Holidaymakers celebrating Chinese New Year at the tourist resort of Lushan Mountain will have been treated to a winter wonderland as a thick layer of gleaming white snow covered the area during the three-day celebration.

This year’s Spring Festival Golden Week saw the mountain resort record its heaviest snowfall of the winter season this year as tens of thousands of tourists celebrated the year of the dragon.

Lushan Mountain has been promoting itself to families in recent years as the ideal location for a winter holiday. And its efforts have seemingly paid off this year as visitor numbers to the mountain resort increased by 11.8% from last year, to reach 40,000. The number of tourists visiting the area has been steadily rising over the last few years, with the resort proving particularly popular over Chinese New Year.

The resort’s popularity is also likely to have been boosted by the large number of cheap flights to China from the UK. There are numerous flights available to the country from British airports such as Heathrow and Gatwick.

The area’s well-known scenic spots such as Lushan Central Park, Blossom Path, Jinxiu Valley and fairy Cave, have received the highest volume of traffic, with families of all ages enjoying the beautiful views.

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Winter-weary travellers who want to escape the British weather and head for the tropical paradise of Barbados could do worse than consult British Airways about its range of flights from London Gatwick.

Flexibility is one of the key considerations in the BA schedule, with 12 direct flights every week going from London Gatwick to Grantley Adams international airport in Bridgetown on the Caribbean island.

All flights operated by British Airways now run out of the £76 million extension to Gatwick’s North terminal. The revamp also includes a new approach to customer service designed to give travellers more control of their journey as part of a more innovative experience.

Customers at the North terminal are now able to do more things – like checking in, picking seats and printing bag tags – on their own. The design and organisation of the new system has been drawn up to make things simpler for passengers.

With flights to Bridgetown taking about nine hours, and with most departures in mid-morning, sunseekers can be relaxing by the pool in the Barbados heat by early afternoon.

British Airways can also make travelling to Gatwick accessible and hassle-free for customers from all over the UK through its extensive network of connections from regional hubs the length and breadth of the country.

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Turkish Airlines has begun flying to Gatwick Airport from Istanbul.

The first plane on the route came into Gatwick this week and was ceremoniously marked by Ahmet Demirok, Turkey’s consul general in London; Sezgin Saglam, Turkish Airlines sales manager; and Necdet Sark, the airline’s branch director for London.

Also present were former Manchester United players Bryan Robson and Denis Irwin, as the team is sponsored by the company.

Turkish Airlines now uses five UK airports, including Heathrow and Stansted, so arranging airport transfers in advance could come in handy.

During the ceremony Mr Saglam pointed out that Turkish Airlines was named best airline in Europe by online reviewers Skytrax. The award was said to recognise the company’s high standard of in-flight service and the wide range of places it flies to across the continent.

He said the firm is always looking to increase the number of destinations it covers, currently 190 worldwide.

Gatwick’s chief commercial officer, Guy Stephenson, said: “We are competing with other airports in London and the South East in order to give passengers the greatest choice of destinations to fly to.

“We already offer a choice of over 200 destinations, which is more than any other airport in the UK.”

Figures have shown that the number of people travelling via Gatwick Airport rose last month.

Passenger numbers reached 2.13 million during November, marking the 11th consecutive month of growth and suggesting that many people took airport transfers to Gatwick during the period.

The month was affected by political unrest in Egypt and Tunisia, which led to a slump in people going on holiday to these countries.

This led to the number of flights going to and from Gatwick falling 4.5%. However this was offset by the fact that the planes in operation were carrying 0.6% more passengers than the previous month.

The figures were announced as the big Christmas getaway began, with predictions that Gatwick will handle 1.5 million passengers over the Christmas period.

Meanwhile, it was announced that Air China will run services from the airport next year. The carrier will operate four times a week from Gatwick to Beijing from May 2012.

Guy Stephenson, Gatwick Airport’s chief commercial officer, said: “We are very excited that Air China has chosen to grow its London-Beijing route from Gatwick.

“China is the world’s fastest growing major economy, and the second largest economy behind the United States.

“For the UK, broadening its trade links with the fast-growing developing markets typified by China is a priority, but in order to achieve this, London and the South East needs to retain its status as one of the best connected cities in the world.”

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Gatwick Airport called on the people who know best when trying to find a way to keep young passengers happy – children.

It asked pupils from schools near the West Sussex airport to help design a security lane that would be fun and engaging for youngsters.

The result is an ‘adventure walk’ forming part of the airport’s new 19-lane security area.

Instead of joining a long, boring queue with all the adults, families with young children and passengers with reduced mobility now have their own two lanes, with a fun castle theme.

Rather than being faced with hundreds of yards of tape, cordons and winding queues, the youngsters can enter the security area through an eight-foot high castle.

Bosses at Gatwick hope the new lanes will help reduce the stress for families that going through security with children can often create.

Among the youngsters who helped come up with the design for the adventure walk were pupils from Milton Mount Primary School near the airport. They were guests of honour when the project was finally completed.

Geoff Williams, head of security at Gatwick Airport, said: “The input from the school children has been fantastic.

“We have improved every aspect of security – from the preparation area right through to the moment passengers hit the lounge – and are confident that the changes we have made will make a huge difference to all those travelling through the airport.”

Passengers flying in or out of Gatwick will be heartened by the measures the airport has taken to ensure flights can carry on taking off and landing, no matter what the winter weather may bring.

