Easter exodus as families rush for the sun (From Thisisdorset)

Easter exodus as families rush for the sun

3:00pm Thursday 18th March 2010 in

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TIME is running out if you’re planning to jet off to warmer shores from Bournemouth airport during the Easter break.

After the coldest winter for more than 30 years, sun-starved families are snapping up the limited number of last-minute holiday packages available to foreign destinations.

David Skillicorn, managing director of Bournemouth-based tour operator Palmair, said: “Sunshine is understandably in big demand with the Canaries the most popular choice.

“There are a few places left on our flights but, if you want to get away during the school holidays, there isn’t much to choose from.

“People have had enough of the cold weather and are desperate for some fine weather.

“I think they have come to the conclusion that they can’t put their lives on hold any longer.”

Another sign that the “feelgood factor” may be returning is the high demand for day trips from Bournemouth, which were axed last year.

Mr Skillicorn said: “A few years ago our day trips were very popular but the effect of exchange rates on fuel prices meant they had priced themselves out of the market.

“People were cutting back on short breaks but, all of a sudden, there is a demand again. We dipped our toe in the water by organising trips this month and in April. To our surprise they’ve all sold out.

“Because of the demand we have decided to run day trips in May, June and July to places like Iceland, Jersey, Salzburg, Rome and the Isle of Man, which are also selling well.”

After last year’s promises of ‘a barbecue summer’ failed to materialise, Mr Skillicorn is anticipating that more families will fly off to foreign destinations for their annual holiday.

He said: “After a succession of summer wash-outs in Britain, I don’t think so many families will take the risk with the weather this year.

“The annual two-week pilgrimage is too important to be sacrificed to the elements.”

* PASSENGERS jetting off with Palmair this year will be helping to raise funds for Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.

The Bournemouth-based airline, which sells more than 50,000 package holidays a year, is collecting unwanted or surplus coins and giving them to the charity.

Palmair is collecting coins of any denomination in-flight on its new aircraft – a Boeing 737-500 named The Spirit of Peter Bath after the company’s late founder.

Air Ambulance fundraising co-ordinator Annette Plaistow-Trapaud, said: “We need to raise £1.4m a year to keep our helicopter flying and we could not do it without the support of companies like Palmair.

“It works out at about £3,800 a day, all of which we have to raise ourselves because we do not receive any government or Lottery funding.”

The Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance celebrates its 10th birthday on June 12 with a special event at its airbase in Henstridge.

It has been on more than 7,000 missions since its launch in March 2000, many of them life-saving.