Ms Dando went on to say that dive sites in both countries are famous around the world and high up many divers' wish lists.

Those looking further afield, she added, can look at the Caribbean, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, while the Antarctic, Iceland and Canada offer more unusual diving opportunities.

Recent research from CV Travel revealed that niche trips are becoming more popular, with Egypt, Turkey and Morocco all seeing a rise in the number of UK holidaymakers.

Qatar Airways will increase its number of flights to Melbourne from Doha after it took delivery of four new aircraft in December.

The airline has welcomed two Boeing 777-200 long-range aircraft and two Airbus A320s to its fleet, which has now increased to 76 aeroplanes.

While one 777-200 will be used on the Doha to Melbourne route, which increased to a daily service on January 1st, the other Boeing aircraft will be used on Qatar Airways' flights to the far east.

Akbar Al Baker, the carrier's chief executive officer, said the commitment to increase its fleet size will allow passengers to benefit from the latest "in-flight features".

"Today's consumer is becoming more demanding and we at Qatar Airways recognise the need to remain at the forefront of the aviation industry by flying modern aircraft and offer the best levels of comfort and inflight amenities," he commented.

The airline recently announced its intention to launch new flights to Copenhagen and Barcelona at the end of March.

Monarch is launching new flights to Bodrum, Dalaman and Antalya in Turkey ahead of this year's summer holiday season.

The airports serve as gateways to the Mediterranean, Turquoise and Aegean coasts, all of which have become more popular with Brits looking for value for money away from the eurozone.

Three weekly flights to Dalaman will be operated from Birmingham, while the Turquoise Coast gateway will also be served by two weekly flights from Luton and increased flights from Gatwick and Manchester.

Two weekly flights to Bodrum will be introduced from Luton, while the Aegean Coast airport will see increased traffic thanks to extra flights being laid on from Gatwick and Manchester.

Elsewhere, Monarch will launch two weekly flights to Antalya, which is close to the Mediterranean, from the north-west airport.

Liz Savage, Monarch Flights and Holidays managing director, said that its demand for flights to Turkey increased by more than 200 percent during 2009.

"Turkey offers fantastic value for money with holidaymakers and overseas property owners," she commented.

The carrier introduced new flights to the Canary Islands from Birmingham, London Gatwick and Manchester in October.

SkiInfo.com

With winter very much in effect in the UK, this week’s chosen website is the excellent SkiInfo.com.  Created by ski journo extraordinaire – Patrick Thorne – the site offers detailed snow information on resorts around the world.

There are now hundreds of ski resort database sites on the web these days, but what really makes SkiInfo stand out is its excellent snow data.

SkiInfo tells you when resorts are opening, which resorts have accumulated the most snow over the last seven days, which have the top snow depths, and what events (if any) are happening in resort.

Our favourite feature is the ‘Powder Alarm’, which is triggered when a resort receives more than 20cm of fresh snow. The ‘Snow Finder’ is pretty cool to; it adds reported snowfall from the ski resort’s own measurements to forecasted snowfall, allowing you to see which ski resorts will have the best conditions over a given period.

There is also a forum, web cams, ski deals and the ‘skiers lounge’ – a place to meet other skiers and snowboarders – which overall make SkiInfo the most authoritative source of ski resort and snow depth information on the net.

See more Websites of the Week