Since last winter Gatwick has increased its snow clearing fleet and can now clear as much as airports in one of Europe’s snowiest cities, Oslo in Norway.

And to make sure there are staff there to greet passengers, workers have also been given snow socks for the wheels of their cars to help them arrive at work safely.

The only thing passengers looking for a winter getaway need to worry about now is the roads being passable for their airport transfers.

Gatwick chief executive officer Stewart Wingate said: “Our £8 million snow-clearing equipment has landed, it’s actually here. We’ve more than doubled the size of our snow-clearing fleet from 47 to 95, and the machinery is ready now.”

“We’re convinced we will be faster at clearing the runways.” he added.

The announcement of the snow clearing measures comes hot on the heels of news that a bill is being considered by the Government which could lead to multimillion-pound fines for airports who let passengers down by failing to ensure runways are clear for flights to take off and land.

The proposed fines will be the first changes to the rules governing winter operating at airports since the 1980s and if passed will come into force in 2012.

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Gatwick Airport saw its profits go up by 43% in the opening half of its financial year, figures from the company have revealed.

An increase in passenger traffic through the airport helped the London hub to achieve this profits boost.

The airport, which offers a range of flights to travellers along with other airports in the area such as Stansted, Luton and Heathrow, now expects to see its profits continue to rise in the closing six months of the financial year.

In the half-year that led up to the end of September, the hub’s operating profit reached £118.6 million, while its overall turnover stood at £314.5 million.

Turnover rose by 15% during the period covered by the organisation’s latest financial results.

Compared with the first half of its previous financial year in 2010, Gatwick’s passenger traffic increased by 8.5%, with 19.7 million people making their way through the airport.

Global Infrastructure Partners, a US investment fund, is the current owner of the airport.

In a statement, the airport said: “While passenger numbers are ahead of expectations for the six months ended September 30, 2011, the expectation for the full year out-turn remains unchanged.”

In the 12 months to the end of March 2012, it expects to see 33.6 million passengers pass through its doors.

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British Airways passengers flying to Mauritius will now have to take a bus to Gatwick rather than Heathrow to catch their flight this winter.

BA has moved its UK base for flights to the popular Indian Ocean holiday destination as part of plans to boost Gatwick’s reputation as a leisure break hub, while return flights from Mauritius will depart 12 hours later this winter to give tourists more time in the idyllic holiday hotspot.

With more time to kill before catching their flight home, Britons will have plenty of opportunity to take a bus to the airport and subsequently arrive at the terminal refreshed and relaxed before boarding the plane.

The move follows the recent completion of a terminal extension at the west Sussex airport, which was commissioned to raise customer service levels and generally improve passengers’ flying experience.

Those air passengers flying out of Gatwick now have the opportunity of carrying out many pre-flight procedures themselves, including checking in, choosing seats and printing luggage tags.

Silla Maizey, BA’s managing director for Gatwick, revealed the measures are all part of plans to transform the airport into a hub for “great high-end holiday destinations”.

She said: “Moving the Mauritius flight here helps us to strengthen this position as it will now sit alongside destinations such as the Maldives and the Caribbean.”

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Airports are the “front door of the UK” and necessary to give visitors a good first impression, ex-Conservative prime minister Sir John Major said as he opened a £73 million extension to Gatwick Airport.

Sir John, who was prime minister from 1990 to 1997, following on from Margaret Thatcher and losing power to Tony Blair’s New Labour administration, toured the North Terminal to which the extension was added. He said Gatwick, by improving its efficiency, is helping UK economic growth and well-being. He pointed out that visitors’ first impressions of the UK are shaped by what they see and experience just after landing.

“That is why the significant investment to improve arrivals infrastructure is so important,” said Sir John. He added that Gatwick in West Sussex will continue to compete with Britain’s EU (European Union) neighbours as well as the increasing challenge from Greater Asia’s new markets.

The extension, which boasts 18 new check-in desks bringing the total number to 144, is part of a plan at Gatwick for the North Terminal to cater for 20 million passengers a year by 2020. Of the check-in desks, 70 are self-service.

In addition, the terminal has four new luggage reclaim belts. Three of these are for international flights and one for domestic flights.

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Vietnam Airlines is to offer two weekly non-stop flights to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City via Gatwick Airport from December 8.

The new route has prompted tour operators to predict that an increasing number of Britons will opt to fly to the south-east Asian country next year.

People travelling to Vietnam via the UK presently have to make a stop-over en route, so the direct services from Gatwick could reduce journey times by up to seven hours.

Vietnam-bound holidaymakers can reduce the stress of travel even further by taking a bus to Gatwick to ensure that they do not have to worry about paying for parking while they are away.

Vietnam Airlines also offers flights to 23 destination across Asia, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Burma, with many tour operators offering itineraries that begin at one end of a country and end at the other.

Alex Hepworth, marketing director at Victoria Hotels & Resorts, said: “We’ll see 20% growth in UK visitor numbers, thanks to these new direct flights. It’s a great place for luxury beach breaks.”

Vietnam is easily one of the most picturesque countries in Asia with 3,400km of coastline, and numerous rolling beach resorts such as Phan Thiet and Hoi An. These combine ancient Cham ruins, charming fishing villages and water sports, holidaymakers might not want to come home.

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