READY FOR TAKE-OFF

Flights ++ Airports ++ New routes

TRAVEL LIGHT

HATE lugging around luggage? Thomas Cook Airlines is inviting passengers flying from Gatwick to have their bags checked in at home, to enable them to travel to the airport hassle-free. Operated in conjunction with AirPortr, the pickup service is a boon for families who can send off four bags from £40 ( airportr.com/thomascook).

DEALS DOWN UNDER

EMIRATES has launched a flight sale on selected routes from the UK to Australia and New Zealand, including Stansted to Perth from £649 return and Glasgow to Auckland from £759 return. Passengers need to book by May 9 for travel between October 22 and December 5 ( emirates.com).

CORSICA CALLING

BRITISH AIRWAYS starts a weekly flight from Gatwick to Bastia, Corsica (pictured) on May 25. The port is well placed for exploring the scenic Cap Corse peninsula, where you can hide away at the elegant Domaine Misincu hotel, which has a gourmet restaurant, spa and private beach ( ba.com, hotel-misincu.com).

RACE DOWN A RUNWAY

FANCY jogging down a runway for charity? You’ll have to be at Luton Airport at 4am on June 21 for the chance to race 2.7 miles before the first flights take off, but it’s all for a good cause, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support ( bit.ly/2ILQpeU).

GARDEN GETAWAY

AIRLINE KLM has added an extra 10,000 seats to its summer services from Bristol to Amsterdam — just in time to catch the city’s Open Garden Days, from June 14 to 16, when its grand canalside houses are opened up for visitors ( klm.com, opentuinendagen.nl).

BERLIN REMEMBERS

GERMANY is to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Berlin Airlift with a festival at the capital’s historic Tempelhof Airport on May 12.

The following month, more than 30 vintage ‘Candy Bombers’ will fly to the city in a thunderous re-enactment of how the Soviet blockade of Berlin (to stop the Allied countries getting to their sectors of the city) was beaten ( thf-berlin. de, berlinairlift70.com).

AIRPORT ASSISTANCE

BLIND and visually impaired travellers passing through Gatwick can now get assistance from Aira, an innovative app that allows professionally trained agents to guide them through the airport using the camera on their mobile phone.

The free service, which is being trialled for six months with support from easyJet, will also help passengers read tickets and menus, go duty-free shopping and find their luggage on the carousel ( aira.io).