More and more of us want to get away for the festive season — whether it’s for a sun-drenched Christmas, a cruise, or the ski slopes, says Ciara McDonnell.

Two Serbian men who allegedly are jewel thieves belonging to the notorious international gang known as the Pink Panthers have been arrested by Spanish police.

Authorities say a Russian woman died after a windsurfer’s board slashed her throat while she was snorkeling off Spain’s Canary Islands.

Aer Lingus Regional has confirmed that it is axing its Shannon to Manchester service from the end of next month but has denied it is because Ryanair will begin operations on the same route.

Passenger figures at Shannon are up 15% for the first six months of the year according to the latest figures for the airport.

Passenger numbers at Shannon rose by 15% in the first half of the year with European business showing a 54% increase.

Ryanair yesterday announced five additional routes to its Shannon winter schedule which commences at the end of October.

Ryanair launched its Shannon 2014 winter schedule, with five new winter routes to Berlin, Fuerteventura, Krakow, Paris and Warsaw from November.

Left it late to book a summer getaway? Don’t panic. There are plenty of deals left, particularly if you book fast.

Aer Lingus has resumed year-round services to New York from Shannon Airport for the first time in five years.

THE rain lies like a soft gauze curtain across the view of the terraced mountains and the white houses of the island of La Palma, westernmost of the Canary Islands.

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar has challenged more airlines to follow suit following the news that Ryanair is to add eight new routes to continental Europe from Shannon Airport today.

Where does a travel writer bring his family for a break? When in Ireland, Pol returns again and again to Wicklow’s ‘local secret’, Silver Strand, part of a beautiful stretch of coastline on the east coast.

THE singer’s face is puce.

I WAS not surprised to read a genetic study of the present day inhabitants of the Canary Islands, revealed that the natives of La Gomera — our second home for over 30 years — retain more of the aboriginal DNA that the inhabitants of the other islands.

An Irish pensioner has been knocked down and killed at a Zebra crossing in a Spanish holiday resort.

THE Canary Islands are universally associated with sun, sea and sand but they have many other attractions and the sheer diversity of the islands is striking.

Winter is settling in, but that doesn’t mean you have to... just yet, at least.

By Joe Finegan

THE THOUGHTS of a package holiday in the Canaries have always filled me with dread.

WHERE did that last school term go?

Ryanair, Europe’s biggest discount carrier, said it would cut a further eight routes at Edinburgh Airport after failing to reach an agreement on fees with the terminal’s owner BAA.

THE Gran Hotel, Atlantis Bahia Real, in Correlejo, Fuerteventura, has a little known claim to fame, information on which is generally kept in-house — unless you had heard the rumours and asked.

Aer Lingus today announced 10 new routes as part of its winter schedule for 2011/2012 including a route from Cork to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

SHANNON Airport director Mary Considine yesterday welcomed Aer Lingus’s decision to establish a daily route to London Gatwick from March 27 as a vote of confidence in the airport for 2011.

Ryanair today announced that it is to open three new bases on the Canary Islands in summer 2011.

Ryanair has announced that it will open one new route from Barcelona (El Prat Airport) to Fuerteventura and will increase frequencies on nine other routes to Brussels (Charleroi), Cagliari, Dusseldorf (Weeze), Edinburgh, Gran Canaria, Milan (Bergamo), Paris (Beauvais), Rome (Ciampino) and Venice (Treviso) from November 2010.

RYANAIR has announced that it has taken on Edelman as its external public relations/media communications adviser, after what it called “a very competitive tender process”.

Ryanair said, today that it will operate three new winter sun routes from Cork this year, to Faro, Fuerteventura and Malaga.

ORLANDO, which has been a very good destination for the Irish travel industry, is still on the list of desirable places to visit for 2010.

Pressure on airlines and passengers eased tonight after the large plume of volcanic ash which hung off the coast of Ireland was blown across the Atlantic.

In the latest update from the Irish Aviation Authority, Irish airports are to remain open until at least 1am tomorrow morning, following on from some disruption yesterday.

Travellers face further problems today as clouds of volcanic ash forced airports to close across Europe and flights to be cancelled.

DESPITE an ash cloud 2,100 miles long and 1,400 miles wide hovering off the west coast, Irish airports will be open for business for much of today, allowing airlines to operate a near-normal service.

Dublin, Cork and Waterford Airports are to remain open until at least 7pm tomorrow evening, according to the latest update from the Irish Aviation Authority.

A number of airports in the west and south of the country are to close later today due to the volcanic ash cloud, officials said this afternoon.

Operations are resuming at airports around Ireland after the Irish Aviation Authority closed Irish airspace for six hours this morning after the volcanic ash cloud drifted over the country again.

Ryanair has decided to cancel all of its flights between Ireland and the UK until 1pm on Friday, April 23.

Ryanair is to operate additional flights from Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and Tenerife to Madrid this week, to get stranded passengers as far as mainland Europe. Onward travel will be at the passengers' own expense.

More than 212,000 jet-setters are expected to travel through Dublin Airport over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend – down 15% on last year.

RYANAIR is expected to go head-to-head with Aer Lingus in a battle for holiday-makers with plans for a number of low-fare routes from Cork to sun destinations.